CHAR 



In England these fish are found only in the Cumberland and Westmor- 

 land lake district, Windermere being the most productive lake, in which 

 they have been taken up to 2J lb. in weight. The largest recorded as 

 caught by angling weighed 1 lb. 6 oz.* In North Wales there are about 

 half a dozen lakes in the Snowdon district containing char. 



In Ireland char are very widely distributed from Donegal to Kerry, 

 and it is remarkable that in that island they are by no means confined 

 to deep water, appearing to be quite at home in the small bog loughs 

 of Innishowen; but they are said to have disappeared from Lough 

 Neagh, the largest sheet of fresh water in the United Kingdom. 



Interesting and beautiful as are all varieties of char, and excellent as 

 a well -cooked dish when fresh, most people have made their acquaintance 

 only in a potted state, which gives no proper notion of their delicacy of 

 flavour. From the angler's point of view, as has been said above, they have 

 not much merit. In the English lake district a considerable number are 

 taken on a spinning -bait sunk to great depths on a plumb line, and Mr 

 John Watson has recorded how a certain local angler took seventy char 

 out of Gaits Water, his bait being a grub or gentle which he cast as a fly, 

 let it sink, and then drew it through the water with a jerking movement.f 

 Char have also been taken in fair numbers with a worm;$ but none of 

 these methods present any attraction to the honest angler, and the bulk 

 of the annual catch falls to the netsman. That this is considerable may 

 be judged from the return given by Mr John Watson from Windermere 

 alone, viz., 23,589 lb. of char in six seasons, 1893-1898, being an average 

 of 3,965 lb. per annum, valued at Is. per lb. As the fish do not average 

 more than half a pound in weight, this represents the capture of about 

 8,000 char annually in Windermere. The English Salmon Fishery Com- 

 missioners having reported the serious depletion of char in the English 

 and Welsh lakes owing to the practice of netting them during the 

 spawning season, a close time extending from October 2 to February 1 

 inclusive was imposed by the Salmon Fisheries Act of 1873; since which 

 time char are reported to have increased considerably in numbers. This 

 close time applies only to English and Welsh waters. 



*The English Lake District Fisheries, by John Watson, p. 206. ^IM, p. 207. 



I"In September, 1879, an angler with a worm bait captured in one evening 23 lb. weight of char (in Llanberis 

 Lake, North Wales] ; and as soon as the news got abroad, many others took to angling for these fish, and all had good 

 sport . . . Some days hundreds of quarrymen might be seen fishing . . . while as much as 45 lb. a day has fallen to 

 the share of one rod." (Day's British and Irish Salmonidcc, p. 234.) 



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