Food of the YcUoi^'sionc Trout 489 



are used extensively as food by the stone-flies and may-flics, and 

 in this respect become as important, though indirectly so, as their 

 enemies. Among strange and unusual foods can l>e listed the 

 surface bait. 



In general, fish are opportunists as far as their food is con- 

 cerned. They eat what animal food is available, regardless of the 

 origin. As a result, if one knows the animal life of a particular 

 region, one can tell from the stomach contents where a fish has 

 fed. In a lake, for instance, the plant and animal life is distributed 

 in regular "zones," most animals limiting themselves to particular 

 depths. Some are found only on the shores, others on the vegeta- 

 tion in the shallows, still others only in the muck at considerable 

 depths. With a knowledge of the animals found in these various 

 zones it is possible to learn a good deal about the food habits of a 

 fish, his migrations, and his food preferences. 



On the whole, fish are indiscriminate in their choice of food as 

 far as quality is concerned. They like to feed in a particular region, 

 and stay there until satiated. Thus, when feeding from plants, they 

 eat whatever they can find there ; and once they begin to feed from 

 plants they continue feeding there until their hunger is satisfied. At 

 periods of plentiful food, fish do not migrate while feeding. 



Curious to say, it often happens that a fish may find a certain type 

 of food so much to his liking that he will seek only that type. This 

 may be worms, leeches, snails, back swimmers, caddis-worms, or other 

 kinds. Thus, we may find stomachs filled with dozens of individuals 

 of one type of animal, such as crayfish or snails. Even more 

 striking, one may find stomachs filled with highly distinctive cases 

 of some particular species of caddis-worm. 



This predilection for some particular food is more often observed 

 in the case of surface food than in water bait. I have found fish 

 storhachs, including trout stomachs, gorged with hundreds of speci- 

 mens of a single type, such as ants, grasshoppers, dragon flies, caddis- 

 flies, orl flies, may-flies, midges, etc., indicating that the particular 

 fish had taken a fancy to this special type of food, and had hunted 

 assiduously for the delicacy. There is nothing abnormal in such a 

 predilection, not more so than in the case of a boy who makes a 

 meal oflf desserts, be it ice cream, or fruit, or cake. But right there, 

 in the longing for the unusual, lies the weakness of the feeding- 

 habits of fish, the trait which lays them open to capture by the angler. 

 Since the unusual attracts, anglers have made use of this phenomenon 

 in the types of flies selected b}' them. 



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