TROUT FISHING. 175 



the tongue being rather of a pink colour. Another 

 excellent criterion, which wab explained to me by 

 Mr. Joseph Miller, the fishmonger in Piccadilly, is 

 the smallness and tightness of the vent; for the 

 better the trout is in season, the smaller will be that 

 venthole which is formed just before the under, or 

 belly, fin. And, after all, I prefer this, and one 

 other, way of deciding ; which is by the bright and 

 silver-like appearance of the scales. Take twenty 

 trout, and, I think, if you dress them all, and pre- 

 viously mark that one on which the scales shone the 

 brightest, it will prove to be the best fish. This may 

 be frequently ascertained, even before you land a 

 trout, as a bright one, on being first hooked, gene- 

 rally gives two or three leaps out of the water. 



Before you send trout on a journey, always have 

 them cleaned and gutted, and let them be laid on 

 their backs, and closely packed in willow (not flag) 

 baskets, and with either flags or dry wheat straw. 

 Packing in damp grass or rushes is apt to ferment, 

 and therefore liable to spoil your fish. 



