276 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



displayed by English and Welsh char. Salmo (Salvelinus} 

 Grayi is the " fresh-water herring " of Lough Melvin. The 

 pectoral fins are longer than those of Cole's char. Both 

 varieties are marked with pink or orange spots on the sides. 

 British char do not take high rank as a sporting fish owing 

 to their chronically abysmal habits ; nevertheless, they are 

 Angling for highly prized by sportsmen on account of their 

 Char, beauty and mystery. To put it colloquially, they 

 have all the makings of a game fish, but their mode of 

 life makes them difficult of access. In the north of Europe 

 char, both the exclusively fresh-water species and a sea-going 

 variety or species, rise freely to the fly, and run to weights 

 of 3 Ib. and 4 Ib. But in our islands it is the exception to 

 kill char with the artificial fly, even in lakes which are known 

 to contain great shoals of them. A good basket of trout, 

 says Mr. Watson, from Haweswater or Windermere, is pretty 

 sure to contain a char or two ; but although they come to the 

 surface and feed greedily when the May-fly and bracken-clock 

 are on, and again in autumn when winged ants are about, 

 they spend most of the summer in the depths, hunting small 

 crustaceans, as is supposed. Locally, when char take to 

 surface-feeding, they are said to be u belbing." 



The usual way of taking char with the rod in the English 

 lake is with a couple of ash saplings about 12 feet long 

 placed in the stern of a boat. To each line is attached a 

 plumb of lead weighing i^- Ib. or 2 Ib., above which are 

 attached four to six tail-lines carrying metal spinning-baits. 

 No reel is used ; the line, about 26 yards long, trails behind 

 the boat as it is rowed over the deep water, and a bell on 

 each rod gives warning when a fish has struck. Six to eight 

 fish, averaging half a pound, are reckoned a fair day's take ; 

 a score of char is considered unusual fortune at the present 

 time, but it is on record that, many years ago, one boat with 

 two men took seventy-five in a single day. The annual 

 charge for a licence for plumb-line fishing is 5^. Far the 



