ANGLING FOE OUANANICHE 85 



spawning-time than the month of June. There is no 

 doubt that a great deal of exaggeration has been in- 

 dulged in respecting the difficulties of ouananiche 

 fishing ; and that whatever the cause may be, there is 

 a vast amount of difference between the sport afford- 

 ed by different specimens of the fish, often even when 

 they are similar in size and taken out of the same 

 water. Occasionally, but not often, unless it be a very 

 small one, a ouananiche may be hooked and landed 

 without having leaped out of the water at all. Others, 

 again, and sometimes heavy fish, content themselves 

 with leaping and struggling hard and valiantly, but 

 without running out much, if any, line from the reel. 

 These are, of course, exceptional cases ; and the angler 

 who has had any extended experience of the fish, 

 who has fought and killed any large number of 

 them in the heavy waters of the Grande Decharge, 

 will know something of the many-sidedness of the 

 sport, and be ready to concede that at least the pleas- 

 urable emotions which it causes the angler cannot 

 well be exaggerated. In the vicinity of these rapids, 

 the fish can know nothing of the life of indolence and 

 luxurious ease that conduces to enervation and effemi- 

 nacy. The very excitement and unrest of their sur- 

 roundings render inactivity impossible to them, while 

 the physical exertion necessarily employed in their 

 constant struggles amid the mighty forces of those 

 turbulent waters insures for them the possession of 

 that courage, agility, and strength that make them 

 the recognized champions of the finny warriors of 

 Canadian waters. In proportion to their avoirdupois 

 they can do more tackle-smashing than any other fish 



