conditions, however, call for cold water, well aerated, with shallow spots with gravel bottom, or feeder creeks containing such places, where the fish can run up to spawn.
Spawning commences as early as August in the Lake Superior region and from the middle of October to November in mid west and New England waters. The spawning period lasts seven or eight weeks, the fish slowly working up stream, or up into the small tributaries, where the female scoops out a nest and deposits her eggs. The male — now a gaily garbed Romeo — does his "showing off" for the lady's edification and fertilizes the eggs when they are ejected; then the female covers them with gravel and leaves them. A yearling fish yields only about 200 eggs — something to be remembered by the man who is tempted to keep the little ones.
