guide them and know certain brooks and pools
where the speckled beauties await them. The wise ones know just
where to throw their lines and the kind of bait that is sure to lure
the denizens of that particular spot. For fishing is a science, as
well as a sport requiring skill and judgment. The born fisherman
seems to have an uncanny sense of piscatorial thoughts and almost
instinctively can determine just the right thing to do and the right
time to do it, while the mere amateur fisherman who only wets a line
occasionally guesses whether to use a fly or a worm.

Yes, the Cape is a noted Mecca for trout fishermen, at least certain
parts of the Cape. Within the confines of Bourne, Mashpee, Falmouth
and Barnstable are many likely trout brooks and from them are
annually taken many catches that gladden the hearts of the sportsmen.

These brooks run into the ponds and the sea, they run through
marshes and woods. They abound in trout, of the square-tail variety,
and those who know them keep their secrets closely.

Sometimes a fisherman exhibits a basket of fish that astonishes all
beholders. Big speckled beauties they are and in quantity sufficient
to satisfy any one.

Some of the biggest of them may be "salters," fish caught near the
mouths of the brooks that run into the sea and weighing all the way
from a pound to two pounds or more. There is authentic information
that trout weighing more than two and a half pounds have been taken
from these Cape Cod streams.

Unfortunately for the general public many of the brooks are
"posted," but there are a lot of fishermen that "don't believe in
signs" and when they see a sign of "no fishing here" they are apt to
challenge the statement and some of them aver that there is very
good fishing there indeed.

It is a matter of history that the Pilgrims found trout in the Cape
Cod streams. It is a matter of fact that many of the brooks have
been stocked by private individuals and by the state. Every year the
fish in these stocked brooks increase in size and the sophisticated
fishermen keep track of them from year to year. The state keeps a
record of the stocking of streams and that information can be
obtained and made use of.

At Sandwich the state maintains a trout hatchery where millions of
eggs are secured. These eggs develop into fry and fingerlings and
they are distributed throughout the state, the Cape getting its full
share.

A visit to this hatchery is interesting. It demon