FISHING 



Mr. Plate's big rainbow trout mentioned in your paper 

 about a year ago (I could not find the reference) is probably 

 one of the biggest. Fish up to 2 Ibs. are fairly common. 

 The average of takable fish is a little over a pound at 

 least that is my experience, but more expert anglers may 

 have a much better average. 



Spasmodic attempts have been made in the past to breed 

 fish artificially from the imported stock ; but the difficulty 

 has been to find males in milt when the females are ripe. 

 No attempt, I believe, to breed fish artificially has so far 

 been a success. A few years ago the trout started breeding 

 naturally. Whether these naturally-bred fish are pure 

 rainbows or hybrids I do not know. But with the fish 

 now breeding naturally, there should be no difficulty in 

 stocking all the likely up-country streams, and it is possible 

 that the Ceylon Fishing Club may in a few years be in a 

 position to supply India with ova or fry. With this end in 

 view, the Club has lately been considering the question of 

 getting out an expert from home to build hatcheries, and 

 instruct them how to breed trout. 



As to the streams, they are all fine trout streams, with 

 plenty of natural food and plenty of good running water. 

 There is no danger of the carp fouling the water, as sug- 

 gested by you. The carp keep to the lakes and lower 

 portions of the Nuwara Eliya streams. They do not 

 wander far from the slack water. 



The Horton Plains stream, which is the finest bit of 

 stocked water here, is an ideal trout stream, combining all 

 the best qualities of English trout streams, except a regular 

 rise of fly. At its head it is a very small stream, with deep 

 holes and good " elbows," thickly fringed with rhododen- 

 dron bushes. One has to throw a fly very accurately to 

 drop it into these pools. There are good, gravelly shallows 



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