FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 weary of one who writes much in the first person, and to do so is destruc- 

 tive of all grace in literature; but, after all, in dealing with facts, one can 

 speak with more confidence upon matter within his own experience than 

 he can upon mere hearsay. That may serve, I hope, as an excuse for 

 describing in a few words my personal experience with S. fontinalis. There 

 are two lakes on my property wherein, owing to the absence of pike, 

 there is good store of trout. Into one of these, a basin about one -third 

 of a mile in length, were turned some years ago one hundred yearling 

 fontinalis. Although the lake is fished very constantly with fly (I suppose 

 that between April 15 and September 15 the boat is out with anglers on an 

 average of at least three days a week), I never heard that a sin^e fontinalis 

 was recaptured. It was surmised that they had made their escape down the 

 burn which connects the lake with the sea about half a mile distant. 



The other lake is a very small one, only about five acres in extent and, 

 being fed by the springs, there is hardly any spawning ground for trout, 

 and the stock has to be replenished each year by turning in yearlings 

 or two -year -olds. Food is exceedingly abundant and common trout grow 

 fast to a large size. The outlet is closed by an iron grating. Into this 

 lake also one hundred yearling fontinalis were turned. The angling here 

 is reserved for myself and a few personal friends. The year after these 

 fish were released, I caught a lovely one weighing about | lb., and high 

 was my expectation of sport when another year should have added to the 

 stature of his fellows. Not one of those fellows ever came to hand. What 

 became of them no one knows. They could not escape from the loch, for 

 the exit was barred; if they had died, surely some of their bodies would 

 have been washed ashore. All we know is that they disappeared. 



The experience of others who have turned these American char into 

 streams has been similar. They will not abide in British waters, and must 

 be dismissed with a sigh from the list of British game fishes. 



British char possess far more interest for the gourmet and the zoologist 

 than for the fiy -fisher — ^for the gourmet, because of the exquisite delicacy 

 of flavour in these fish when taken in the proper season — ^for the zoologist, 

 because of the suggestive irregularity of their distribution. Being more 

 impatient of warmth than trout, char live and feed in deep water; and 

 although bumble -clocks and winged ants do tempt them to the surface, and 

 at times, in some lakes, they cruise about in shoals, it is not worth anybody's 

 while to lay his account for a day's fly-fishing for char. A brace or two of 

 these lovely fish in a good basket of trout may be considered a fair catch, 

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