i;8 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



great, and that he has seen trout of I Ib. in weight 

 taken out of their stomachs. One of them which 

 took the fly, as his rod lay over the side of the boat, 

 weighed 7 Ibs., and was " the only one I ever saw 

 caught with a line." 



These mentions of the fish are over a century old, 

 but the great lake trout has been in evidence 

 ever since, but always in diminishing numbers and 

 weight, and Windermere, rather than Ullswater, 

 has, for the most part, had the honour of producing 

 it. A 7f Ibs. trout, taken in a " top " net near 

 Rawlinson's Nab, was pronounced an undoubted 

 6*. ferox. 



The facts to be gleaned from these old authors 

 is that the great lake trout ranges in weight from 

 3 Ibs. to 56 Ibs. (is it not somewhat strange that no 

 one ever seems to have seen a Ferox of less than 3 

 Ibs. in weight ?) ; that they feed on other fish, trout 

 for preference ; that they spawn in October and 

 November ; that they practically never take the 

 fly. 



From the following correspondence it will be 

 seen that about thirty years ago a number of 

 gentlemen interested in local fishery matters (all 

 of whom I believe were members of the Kent [Lake 

 District] Fishery Board) endeavoured to have the 

 identity of this great lake trout cleared up, the 

 late Major Elms sending to The Field two fish, 

 taken in Windermere, for inspection. 



MAJOR ELMS TO THE EDITOR OF "THE FIELD." 

 Great Lake Trout from Wi?idermere. 



I have forwarded you a box containing two fish. We 

 have had a discussion among ourselves as to what the fish 

 are, some saying they are salmon, others differing and 

 calling them white or bull-trout. If you will kindly have 



