THE SALMON TROUT 



499 



instinct is strong in the species, and the 

 fish swim in shoals during their migrations 

 to and from salt water. It is this that 

 makes Sea Trout a somewhat easy l)i"ey 

 for the net fishermen. The fish that 

 escape the nets are said to tra\-el at the 

 pace of twenty miles a day ; and they 

 hurry on until stopped by a high cas- 

 cade, or by a shallow which they fear to 

 cross. 



Assailed bv 



curiosity or hunger. 



Sea 



Salmon Trout to a day with the salmon, 

 for the smaller migrants often rise boldly 

 to the fly, and when hooked, they fight 

 with a courage and strength excelled by 

 no other fish of their size. The flies 

 used by anglers for Sea Trout are usually 

 gaudy, with tinsel bodies, and .t is prolmble 

 that they are mistaken by the fish for 

 the small fry upon which they feed in the 

 sea. 



The chief enemies of the Sea Trout in 



EVENING : WHEN SALMON TROUT RISE. 



Trout snap at a lure with boldness soon 

 after entering fresh water ; but a fish 

 that has been in the river for some 

 months is more cautious in accepting a 

 bait. These " pool-locked " or " pool- 

 bound " fish are by no means easy of cap- 

 ture : they conceal themselves very cun- 

 ningly, and regard all the angler's entice- 

 ments with suspicion. 



The voracity of Sea Trout under certain 

 conditions is very extraordinary. In a 

 peat-stained water, a hundred Salmon 

 Trout have been taken in one day by a 

 rod fisherman, employing a worm for 

 bait. Yet in brilliant weather and a 

 low state of the river, it is difiimlt to 

 capture half a dozen of these elusi\'e fish. 



As a sport, fishing for Sea Trout is 

 esteemed second to salmon fishing. There 

 are anglers who even prefer a day with 



fresh water are first and foremost the 

 poacher, who often drags the pools by 

 night with his sweep-net ; the fisherman, 

 \\iio uses the rod and fine fairly ; the 

 otter, the heron, and sometimes the 

 cormorant and the gull. Sea-birds of 

 prev are wont to follow the companies of 

 small Sea Trout up the rivers, and to 

 take toll of them. The herring gull wiU 

 seize a half-pound fish with ease, and 

 when these birds come up with the fish 

 in flocks, there is considerable loss of Sea 

 Trout. The otter catches a Sea Trout 

 here and there, when the water is low, 

 l)ut, as I have said before, otters are less 

 mischievous among fish than anglers 

 suppose. Only once during many years 

 by the ri\'erside ha\'e I seen a Sea Trout 

 that an otter has taken from the water. 

 This was on the banks of the Tcign, in 



