TROUT AND ANGLING. 327 



affords no sport to the true angler, as requiring no 

 skill, and is despised accordingly. Into this 

 pond, the pickerel, sometimes called the fresh wa- 

 ter shark, has been introduced, and the result has 

 been that the pickerel gained the ascendency and 

 exterminated the trout in a very few years. 



The same thing has been practised in a number 

 of ponds in the state of Maine, and the same re- 

 sult has followed. It is remarkable that on the 

 west side of the Penobscot river, the ponds are 

 mostly filled with pickerel, while on the east 

 side they are as generally stocked with trout ; this 

 must arise from some particular quality or tem- 

 perature of the water, nature having placed them 

 in that which is most congenial to their habits, and 

 necessary to their perpetuity. 



In treating of the fish now under consideration, 

 it was intended to confine our remarks to such as 

 were found in Massachusetts alone, but as it has 

 been before observed, there are few ponds in this 

 state, or if any, not well known, which contain 

 the pond-trout as a distinct variety. We have 

 alluded to such waters in the neighboring states as 

 are well known to afford the subject of our illus- 

 tration. 



They are found of immense size in the Schoo- 

 dic Lakes, but larger still in proportion to the ex- 

 tent of the waters, in the great Moose-head Lake. 



