NORTHERN INLAND FISHES. 299 



bodies ; their wings draggle and become powerless, and they 

 suffocate flying in mid air. This is the reason winged insects on 

 touching water drown so easily. Insects do not invariably appear 

 at the same times. A cold spring will retard their development 

 for months, while an unusually warm spring or summer will hasten 

 their appearance. ' Insects in the- water are the most afflicted by 

 changes of temperature. Any guide for a fly-fisher would be 

 almost useless unless this important point is remembered. English 

 works can never become positive authorities for our climate. In- 

 sects which appear there in vast quantities are rare here, and vice 

 versa. Some that are single-brooded there are double-brooded 

 here. Some that appear there in one month visit us at another, 

 while we have many alluring baits here that the classic waters of 

 the British Isles would regard with bewildering amazement.'' 



In fishing with worm for bait, it is better to choose a still, 

 cloudy day suggesting rain, as the fish are then on the alert for 

 insects. Begin at the head of the stream, and fish down stream, 

 at all times keeping well back from the bank. Do not in baiting 

 your hook, merely cover the point of your hook with the head of 

 "the worm, but put on the whole worm running the hook through 

 him in three or four places, and then covering the point of the 

 hook with the head of the worm. It is considered much more 

 sportsman-like to fish with a fly, as it requires more tact ; but there 

 are times when fish will not bite at a fly, in which case it is some 

 sport, although less, to use a worm. As a food fish, the trout is 

 unsurpassed almost, the flesh being exceedingly firm and well- 

 flavored. 



Blue-back Trout. — Salmo oquassa. — Girard. 



This species of trout is peculiar to the Rangeley Lakes of Maine, 

 so far as is- known. It was discovered by Girard in 1852. They 

 are never seen until the tenth of October, when they swarm the 

 different streams in countless myriads. They remain for twenty 

 days, and then leave, returning the following year at almost the 

 exact day, and always to the same place. The countrymen gather 

 them by bushels and barrels, smoking and salting them for home 

 use. They never vary in size from the uniform length of eight 

 inches. While in general appearance they resemble the Salmi 



