FRESH-WATER TROUT— REGAINING CONDITION, INJURIES. 215 



where fish are larger they seem to take longer attaining a fit state for the angler,* 

 and in some waters all are not in condition by the middle of April. Ephemera 



(1853) observed, " I never saw a trout in prime season before May The 



trout season ought to be fixed from 1st April to 13th August" (p. 274). 



Streams differ considerably as to the time at which the trout in them recoup 

 themselves, partly consequent at the period they spawn, and partly owing to the 

 amount and variety of their food, for this may be natural or even artificial as 

 when obtained from sewers emptying into rivers. Early spawners without good 

 and nourishing food on which to mend are not early ready for the table. 



Diseases and injuries. — These have already been considered, first when in the 

 young stage (p. 45 aiite) and under the head of Salmon (p. 109 et seq.) and sea 

 trout (p. 180 ante). Some coarse fish, as roach,f are sometimes found to be 

 injurious to trout, for they may augment in such numbers as to consume the food 

 which would otherwise form the diet of the Salmonidse : similarly minnows may 

 starve young trout. In Land and Water, May 6th, 1882, Mr. Hearder of Plymouth, 

 described how a trout about 11 in. long was hooked in the Plym, and which on 

 being landed was found to have an india-rubber band over the head. It had 

 slipped backwards and had got partly under the gill-covers where it was com- 

 pressing the gills, and had deeply furrowed the isthmus. The fish was in splendid 

 condition. Leeches, Piscicola geometra, are often injurious to trout. 



Legislation. — Many anglers in England are of opinion that it would be better 

 for sport were the opening of the trout season never to commence before the 

 middle of March, which even then is early, except for some streams in Wales and 

 Devonshire. J 



Salmon preservers seem to generally believe that the trout by consuming 

 salmon eggs and the fry, becomes one of the greatest enemies they have ; but it 

 is not very probable that any considerable number of the former are extracted 

 from redds if such are at the usual depth : but that they will eat salmonoid ova if 

 they get the chance is well known, even parent fish having been observed to devour 

 their own eggs as they were being deposited — while salmon kelts kill numerous 

 small trout. 



* It was also observed in The Field that, " Perhaps these conditions are exactly reversed in 

 the case of the rich and luscious chalk streams, where the trout are almost of a different species, 

 rurming to a much larger size, breeding later and more sparingly, and requiring a long rest and 

 some nutritious feeding to regain their grand proportions of fine condition. I can easily imagine 

 how the happy members of the Houghton Club, who patiently bide their time for the well- 

 nurtured and highly- educated leviathans of the Hampshire rivers, might look down with 

 contempt upon the easy sport of March fishing on Welsh or Devonshire streams, and jeer at 

 impatient anglers who rejoice to face an easterly wind for the capture of a dozen or two of small 

 but delicious trout that scarcely make up a satisfying dish for a rustic appetite." 



f " Roach V. Trout. A 7-aore artificial lake was stocked with these two forms. As the former 

 have increased in numbers the trout seem to diminish in size. Some time ago when the roach 

 were very scarce, there were trout up to 31b., and the average was over Ijlb. Now it is very 

 seldom that a trout is got over 1 lb." — Field, April 26th, 1884. 



J Mr. Pritt, in The Field, April 17th, 1886, observed, " Eef erring to the letter of ' Amicus,' in 

 The Field of the 10th, your correspondent speaks of the ' few rivers where trout are allowed to be 

 taken on Feb. 2nd ;' he is possibly unaware that, so far as the conservators are concerned, this is 

 the case with some rivers in Lancashire and with every river in Yorkshire, and the streams, of the 

 latter county alone are more than can fairly be caUed ' a few.' Where a later date for opening 

 has been fixed in these rivers it is through the action of the local clubs, and these do not by any 

 means cover the whole length of the fishable water. The result is that, on those stretches which 

 are protected neither by the water bailiffs of the conservators (who devote their attention mainly 

 to salmon) nor by the rules of the local associations, an amount of fish destruction goes on in the 

 earlier part of the season which it is pitiable to hear of. Neither size nor condition is allowed to 

 overrule the belief that all is fish that comes to the net." 



Mr. J. Naden, Field, March 5th, 1887, writing from Hartingdon, Derbyshire, remarked, " I 

 think (at least for this part of the country, North Derbyshire and North Staffordshire) the fishing 

 season both closes and opens too soon. The trout here are in good condition till the middle of 

 October. They are in as good condition at the end of October as they are at the beginning of 

 March. At the time I am writing this (February 24th) numbers of them are in the little rivulets 

 spawning. But unless in other parts of this river, and in other rivers, the trout spawn much 

 earlier than they do here, I think the Board would do well to reconsider the close time for them 

 — i.e., if the time is fixed by the Board, and not by the Imperial Legislature." 



