LOCH LEVEN TROUT 



been at one end of a five-ounce split bamboo with 

 Salmo levenensis at the other will be reluctant to 

 stoop to less noble game. He is simply incompar- 

 able, from his rise to the descending " teal and 

 red " to the finish at the breakfast-table. 



Nor the least remarkable peculiarity of this trout 

 is its capacity for attaining an extraordinary size. 

 We were fortunate enough to be introduced to Mr. 

 George Barnet, editor of the " Kinross-shire Adver- 

 tiser," who exhibited to us a ten-pounder captured 

 by him with rod and reel, while trolling with an 

 Aberdeen minnow. Others of ten, eight, and seven 

 pounds have been taken in the loch, the largest 

 on record weighing nearly eighteen pounds. The 

 average life of a Loch Leven trout, determined by 

 careful experiment at Howietoun, is eight years, 

 seven years for males and nine for females. Spawn- 

 ers become sterile at eight years of age. 



So capricious is the trout of Loch Leven, so in- 

 different to the angleworm of the hoodlum, so ap- 

 preciative of the most refined " casts," that where 

 it once becomes acclimated, fly-fishing is perma- 

 nently insured. Depopulation by legitimate 

 angling is impossible. As a result of personal in- 

 vestigation, I can most confidently recommend all 

 desirous of stocking depleted waters with the 

 bravest fighter of his race, and the most difficult of 



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