BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 



creatures of habit as well as man, and if they are sup- 

 plied only with food which is found at the bottom, 

 they will look to the bottom for it and not look to the 

 surface, where the angler casts his flies ; so the food 

 question is one that relates, more than anything else, 

 to the condition of the fish, as their habits may be 

 changed by a change of food that causes them to look 

 up for it rather than down." 



This constant looking down for their food in the 

 depths of Lake Edward no doubt accounts for the 

 general refusal of its trout to rise to surface lures. 



In the Montmorenci, some twenty to thirty miles 

 above its famous falls ; in the Ouiatchouan, the stream 

 which carries the surplus waters of Lake Bouchette 

 into Lake St. John ; in La Belle Riviere, and in other 

 northern waters that might be mentioned, fontinalis 

 feeds largely upon insect food, and six and seven 

 pound specimens have not infrequently fallen victims 

 to the fly-fisherman's skill. 



Space forbids lengthy reference to the huge trout of 

 the great lake Jacques Cartier, a splendid body of 

 water now hidden in the almost impenetrable depths 

 of the Canadian forest ; but those familiar with the 

 works of Mr. John Burroughs will recall the story, 

 in "Locusts and Wild Honey," of the six-pounder 

 taken by him at the very source of the Jacques Car- 

 tier River, when there was then a passable road for a 

 buckboard from Quebec to the lake. Since the build- 

 ing of the railway to Lake St. John this pathway has 



39 



