50 The Salmon 
months in fresh water before spawning. They push on to Loch Tay 
during the winter and spring months, and by the end of March the 
run is nearly over. The average weight of these spring fish is about 
20 lbs., though in some seasons they are heavier than in others. A 
number of them remain in the Tay and its tributaries, the Tummel, 
the Lyon, and the Earn, until about the middle of May, and give 
good sport to the angler. After this time they nearly all proceed to 
the higher reaches. Those already in Loch Tay remain in it until 
about the middle of May, but when the snow begins to disappear from 
the hills they leave the loch and proceed up the river Dochart. By 
this time many of the fish are of a copper colour. Most of them will 
have left Loch Tay by the end of May, and if there has been sufficient 
water to take them up after entering the Dochart they gradually 
advance higher and higher, until Loch Dochart is reached. There 
they remain until spawning-time, after which they leave the loch and 
run up the tributaries. The spawning-time begins about the 15th of 
November, and is usually at its height about the 2oth of November. 
After spawning they become kelts; and the survivors fall back into 
Loch Dochart, and gradually go down the Dochart into Loch Tay, and 
thence down the river Tay to the sea, a distance of 120 miles. Being 
so long in fresh water without food, these fish are reduced to quite 
half the weight they were when they first came up. 
During the winter months, if the weather is cold, these fish travel 
very slowly, going at the rate of 2 to 3 miles per day; but as the season 
advances and the weather becomes warmer their speed increases, and 
by June they will travel 20 miles per day. Towards the middle of July 
again they begin to move more slowly. Many people wonder why 
they run in winter and spring, thinking it cannot be to spawn, as there 
is little appearance of spawn in them. There is little doubt, however, 
that it is to spawn, and if they did not run in winter and spring they 
would not be able to reach the head-waters in time, as frost and high and 
low water would keep them back. As it is, it takes them almost their 
whole time to reach their destination. Having so much energy they are 
able to ascend falls and surmount obstacles that autumn fish could not 
