ii4 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



found them similar. The two first mentioned I can show 

 you at home ; I owe them to the kindness of friends ; the 

 last you may see in the Museum of Keswick, which is worthy 

 of a visit on other accounts." l 



It is said that about sixty years since, a distinct 

 kind of sea-trout thought to have been a species 

 ran up the Derwent in large numbers in March, 

 and many were killed with both fly and worm. 

 The fish were "very blue on the back, and had 

 numerous dark spots on the sides." 2 These blue- 

 backs subsequently disappeared, and the opinion 

 was expressed that they were destroyed by the 

 coops, which were then in both night and day. It 

 seems that no one thought it worth while to 

 preserve one of these migratory strangers, and, 

 from the meagre description given, it is difficult to 

 surmise what they might be. 



Eels are abundant in Derwentwater and its 

 tributaries, and run up to 6 Ibs. in weight. Eel- 

 coops are on several of the rivers. 



1 The Angler in the Lake District, by Dr. Davy, 1857. 



2 Mr. J. S. Mawson, the Larches, Keswick, kindly writes 

 me concerning these fish : The salmon-trout, which came 

 up the Derwent about fifty years ago, were usually about 

 2 Ibs. in weight ; they were very blue on the back, and had 

 large spots on the sides. They came up the river in March. 

 When, a few years ago, I told the lessee of the Salmon Hall 

 Fishery that these fish had disappeared from the river, he 

 told me that the Peats, who rented the fishery for many 

 years, had kept the " coops " in until the new salmon-trout 

 were extinct. He added that the same fish were in a river 

 at Kirkcudbright, and that he would get some ova and intro- 

 duce them again. He was, however, soon after taken ill, 

 and I am afraid that he never got it done. 



