SEA TROUT. 55 



numbers, and of immense size ; but after they have 

 once left the salt water, the angler must accompany 

 them in their ascent if he would continue his sport, and 

 by day struggle in his canoe against the rapids, up which 

 he hears them darting at night. 



While the fish are still in tide water, and the fisher- 

 man is fishing from the rocks, the head of some bay 

 into which flows a stream of fresh water, and the time 

 of the lower half of the tide, are both desirable. The 

 former as furnishing a variety of food, and the latter as 

 contracting the fishing ground. The eddies of a swift 

 current, and the hollows of a rocky bottom are both 

 affected by the fish ; although they are often found 

 along a smooth sandy shore, chasing the minnows, and 

 now and then dashing at a fly or sand-hopper thrown 

 off the land. It is nothing unusual to capture a hun- 

 dred fish in as few hours as it will require to land them, 

 and often the only limit to the number will be the 

 sportsman's humanity. They are a difficult fish to pre- 

 serve ; it seems sacrilegious to salt them ; they are not 

 good pickled in brine, and smoking is both injurious 

 and troublesome. The fisherman, if he would not have 

 them rot before his eyes, must put a bridle on his eager- 

 ness. 



They run very large, sometimes above a dozen pounds, 

 are often taken of five and six, and frequently a whole 

 day's catch will average three pounds. They are found 

 at the mouth and along the shore of every river that 

 empties into the lower part of the St. Lawrence. They 

 ascend the Saguenay, and are taken at and near its 

 mouth in great numbers, and in fact everywhere in the 



