70 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



about the month of May, and again in the month of 

 October, when the males are very plentiful ; but 

 the females are scarce till about the beginning or 

 middle of November. With Salmon it is the reverse, 

 as their females leave the sea before the males. The 

 Bull Trout is also more regular in his habits than 

 the Salmon, for the fishermen can calculate almost 

 to a day when the large black male Trouts will leave 

 the sea. The foul fish rise eagerly at the fly, but the 

 clean ones by no means so. They weigh from two 

 to twenty-four pounds, and occasionally, I presume, 

 but very rarely indeed, more. The largest I ever 

 heard of was taken in the Hallowstell fishing water 

 at the mouth of the Tweed, in April, 1840, and 

 weighed twenty-three pounds and a half. 



The heaviest Bull Trout I ever encountered myself 

 weighed sixteen pounds, and I had a long and severe 

 contest with his majesty. He was a clean fish, and 

 I hooked him in a cast in Mertoun Water called the 

 Willow Bush, not in the mouth, but in the dorsal fin. 

 Brethren of the craft, guess what sore work I had 

 with him ! He went here and there with apparent 

 comfort and ease to his own person, but not to mine. 

 I really did not know what to make of him. There 

 never was such a hector. I cannot say exactly how 

 long I had him on the hook ; it seemed a week at 

 least. At length John Haliburton, who was then 

 my fisherman, waded into the river up to his middle, 

 and cleiked him whilst he was hanging in the stream, 

 and before he was half beat. 



Besides the three species I have mentioned, I 

 have sometimes, though very rarely, caught a fish 



