TROUT. 35 



The best criterion to judge whether a Trout is 

 in season or not, is by the bright and silver-like 

 appearance of the scales, or by the smallness and 

 tightness of the vent ; for the better the Trout is 

 in season, the smaller will be the vent-hole, which is 

 formed just before the under, or belly fin, 



Before you send Trout on a journey, always 

 have them cleaned and gutted, and let them be 

 laid on their backs, and closely packed in a willow 

 basket with dry straw. Packing in damp grass 

 or rushes is apt to ferment, and therefore liable to 

 spoil the fish. 



The following extraordinary instance of the 

 growth of Trout has occurred in a pond belonging 

 to H. Dixon, Esq. at Ashford near Brecon : Five 

 Trout, weighing together not more than a pound 

 and a half in October, 1826, on being taken out in 

 August, 1828, were found to weigh twenty pounds 

 and a half, the largest being five pounds and a half. 



There is in many rivers, especially in such as 

 empty themselves into the sea, a little Trout called 

 the Skegger, which will readily take any small fly, 

 and will bite at the worm and maggot as fast and 

 as freely as minnows ; it never exceeds the size of a 

 Herring. 



