CHAPTER XIII 



THE BROOK TROUT'S RIVAL 



WHEN the German brown trout was introduced in 

 the brook trout streams of Pennsylvania some years 

 ago fly-fishermen condemned the act because they 

 believed the brook trout (S. fontinalis) was superior to 

 the brown trout as a game fish. Deforestation, render- 

 ing the streams too warm for the brook trout, has 

 changed the fly-fisherman's feeling in the matter. 

 The brown trout can thrive in warm water, and with 

 the brook trout's gradual extermination the brown 

 trout is being welcomed as the next best thing. A 

 correspondent at Reading, Pa., signing himself 

 " Mourner" he mourns the passing of the true brook 

 trout declares the brown trout strikes harder than 

 the brook trout and after being hooked, unlike the 

 brook trout, makes two or three leaps out of the water, 

 but is not so gamey and cunning as the brook trout 

 and tires out much quicker. The German species has 

 been popular because it attains a larger size quickly 

 and destroys almost every fish in the streams, includ- 

 ing the brook trout. "The fly-fishermen who for 

 years have matched their skill, cunning, artifice, and 

 prowess against the genuine brook trout that since 

 creation dawned have inhabited the mountain brooks 

 that flow down every ravine," says Mourner, "have 

 had forced on them, as never before, the sad truth 



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