144 THE BULL TROUT. 



the fresh water, acquire so much the colour as well as the form 

 of the common trout, that it requires a very practised eye to 

 detect the difference. 



There is no fish that affords better sport when hooked than the 

 bull trout, being a remarkably powerful one, and a thorough game 

 to boot, evincing evident proofs of his displeasure when 

 hooked, and struggling most desperately to break free, though 

 by his extreme violence he tires himself out the quicker, and if 

 skilfully managed is much sooner subdued than a salmon of the 

 same dimensions. 



This fish is far less highly esteemed than the salmon trout, the 

 flesh rarely if ever acquiring the beautiful pink hue that distin- 

 guishes the latter, being of a dull orange colour, growing gradually 

 lighter the longer it remains in the fresh water. But though infe- 

 rior to the salmon trout in flavour, it is a fish by no means to be 

 despised as an article of food, being superior to most fish that are 

 to be met with in our rivers ; and were it not that their external 

 resemblance to the salmon, induces persons to expect a fish of 

 similar flavour, it would bear a much higher character than it at 

 present obtains. If there was any species of perch, pike, or carp, 

 that tasted like it, it would acquire a first rate reputation ; all its 

 ill fame is owing to its inferiority to the nobler members of the 

 salmon family, with whom it is its fate to be connected. 



