LOCHLEVEN TROUT 19 



he will have to be content with quarter-pounders. 

 No one who calls hmself a fisherman should 

 hesitate to return to the river any fish of less 

 than this weight. 



Of recent years many of our rivers have been 

 stocked with Lochleven trout ; nor for shape, 

 dash, and edible qualities can they be surpassed. 

 The shape of a true Lochleven fish is, I consider 

 as perfect as it can be, and there is as much differ- 

 ence between the lines of such fish and those of 

 the ordinary trout as there is between those of a 

 racing-yacht and a coal-brig. They are very bold 

 and fight hard, though after the first brilliant rush, 

 which is more like that of a salmon, they speedily 

 give in. Many a time I have hooked one of 

 these fish in our Hampshire streams, and for the 

 moment believed that I had caught some veteran 

 monster ; but on reeling up and landing it, 

 have been not a little surprised to find a fish of 

 but a pound and a half or thereabouts. When 

 they first feel the hook they will at times spring 

 high into the air and try one's tackle sorely, espe- 

 cially if they are of any size and in good condition. 

 In colour they differ considerably from the brown 

 trout, and are more silvery ; the red spots, too, 

 are absent. Their flesh is as pink as that of a 

 sea-trout, and the flavour peculiarly delicate. Nor 

 do I think that, although the original fish come 

 from Lochleven itself a loch in which there are 



