86 ANGLING FOE OUANANICHE 



that swims. Their leaps are prodigious. Habituated 

 to overcome obstacles to their progress up-stream by 

 throwing themselves over them through the air, their 

 skyward somersaults and aerial contortions, when 

 hooked, leave the angler little leisure for contempla- 

 tion while the struggle is in progress. When it is 

 understood that a ouananiche of five pounds' weight 

 will frequently leap three feet or more out of water 

 in his endeavor to get free, and perhaps a dozen times 

 in succession, some idea may be formed of the skill 

 that is necessary to bring him safely to the net. He 

 is so good a game-fish, and comparisons are so odious, 

 that it is unnecessary to further bolster up his splen- 

 did reputation by assailing that of his bigger and, 

 from all accounts, very respectable brother of Maine. 

 I leave the treatment of the Maine fish to those who 

 have met and fought it, and refer only to such facts 

 concerning it as have never, to my knowledge, been 

 questioned. It certainly has the advantage of weight 

 in its favor, and with equally favorable conditions of 

 environment, particularly those of low temperature 

 and rapid water, ought to be at least as good a game- 

 fish as the Canadian ouananiche. Many who know it 

 well, and others who don't know it at all except from 

 hearsay, declare that it is not. Into the merits of the 

 dispute for the result of the comparison has been 

 disputed I have no desire to enter ; but I must not 

 by silence leave it to be inferred that I am of those 

 who believe in any difference between the Lake St. 

 John fish and those of Maine, consequent upon their 

 alleged difference in habits. Plant the Maine ouana- 

 niche in Lake St. John waters, and within two gen- 



