144 SCIENCE OF FISHING. 



out the East and North, its game qualities, and the readiness 

 with which it rises to the fly. It is the one that is best 

 known and the fish that is usually meant when anglers speak 

 of trout fishing. It is at home in all the moutainous parts 

 of the* eastern and southern states where it is found in the 

 mountain streams, and in the streams and cool, clear lakes of 

 all of eastern and central Canada and the New England 

 States. Many of the northern ponds and lakes fairly swarm 

 with these fish, and they are abundant in the streams of the 

 Adirondacks, and the mountains of Pennsylvania and West 

 Virginia. 



The brook trout is a trim built fish without scales, in 

 beautiful coloring, the back being dark brown with what 

 are commonly known as worm track markings. The sides are 

 a lighter color, often showing purple and rose red in parts, 

 and rows of small bright red and yellow spots run long- 

 itudinally along the sides. The under parts are white, tinted 

 with pink, appearing iridescent, like polished mother-of-pearl. 

 All of the lines are exceedingly graceful. The body is very 

 solid, having a very small cavity, and the flesh of adult 

 specimens is a deep golden color. 



The brook trout is voracious, and feeds on the surface, in 

 mid-water, and at the bottom, but looks mostly in mid-water 

 and on the surface for food, and very little escapes their 

 watchful eyes. 



Anything in the line of insects, worms, frogs and small 

 fish is acceptable to the trout, and I have heard of them 

 being caught by baiting the hook with a mouse. They take 

 all insect life eagerly. Let a fly but touch the water in 

 his flight across a trout pool and his doom is sealed, for 

 like a flash of light Mr. Trout rises from the depths and 

 his capacious jaws engulf the hapless insect. To some it 

 may seem a mystery how the fish can get so quickly to the 

 spot where the fly has alighted, and it is was so to me until 

 one day as I stood on the shore of a lake looking out into 



