SPENT FISH. 



It has been proved beyond doubt that the 

 earliest running fish spawn in the upper waters 

 as soon as October, whilst later travellers spawn 

 in corresponding succession up to the end 

 of February. Some few have been known to 

 spawn in March. Pea-fish, i.e. gravid female fish, 

 are caught in almost every river in the spring ; there 

 were more of them one year in the Blackwater, 

 Co. Cork, than in any other river I ever fished. 

 I have caught them in that river up to May, but 

 I have never caught or heard of any one catching 

 a male fish in that condition after March, and 

 very much doubt whether any male fish are to be 

 found in that condition at that time. We should 

 gain but little had we to rely on pea-fish for 

 our future supplies, for it is doubtful whether the 

 ova spawned after March ever come to maturity. 

 It is said that the earliest spawning salmon are 

 the first to go to sea as spent fish, and that seems 



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