WHERE SALMON TROUT START FROM THE SEA. 



BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISH AND 



THEIR HAUNTS 



By WALTER M. GALLICHAN 



With Photographs by Mrs. C. G. GALLICHAN 



THE SALMON TROUT 



THERE are so many points of re- 

 semblance in the Salmon Trout to 

 the salmon, in structure, appear- 

 ance and habits, that the uninstructed 

 eye is apt to mistake these two members 

 of the Salmo family. A Salmon Trout of 

 five or six pounds is not very different 

 at a first glance from a small salmon, and 

 it is only when certain markings and some 

 variation in shape are indicated that the 

 difference can be seen between salmo 

 trutta, the Sea Trout, and salmo salar, 

 the salmon. 



I think it would be well if we described 

 this fish always as the Sea Trout, to dis- 

 tinguish it from the salmon and the brown 

 river trout. Sea Trout, or Salmon Trout, 

 are the companions of the salmon in 

 their migrations, and they are taken in 

 the salmon nets in the estuaries of rivers, 

 while in some parts of the country they 



are sold and eaten as " salmon " ; but 

 the Sea Trout never grows into a salmon, 

 though there are country folk who believe 

 that this development is a natural one. 



The Sea Trout, hke the salmon, breeds 

 in fresh water, and spends some months 

 of each year in the salt sea. It begins to 

 ascend the streams in the spring, in a 

 few parts of the kingdom ; but the usual 

 time for a " big run " of these fish is from 

 midsummer to the end of October or mid- 

 November. In the rivers of Dumfriesshire 

 and Galloway, the bigger Sea Trout 

 begin their migration from the bays in 

 Jtme, and this run is followed by an 

 ad\-ent of the smaller nomadic trout from 

 the sea, known locally as " herlings." 

 A herling weighs from half a pound to a 

 pound, and a Sea Trout from a pound 

 U}) to several pounds. In the Highlands 

 the smaller Sea Trout are called " fin- 



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