68 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 



thicker, and the tail more muscular. In short, it is 

 altogether a more thick and powerful fish than the 

 salmon, and consequently gives the angler more 

 sport ; but to the epicure it gives less, as it is in- 

 ferior in flavour and colour, and if not very fresh 

 from the sea its flesh is short and woolly. It is 

 very much the colour of the salmon, but tinted 

 with grey or brown spots. 



These fish are found in many salmon rivers, but 

 not in all. It is very abundant in the Tweed, which 

 it visits principally at two seasons ; in the spring 

 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 cal- 

 culate 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 hah . 1 



The heaviest bull trout I ever encountered my- 

 self 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 



1 Instances of bull trout much heavier than this have been recorded 

 in the Tay and other northern rivers. ED. 



