68 Fishing in North Carolina. 



"The brook trout is emphatically a cold water 

 fish, thriving best in clear mountain streams 

 with a maximum temperature of 50 deg. F., 

 although in some jilaces it flourishes in short 

 coastal rivers and runs to salt water in winter. 

 Its food consists largely of insects, worms and 

 crustaceans. While the species reaches a length 

 of eighteen to twenty-four inches, in North Car- 

 olina it is of comparatively small size. 



"The spawning time is in autumn, and the 

 spawning beds are shallow places near the banks 

 of streams. The female makes a kind of nest 

 in the gravel, and guards the eggs during incu- 

 bation. The eggs average about .15 inch in 

 diameter, and the number laid varies from a 

 few hundred to several thousand, depending on 

 the size of the parent. The hatching period is 

 about fifty days in water of fifty degrees tem- 

 perature." 



