TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 67 



raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and the frame 

 held in the other, in such a position as to be put in the 

 groove as quickly as possible so as to let none of the fish 

 escape from the race. Go quietly to the spot, and do not 

 walk down the raceway to get to it, else you will frighten 

 the fish ; but approach trom one side and put the net in 

 the groove as quickly as you can. The water running down 

 will swell the net out to its full length. The covers may 

 then be removed, and with a switch you may frighten the 

 fish down from the head of the raceway into the net. As 

 soon as they are all in, the frame may be lifted out of the 

 water, and the fish are then enclosed in the bag. A tub 

 of water should be previously brought near the spot, and 

 the end of the net can be lifted into tlie tub and untied 

 when the fish will all fall into the tub without trouble. 

 Coarse cloth is better for the purpose than netting, as it 

 can be more easily tacked to tlie frame, does not hurt the 

 fish so much, and lasts longer; besides this, tlie water 

 swells it out and holds it open for the fish to run in ; a net 

 would not bag out so well, and the fish not seeino- you 

 through the cloth as they would through an open mesh are 

 not scared, and do not try much to run back up the race. 

 It must be remembered in this and all subsequent hand- 

 lings of the fish, that if the* outer skin of a Trout is broken 

 or abraded by the hand or by contact with any hard sub- 

 stance, it will, in nineteen cases out of twenty, cause the fish 

 to die. A white fungus appears on it first where the skin 

 is broken ; this fungus spreads over the fish until it is 

 sometimes half covered with it before it dies. We speak 

 of the covering of the Trout as " skin," because it feels 

 like it and looks like it, although in reality a Trout is 

 covered with minute scales. They will get over a deep 

 and clear cut much more quickly than over a bruise where 

 the cuticle or skin only is broken. 



