Chapter VIII: White-Fish

_Coregonus Albus--Attihawmeg._--Although included in the salmon family by having the second dorsal adipose, and the fin-rays soft, this fish differs totally from either the trout or salmon. It has minute velvet-like teeth, scarcely perceptible to the touch, except on the gill-arches, where there is a row of long and slim ones, like bristles; the scales are large and the body compressed like that of a shad, and it has been called the Fresh-water Shad. The mouth is very small, utterly unsuited for seizing the prey on which the trout and salmon feed; the color of the back is greyish blue, and the sides white.

Fin-rays, D. 13.0; P. 17; V. 12; A. 13; C. 19-6/6, the second dorsal being adipose.

The proper appellation for this fish is the Indian name, Attihawmeg, and if sportsmen would in all cases follow the names used by the aborigines they would show more sense than the common people of our country, who think every fish with a spiny back fin must be a bass, and every other a trout. The Attihawmeg abounds in Lake Huron, where it attains a weight of twelve to fourteen pounds, and is tolerably abundant in Lakes Erie, Ontario and Michigan. It feeds on mussels and shellfish, or on aquatic plants, and is usually taken in nets. The general opinion is that it will take no bait, natural or artificial; but it might be tempted by the artificial fly, or perhaps the cray-fish. It is the finest fresh-water fish of America upon the table, having no rival that approaches it in excellence except the Otsego bass. But being extremely delicate, it should be eaten immediately on leaving the water, and is never in condition in the cities. If it has been frozen, as is always the case in Winter, the Attihawmeg is utterly worthless. It is unsurpassable split and broiled, very similar in appearance and flavor, only much superior to the shad. It is not properly a game fish, whatever may be thought of its delicacy of taste and appearance, but a description of it is necessary to complete the series and to distinguish it from certain others.

To take it, however, as the Indians do in the Sault Ste. Marie, with long-handled scoop-nets, amid the roar and rush of the seething waters is no mean sport, and requires a readiness of hand, sharpness of eye, and steadiness of foot possessed by few men. Its artificial culture has been made a matter of special concern in the States bordering on the great lakes.