1 86 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



but I have failed to discover it although I have 

 frequently fished the tarn. 



It is difficult to say whether the gwyniad more 

 resembles the herring or the trout it is rounder 

 than the former, thicker set than the latter. 

 The local name "skelly" is probably from the 

 large scales with which the fish is covered. The 

 Welsh name gwyniad has reference to the silvery 

 whiteness of the fish. 



I have frequently of late had the opportunity of 

 observing the habits of the gwyniad in Haweswater. 

 The fish are gregarious ; the shoals comprise a 

 great number of individuals ; and in fine, warm 

 weather they frequently move and play about on 

 the surface of the water. It has frequently been 

 stated that the gwyniad does not take the fly. It 

 would be truer to say that it does not habitually 

 take flies. When the fish are swimming on the 

 surface of the water on a warm evening they may 

 be seen to take small flies, and I have myself taken 

 a gwyniad on a trout-fly. It is also within my 

 personal knowledge that a trout, a char, and a 

 gwyniad have been taken on a red-spinner (on a 

 No. 3 hook) on the same day. 



The gwyniad is however essentially a coarse fish. 

 It is almost invariably taken by netting, and, like 

 most coarse fish, its flesh is poor and insipid. 



The gwyniad deposits its spawn, not in tributary 

 streams, but on the sides of the lake, and spawning 

 takes place in April and May, the fish again coming 

 into condition by the end of June. 



The large draughts of " skellies " have often been 

 alluded to. Details of one such draught in Hawes- 

 water I had from one of the netters Mr. Noble 

 Ewebank, a tenant of the Earl of Lonsdale. The 



