SEA TROUT. 49 



Whatever be his name, he is a beauty, the fairest of 

 the children of the sea. There are others of more varie- 

 gated colors, of gaudier hues, of more slender shape, but 

 the trout is lord of all. He is the pet of the true fisher- 

 man, whether taken by the name of Salmo trutta in the 

 bays of Canada, weighing fifteen pounds, or as Salmo 

 fontinalis, in the mountain streams of Vermont, reach- 

 ing not one quarter as many ounces. In Canada, 

 sportsmen and none others seem to fish take the sea 

 trout solely with the fly. In June, and earlier, they are 

 found in the tide waters, and there prefer gaudy flies. 

 The scarlet ibis, or curry-curry of South America, dressed 

 as it is ordinarily done, or diversified by a little gold or 

 silver tinsel wound round the body, or indeed the entire 

 hook wound with tinsel alone, is by many preferred to 

 all other flies ; but the red hackle, the golden pheasant, 

 the professor, the grey drake, and in fact any gay fly, 

 will meet with approval. A much admired fly is made 

 of a red body and yellow wings ; but the more sober 

 colors must not be forgotten nor neglected, they are 

 often more successful than their gaudy relations. As 

 the season advances, and the fish ascend the clear, cool 

 rivers, especially if the water be low and the weather 

 dry, the sober flies are preferable. Then the cow-dung, 

 the alder-fly, the turkey-brown, the winged black hackle, 

 and in fact all the ordinary flies, are in demand ; a fly 

 invented by myself, of a blackbird's wing and a claret 

 body and legs, and called the early fly, has often proved 

 itself uncommonly killing; and indeed all the flies usu- 

 ally employed in other waters are appropriate for the sea 

 trout in Canada. 



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