176 SALMON AND TROUT. 



which he saw and weighed himself that was a trifle over nine- 

 teen pounds. This was taken from Loch Awe. I remember, 

 however, in Windermere, where I used to go out occasionally 

 night-trolling for ferox, the fisherman would entertain me 

 with stories of monster fish taken within his knowledge, be- 

 ginning, I think, at about twenty pounds, and progressing night 

 after night — perhaps to stimulate my flagging energies — until 

 I should say that the limit reached by the chronicle attained 

 something like thirty-five or forty pounds. 



In the neighbourhood of Loch Awe there are also traditions 

 of exceeding giants — twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five pounds — 

 but these are not to be found in the records of any living 

 angler, and when we hear yarns about these leviathans caught 

 by the fishermen of a former generation, we are reminded of the 

 Scotchman's retort as to the size of the fish caught by his rivals : 

 'They're nae bigger fish, but only bigger leers.' In some of the 

 continental and American waters the above weights, exaggerated 

 as they doubtless are, are dwarfed by comparison into insignifi- 

 cance. Lakes Michigan and Superior abound with monster 

 trout of such a size as to set at defiance all attempts to capture 

 them with rod and line. One of the smaller sized of these fish 

 (weighing only seventy-two pounds !) was, however, actually 

 caught by a fisherman in Lake Huron. Some curious facts 

 respecting the habits of the Huron trout are mentioned by 

 Featherstonhaugh in his * Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor.' 

 ' Upon one occasion,' he says, * Mr. Riddle caught one of the 

 great trout of this lake, which when it was drawn up, had a large 

 white-fish {Coregonus albus) in its throat, with the tail sticking 

 out of its mouth, whilst inside the trout's stomach were two 

 more white-fish, each weighing about ten pounds. In the lake 

 of Geneva the trout run also to a monstrous size, but whether 

 they are identical with the Sal/no ferox is very doubtful. For- 

 merly it was supposed that they were, but Agassiz pronounces 

 to the contrary. Dr. Henry Bennett, of Mentone, is one of 

 the few Englishmen that I know personally who has had any 

 sport in trolling for these Geneva trout. His description of 



