ON SEA TROUT 



the moor in addition to heavy waders, and not to be despised 

 as a contrast to the prospect of the morning. I had a de- 

 lightful reaction from despair to good spirits, and the satis- 

 faction which perhaps a successful prospector or pioneer feels 

 in a new country. The largest fish that day was under three 

 pounds, but I lost one or two good fish in sea weed, and saw 

 some much larger. 



We still had much to learn about that voe and the trout 

 there. They moved with the tide, and we had to understand 

 their habits and follow their movements. Sometimes the 

 burns had been in flood and brought down muddy fresh 

 water which floated on the top of the sea water. A good wind 

 soon carried this out to sea, but if the wind was blowing up 

 instead of down the voe, it dammed back all the burn water 

 at the head, and made fishing impossible. Much time was 

 spent in learning these and other tricks or secrets of the 

 place. 



Some of the trout in the sea were brown trout. The 

 largest we caught weighed four pounds and three-quarters, 

 and several were over two pounds. They were perfectly dis- 

 tinct from the sea trout, and had yellow under-sides and some 

 red spots, but their flesh was in colour and flavour that of sea 

 trout. We saw several grilse and small salmon jumping in 

 this voe, and in October they turned quite red without having 

 been in fresh water at all, but we did not succeed in hooking 

 any of them. I suppose that none of the large fish, neither 

 salmon, sea trout, nor brown trout, attempted to enter the 

 little burns till they were quite ready to spawn. They then 



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