The Salmon 



35 



wards are on their first return from the sea when they are captured 

 in fresh water. I have examined closely for the last eight years 

 all fish brought into our fish-house, and on many occasions I have 

 counted the number of those that have spawned and the number that 

 have not. In the middle of July I found nineteen out of every 

 hundred had spawned, and that all the others were on their first return 

 from the sea. The prime-conditioned fish are those on their first 

 return, and those that have spawned are coarse, and when cut up the 

 flesh is white, hence the reason for their being thought and called 



FlG. 30. Showing mark of 15-lb. Spring Salmon. First caught, 7th February 1908. 



Marked as Smolt May 1905. 



bull-trout. I am afraid I am here giving information which will be 

 valuable to the fishmonger but disadvantageous to the tacksman. It 

 may also be useful to the reader in enabling him to select a prime- 

 conditioned fish for the table. The poor tacksman usually receives a 

 much lower price for what are erroneously called bull-trout. We have 

 now proved beyond doubt that these fish are not a different species, but 

 are true salmon that have spawned. How this should alter their 

 shape and colour is difficult to understand. It may be that the greedy 

 kelt, when its digestive organs come again into action, eats more 

 ravenously, rendering it coarser and stronger than before. The wildest 

 fish that the angler has to do with are, of course, those that have 

 spawned and have returned again as clean fish. This throws some 



