AND HOW TO CATCH HIM. 



December, though some are not unfrequently found in spawn as 

 late as February, Previously to spawning a great number of trout, 

 particularly the smaller ones, leave the main stream and ascend 

 the tributary rills, where they are less disturbed by violent floods, 

 though many still remain and deposit their spawn in the main 

 stream. The earliest time of the year 1 remember to have seen a 

 trout with the rudiments of a hard roe, was one I caught in the 

 Tamar on the 2nd of February, 1837. The eggs then were about 

 the size of mustard seed. 



There are many criterions by which it is said the season or con- 

 dition of this fish may be determined ; and on this their appears 

 to be just as many opinions. The best, however, seems to be a 

 small head, thick shoulders, hog back, and well rounded at the 

 dorsal fin?, deep body, tight vent, and bright scales. But the 

 spots of the skin, though generally so considered, I have found by 

 no means a satisfactory proof of the condition of the fish ; and the 

 beautiful marigold yellow, which Walton refers to in such glowing 

 colours when describing the magnificent trout he had just before 

 taken, and which he judged sufficient to fill six reasonable bellies, is 

 not at all times to be relied on, as many an ill-seasoned fish may 

 be found with sides as yellow as may be, and yet a very ill-condi- 

 tioned fish notwithstanding, whilst many of the highest seasoned 

 may be met with, whose sides are of a dull greyish cast, which I 

 have particularly remarked in trout that inhabit large standing 

 waters. 



After spawning trout lose their beautiful colour and form, the for- 

 mer not being in the surface but immediately beneath the skin, like 

 the colour in the human race, is easily affected by the bodily health 

 of the fish, which when in ill health instead of turning paler, on the 

 contrary changes to a dusky hue, whilst the head increases in size, 

 and the body becomes lanky and thin, at which times they are also 

 infested with a kind of vermin in form like a clove that stick to them 

 like leaches, and sucking out their moisture prove highly injurious to 

 their health. The females, as may naturally be expected, are much 

 more reduced after spawning than the males. As the season ad- 

 vances so the condition of the trout improves, though the degree 

 of improvement depends in a great measure in the nature of 

 the food, as does also the colour of the flesh, which in trouts taken 

 out of some of the best of our rivers and lakes is of a fine pink 

 colour, though this colour is by no means universal, as in some 



c 



