'52 SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 



of rivers, after they had remained long in them ; but they can- 

 not possibly be better than what is caught in the tide-way of 

 the rivers, where nine-tenths of the fish are now taken. We 

 would defy the most fastidious palate to discover a difference 

 between them, or to distinguish the one from the other on the 

 table. Mr Little, who was a great stake-net fisher, states on 

 this point, in the Committee, — 



" I do not consider that there is any diiference between a salmon 

 taken in the sea, or ia a river, provided he is taken soon after he 

 enters the fresh water. If he is taken in the course of a week after 

 he enters the river I do not consider him any worse ; hut few salmon 

 are allowed to remain a week in the river during the fishing season." 



Mr Hogarth, — 



" As to a salmon that has been in the river not above a week, I 

 don't suppose that it would be possible to know any difference between 

 him and one taken in the sea." 



Mr WUson, — 



" There is no difference whatever."* 



If we take the fishing altogether, the balance, even in point 

 of quality, is greatly against the stake-net mode of fishing ; be- 

 cause the farther the fish advance towards spawning the worse 

 they get in quality, and it is then that nearly the whole are 

 killed in stake-nets, which take few but during the summer 

 months. Thus, the Committee ask Johnstone, — 



" Generally speaking, dnring what period of the year would stake- 

 nets pay the expense 1 " — " I should think from April till Sep- 

 tember." 



" In what months of the year are the greatest munber of fish 

 usually caught 1 " — " Generally in the months of June and July, 

 but sometimes there are more salmon in May — but generally in June 

 and July. Sometimes in August there are more." 



These are, therefore, all very late fish — far advanced in spawn. 



* Salmon are always better for being a few days in their native water. It in- 

 creases, like crimping, the firmness of the fish — insomuch that while a salmon 

 caught in the morning in the sea is soft enough to be boiled and pickled the 

 same evening, one caught in the fresh water retains its firmness, and would 

 break in the kettle if boiled before next morning. The fish-curers or boilers 

 who are great epicures, always, accordingly, prefer for their own palates fish that 

 have been some days in fresh- water. 



