278 THE ERIOX IN COQUET. 



ton Stream ; then they commenced to feed all of a sudden, 

 and for the space of half an hour the surface of the 

 water was kept in a perpetual boil with rising fish, and 

 I succeeded in creeling twenty-three trout, in little over 

 as many minutes, after landing two, and on two occa- 

 sions three at a time, without ever moving more than a 

 yard or two up or down from the spot. They then as 

 suddenly ceased to rise as they had begun, and although 

 I continued fishing for upwards of an hour afterwards, 

 both up and down the river, I never could take another 

 trout that day. For this capricious behaviour in trout 

 it is difficult to account ; but every experienced sports- 

 man will probably have met with it, in many other 

 rivers besides the Coquet. Even in their best humours, 

 I have frequently observed the trout in this river feed 

 by similar fits and starts. For the space of half an hour 

 or so, not a single fish will be seen to move ; then all 

 of a sudden, perhaps during a sunny blink, " the feed 

 comes on the water," as the native fishers term it, in the 

 shape of a fresh flight of natural flies, and the whole river 

 is instantly thrown into commotion with their risings ; 

 when, if the flies the angler uses are fair counterfeits of 

 those they are feeding upon, he may speedily turn them 

 to good account. 



ERIOX OR BULL-TROUT IN THE COQUET. 



The eriox or bull-trout frequents the Coquet, and 

 affords excellent sport, little if at all inferior to the true 

 salmon, as they are strong, game fish, attaining occasion- 



