236 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



" In lakes, also,. it is a very common thing to find the 

 trout in one lake large, bright, and well fed, and in another, 

 very similar in appearance, and perhaps only a hare half- 

 mile distant from the other, they will be long, black, and 

 lean, with heads out of all proportion to the thickness of 

 the body. In another, probably but a similar distance 

 from the first two, the trout will be abundant, but very 

 small, though bright and well colored. These varieties, I 

 have every reason to believe, are caused partly by a differ- 

 ence of water, produced by the absence or presence of cer- 

 tain plants, these of course giving a difference of food. To 

 exemplify this : I remember some years since, while fishing 

 in a wild part of Donegal, near the little village of Ardara, 

 coming upon a cluster of small lakes. The trout in some of 

 these lakes were small, bright, and very plentiful ; in others, 

 they were of a good size, but not handsome. But in one 

 of the lakes, a small one — a mere pool, of perhaps a couple 

 or three acres in extent — my attendant informed me that 

 the trout, though of a dark color, owing to the peat color 

 and depth of the water, were large and well-shaped, and 

 of good flavor, often running up to five and six, and even 

 seven or eight pounds' weight. But the lake was what is 

 termed among anglers ' a sulky lake,' that is, the fish very 

 rarely rose well at the fly, and probably it might be fished 

 a dozen times without producing a single fish, though there 

 were times and days, if the angler chanced to hit upon 

 them, when very good fishing might be had, and when the 

 lake appeared alive with fish. I fished the pool, however, 

 and had the good fortune, by sinking the fly, tojtake one 



in safety. By such a, method as this almost any amount of the food 

 hest suited to the trout might no doubt easily be produced. For if 

 we increase the stock of Jish, we nmst, of course^ if their si::e and 

 weight is to be kept up, (/row food for them somehow, and, this seems 

 not to be a very difficult plan." 



