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CHAPTER XII. 



SEA-TROUT. 



UNDER the general term sea-trout, are included the 

 salmo eriox, or bull-trout ; the salmo trutta, or salmon 

 trout ; and the salmo albus, a designation given by Dr. 

 Fleming to the Finnock or Herling. The salmo eriox, or 

 bull-trout, is a fish well known to Tweed anglers. It 

 attains occasionally a large size. I once saw an in- 

 dividual, taken out of the river Carron, in Ross-shire, 

 which weighed upwards of twenty-four pounds. They 

 have been caught in Tweed a stone weight, and I have 

 frequently, when rod-fishing, killed them weighing eight 

 pounds. They ascend in scanty numbers during the 

 Spring and Summer seasons, but are then in excellent 

 condition. On the whole, however, they are a coarse 

 fish, when compared with the solar, or salmon proper. 

 They want the same richness of taste ; and the internal 

 colour of the flesh is much fainter and less inviting. 

 Still there is no fish that I know of which affords, on 

 being hooked, such sport to the angler. In proportion 

 to their size, they are much stronger and more wayward 

 in their movements than the salmon, and test to a 

 greater extent the sufficiency of the tackle. Although, 

 as I have mentioned, comparatively scanty during the 

 Spring and Summer seasons, they ascend the river, on 

 the occurrence of a flood, in enormous quantities, at a 

 later period of the year. Betwixt the middle of October, 



