18 
KENDALL; NEW ENGLAND CHARES. 
that swarms of minnows were leaping out of the water together at some distance from where 
he was fishing, and rightly assuming that they were fleeing from some powerful foe, he cast his 
flies over the surrounding water and was fortunate enough to hook a rising fish of large dimen- 
sions. It was saved after a struggle lasting nearly fifty minutes, and was found to be a lake 
trout of sixteen pounds. On this occasion, as upon that mpntioned above, the catch was made 
almost immediately upon the breaking of the ice, and it is rather surprising that more anglers 
do not cultivate the sport in question, though, of course, it can only be had for a few days each 
year, and even then only in comparatively high latitude. The late James W. Milner found 
that in Lake Michigan the 'lakers’ remain in the deepest part of the lake all the year round 
except in the spawning season, which is usually about the end of October, so that fly-fishing for 
them thereabouts would be absolutely useless. 
“There are very few instances on record where the lake trout has been taken on the fly in 
the earliest days of spring in both Grand and Moosehead lakes in Maine, but it is fully admitted 
that even in that latitude they are rarely taken with a surface line, more than three or four 
pounds in weight. In the always cold water of the Nepigon we have upon the authority of Mr. 
W. H. Vail, of Cincinnati, writing in ‘Fishing with a Fly,’ that Salvelinus naniaycush will occa- 
sionally rise to the fly, and take it with much the same kind of a swirl as the speckled brook 
trout does.” 
Size. 
The Fishery Industries states that it is the largest of the Salmonidae, according to tradi- 
tion, attaining in the Great Lakes a weight of 24 and 36s pounds. It is said that they were very 
frequently taken weighing 15 pounds. 
Richard King (1. c.) wrote that in the Arctic regions it surpassed the Common Salmon in 
size, individuals having been captured weighing sixty pounds, and it was said to attain one 
hundred and twenty, although none came under his observation exceeding a weight of fifty 
pounds. 
Preble remarks (1908) that in northern regions, in large bodies of water, Lake Trout fre- 
quently attain a weight of 50 pounds and occasionally a little more. In some New England 
lakes it i-eaches a considerable weight. In Vermont, Williams (History of Vermont, 1794) says 
that in a pond in Leicester, in that State, some have been taken which weighed twenty-five 
pounds. Thompson (History of Vermont, 1852) says: “They usually vary from half a pound 
to 10 pounds, but are often much larger. Individuals are said to have been taken recently in 
Glover weighing 25 pounds, and in Charleston exceeding 40 pounds.” In Belknap’s History of 
New Hampshire, 1792, the following appears: “In some of the bays of Winepisogee Lake and 
river very large trouts are taken with the hook. Those from 6 to 10 lbs. are common, and some 
have been caught of 20 lb. weight.” 
