FONTINALIS 



brook trout and one of the salmon 

 trouts, and opinion favours such a pos- 

 sibility. Of true trout exceeding eight 

 pounds in weight I can only speak with 

 personal knowledge in a single instance, 

 and whatever prizes anglers of the past 

 may have secured, nowadays a five- 

 pound fish is rare enough, and one must 

 go far and fare hard for him. 



The steady decrease in the average 

 weight of trout taken in waters natural- 

 ly stocked and systematically fished 

 seems to be very significant. In a cer- 

 tain river where record is kept of all 

 catches over a pound in weight, the 

 average of such trout in twenty-five 

 years has fallen from three pounds to 

 one and three-quarter pounds, although 

 about the same number of " record" fish 

 are taken annually. In this water trout 

 of five, or even four pounds weight have 

 become uncommon, and six-pounders, 

 which were often met with in the early 

 days, chiefly exist as fish which the ang- 



53 



