43° Reminiscences of 



of water, by an island where above all the places in the 

 lake I had observed the trout to be very long and slim, 

 and where the color indicated most positively that the 

 bottom was not only very muddy, but extremely dark. 

 Here we caught fifteen or twenty trout, which were in- 

 variably slim and eel-like and black-bellied. Among 

 them were several running from i to i| lbs., which were 

 not less than from 1 5 to 17 inches in length. In that 

 locality it is imusual to catch any trout of great weight, 

 although I once caught one there of the most unusual 

 weight, long, slim and dark, which was the longest trout 

 I ever saw, measuring 30 inches in length and weigh- 

 ing 7 lbs. He was an old one and evidently dying of 

 old age and lack of food, which his waning activity 

 failed him in gaining. A short time ago a lady, a 

 friend of mine, caught a plump 8-pounder, which 

 measiu-ed exactly 23 J inches in length, which was caught 

 in comparatively shallow water in a quarter where I 

 have taken thousands of trout, but where I have never 

 known a slim black-bellied trout to be taken, not 

 even a stray, though often strays are picked up. I 

 have often taken trout which I knew had arrived 

 where caught, within twenty-four hours, from a dis- 

 tance at least of two or more miles, having the markings 

 in color too strong to be ignored, and which had not 

 been long enough at the new place to get fitted out in 

 the prevailing garb. 



Inexperienced fishermen may think this somewhat 

 improbable, but men with whom I have almost yearly 

 fished for the past thirty years will recognize the feat- 

 ures I have illustrated. We often remarked to each 

 other, "That is a cedar tree trout," or a so and so trout, 

 and probably correctly. Why trout will remain about 



