surra day.] SAL MO HUCHO. 227 



minnows or bleaks jump out of the water. What 

 fish is it ? — a trout ? It appeared to me too long and 

 too slender for a trout, and had more the character of 

 a pike ; — yet it followed, and did not, like a pike, make 

 a single dart. 



HAL. — I see him : it is neither a pike nor a trout, 

 but a fish which I have been some time hoping and 

 expecting to see here, below the fall — a salmo hicho, 

 or kitchen. I am delighted that you have an 

 opportunity of seeing this curious fish and of 

 observing his habits. I hope we shall catch him. 



POIET. — Catch him ! we have no tackle strong 



o 



enough. 



HAL. — I am surprised to hear a salmon fisher talk 



so : yet he is too large to take a fly, and must be 



trolled for. We must spin a bleak for him, or small 



fish, as we do for the trout of the Thames or the 



salmon of the Tay. Ornither, you understand the 



arrangement of this kind of tackle — look out in mv 



book the strongest set of spinning hooks you can find, 



and supply them with a bleak ; and whilst I am 



changing the reel, I will give you all the information 



(which, I am sorry to say, is not much) that I have 



been able to collect respecting this fish from my own 



observation or the experience of others. The hucho 



is the most predatory fish of the salmo genus, and is 



made like an ill-fed trout, but longer and thicker. 



q2 



