A LARGE TAKE BUTCHERY. II 



discrepancy between the ideal trouts of the plat- 

 form and the real trouts of the basket, we care not 

 to inquire ; but we wonder if the same angler will 

 ever again multiply the weight of his take by four, 

 or by any other figure, or whether, made wise by 

 experience, and by this crushing exposure, he will 

 carefully take note of the size of his fish before con- 

 signing them to his basket, and not trust to a hasty 

 glance to impress a memory which, let us charit- 

 ably suppose, may be defective. At all events, 

 people who do not put a padlock on their baskets 

 ought to put one on their mouths. 



Some anglers have also a habit of characterising 

 large takes as butchery ; the point where sport 

 stops and butchery commences lying about the 

 individual's greatest take. We cannot see the jus- 

 tice of an opinion that considers the capture of a 

 certain number of trout sport, and of twice that 

 number taken by the same means butchery. If 

 the sport of angling lies in the capture of fish, it 

 seems evident that the more fish the better sport ; 

 and it is our intention to treat of the different 

 branches of angling solely with the view of show- 

 ing how the greatest weight of trout can be cap- 

 tured in a given time. There are not many days 

 from May till October, in which an angler, thor- 

 oughly versed in all the mysteries of the craft, 

 should not kill at least twelve pounds weight of 

 trout in any county in the south of Scotland, not 



