The Fresh Water Fishes of New England/Back fins all soft rayed
1. The Salmon. Grilse. Salmo salar.
Length, two to four feet; weight, fifteen to fifty pounds. Dark bluish or black on the back; sides, silvery; belly, white. (The young have black crossbars.)
Formerly entered all rivers of New England, but is now caught only from Maine northwards.
It is an esteemed foodfish, and its capture is considered the highest type of sport.
The Salmon takes live bait and artificial fly.
2. The Great Lake Trout. Lake Trout, Togue, Siscowet, Tuladi, Mackinaw Trout, Namaycush, Salmon Trout, Lake Salmon, Winnipissogee Trout, Lunge. Salvelinus namaycush.
Length, up to three feet; weight, two to twenty pounds. Dark gray; sides, mottled; belly, white.
The Great Lake Trout lives in the northern and western lakes. It is a great favorite as a foodfish, but its capture is not highly considered as sport.
The Great Lake Trout is caught by spoonhook or bottom fishing with live bait.
3. The Brook or Speckled Trout. Salvelinus fontinalis.
Length, five to twenty inches; weight, up to eleven pounds. Back, black, marbled with golden gray; side, golden mottled, barred with grayish brown and covered with round golden yellow and red spots; belly, white with rosy tints.
Lower fins red, with first ray white. The color of the brook trout varies considerably according to locality.
The Brook Trout is found in almost all cool and rapid-flowing spring brooks, from the highest mountain to the low shore, where it enters the sea. The sea-going trout is silvery gray in color.
The Trout is the choicest of foodfishes, and trout fishing is considered the finest sport.
The Trout is caught with worms, grasshoppers, live bait, and artificial flies.
4. The Sunapee Lake Trout. Salvelinus aureolus.
Length, twelve inches. Color, brown; sides, silvery gray with small orange spots. Similar in shape to S.fontinalis.
5. The Blueback or Rangeley Lake Trout. Salvelinus oquassa.
Length, twelve inches. Color, dark blue with red spots. Body narrower and longer than S.fontinalis.
6. The Smelt. Osmerus mordax.
Length, six to twelve inches. Back, dark greenish black; sides, bright silvery; eye, large and of orange color; fins, transparent; teeth, strong.
The Smelt is found at the mouth of rivers. It is a favorite foodfish, and bites at shrimps.
7. The Capelin. Mallotits villosus.
Length, twelve inches. The Capelin is like the smelt, but has very small scales. The second back fin is longer than that of the smelt, while the teeth are small.
The Capelin is found from Maine northwards.
8. The Menomonee Whitefish. Roundfish, Shad-waiter. Coregonus quadrilateralis.
Length, twenty inches. Color, dark bluish, with the sides paler in shade.
The Menomonee Whitefish lives in deep lakes, mostly at the bottom, and is found in New Hampshire, north and west. An excellent foodfish.
9. The Whiting. Sault Or Musqua River Whitefish. Coregonus labradorius.
Length, twenty inches. Color, bluish, the sides silvery.
The Whiting lives north and west from the White Mountains, and like the Menomonee is an excellent foodfish
10. The Common Whitefish. Sault Or Musqua River Whitefish. Coregonus clupeiformis.
Length, thirty inches. Color, bluish black on back; the sides silvery.
The Common Whitefish lives in the great western lakes.
11. The Northern Pike. Esox Indus.
Length, thirty to fifty inches. Color, back, dark gray; sides, light lead gray in confluent bands forming light spots; belly, white; blotchy black spots on fins and tail. Snout, long.
The Northern Pike is generally caught with spoonhooks or live bait. An excellent foodfish.
12. The Brook Pike. Banded or Long Island Trout, Pickerel, Pond Pike. Esox americanus.
Length, twelve inches. Color, back, black ; sides, goldish, crossed by dusky blackish bars; fins, red tipped and not spotted like the Northern Pike. Snout, short.
Lives in brooks, ditches, and shallow muddy ponds. A good foodfish. Caught with worms.
13. The Pickerel. Chain Pickerel, Jack, Federal Pike. Esox reticulatus.
Length, thirty inches. Color, back, black or green; sides, rich gold or silvery with net or chain-like marks; belly, white.
The Pickerel lives in all waters. An excellent foodfish, and is caught with frogs' legs, live and dead bait, and the spoonhook. Pickerel fishing is the favorite sport of many fishermen.
14. The Muskalunge. Muscalonge, Muskellunge, Maskinonge. Esox masquinongy.
Length, eight feet. Color, gray with black spots. Snout, long.
Lives in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
15. The Mud Minnow. Umbra limi.
Length, four inches. Color, back, dark olive green, with lighter lengthwise stripes on sides.
Lives in mudholes.
16. The Killifish. Fundulus majalis.
Length, six inches. Color, back, olive brown ; sides, brassy with dark crossbars.
The Killifish lives along the shore in shallow water.
17. The Mumichog. Fundulus heteroclitus.
Length, two to five inches. Color, dark olive green with yellowish spots, and a little silvery on sides.
Lives in shallow water along the shore.
18. The Fresh Water Killifish. Fundulus diaphanus.
Length, four inches. Color, olive brown; sides, silvery with narrow crossbars.
Lives in clear streams and ponds.
19. The Broad Killifish. Cyprinodon variegatus.
Length, two to four inches. Color, steel blue or green; sides, silvery; belly, coppery; the female is marked with black crossbars.
Lives along the South Shore.
20. The Common Sucker. Catostomus teres.
Length, six to eighteen inches. Body, round. Color, back, brownish gray; sides, bluish gray; belly, pink. The Common Sucker has a toothless, sucking mouth, its food being chiefly vegetable.
In springtime the Sucker ascends the brooks to spawn, but lives generally in schools at the bottom of rivers and ponds. It rarely takes the hook.
When taken from a fresh brook the meat is good if soon cooked. It quickly becomes soft and often of a muddy taste.
21. The Chub Sucker. Erimyson sucetta.
Length, ten inches. Body, compressed. Color, back, bluish gray; sides, reddish and brassy; no middle line on sides; otherwise like Catostomus teres.
22. The Chub. Roach. Semotilus bullaris.
Length, eighteen inches. Color, back, bluish brown; sides, bright silver; fins, plain.
The flesh of the Chub is white, soft, and bony.
Lives in all rivers and bites at worms.
23. The Dace. Cousin Trout. Redfin. Semotilus atromaculatus.
Length, twelve inches. Color, back, dusky brown; sides, a little silvery; a squarish black spot at beginning of back fin.
The Dace lives in clear, cool brooks, and takes worms like a trout.
24. The Black-Nosed Minnow. Rhinichtys atronasus.
Length, three inches. Color, back, greenish black ; sides and belly, light with a black band lengthwise; fins, red or orange.
Lives in clear streams.
25. The Long-Nosed Minnow. Rhinichtys cataractæ.
Length, six inches. Color, dark olive, mottled, with no band on sides.
Lives in clear streams.
26. The Fat-Headed Minnow. Pimephales notatus.
Length, four inches. Color, back, olive; sides, bluish, and somewhat silvery.
Lives in sluggish rivers.
27. The Black-Headed Minnow. Pimephales promelas.
Length, two and one-half inches. Color, back, olive; head, black.
Lives in sluggish brooks, from Lake Champlain west.
28. The Bridled Minnow. Notropis bifrenatus.
Length, two inches. Color, buff, with black lengthwise stripe on side; snout, orange.
The introduced Asiatic Carp, Cyprinus carpio, and Chinese Gold Fish, Carassnis auratus, belong to this group.
29. The Common Shiner. REDFIN. DACE. Notropis cornutus.
Length, eight inches. Color, back, black or steel blue; sides, bright silver; cheeks, goldish; belly, white, and rounded on lower edge; scales on back, blackish at root; fins, reddish.
Lives everywhere in fresh water, and is caught with worms or flies.
30. The Golden Shiner. BREAM. Notemigonus chrysoleucus.
Length, twelve inches. Color, back, blackish; sides, bright golden; fins, yellowish. Lower edge of belly sharp.
The body is deeper and the back more round than that of the Notropis cornutus.
Lives in slow, weedy streams, and bites at worms.
31. The Alewife. Gaspereau, Branch, or Wall-eyed Herring. Clupea pseudoharengus.
Length, fifteen inches. Color, bluish with silvery sides.
Ascends the rivers to spawn.
32. The Blueback. Glut Herring. Clupea æstivalis.
Like Clupea pseudoharengus, except that the back is darker in color, and the body longer.
33. The Shad. Clupea sapidissima.
Length, thirty inches. Color, back, blue; sides, silvery.
The body of the Shad is deeper and the mouth larger than that of the Alewife.
All of the Clupea species are excellent foodfishes.
34. The Hickory or Mud Shad. Dorosoma cepedianum.
Length, fifteen inches. Color, back, bluish; sides, silvery.
With the exception of a long appendix from the last ray of the back fin, the Hickory or Mud Shad is similar to the Shad.