194 LOCH-FISIIING. 



trout. In this last respect they certainly surpass 

 those that are found in rivers, being in some lochs 

 quite equal, if not superior, to the salmon itself, and 

 cutting much redder in the flesh. 



Most of those acquainted with the subject are 

 of opinion that loch-trout are of the same species 

 as those which are found in rivers, and that their 

 distinctive characteristics are entirely the result of 

 feeding. In some lochs, in addition to the common 

 trout, the Salmo ferox is found a large coarse 

 species, chiefly predatory in its habits, but affording 

 excellent play when hooked. This fish is occasion- 

 ally caught of great size, and numbers have been 

 caught weighing from ten to twenty pounds. One 

 was caught in 1866 by William Muir, Esq., of 

 Innistrynich, which completely surpasses any that 

 we have ever heard of. This patriarch of the species 

 weighed 39! pounds, and measured 3 feet 9 inches 

 in length, and 2 feet 2\ inches in girth. 



What is remarkably strange, it was taken by Mr. 

 Muir with fly^ when engaged in angling for salmon 

 in the river Awe, where it leaves the loch of the 

 same name, and landed after a run of upwards of 

 two hours, during which Mr. Muir had to cross the 

 river in a boat which fortunately was at hand. 

 What age this fish was it is impossible to conjecture. 

 It was, as its dimensions prove, a well-conditioned 

 fish, and had the curvature of the upper jaw 

 which is usually considered to betoken age very 

 strongly developed. Conjecture and imagination 



