CHAR— BEITISH, HOW CAPTURED. 243 



asserted that these fish -were scarcely to be found, but continued that this had 

 happened before, and his father had told him that they had been absent for seven 

 years at a time. Although it has been observed that they never were very plentiful 

 in Loch Leven, we have James M' Gill's evidence that he had seen two half -boll 

 sacks filled with char caught by poachers during the spawning season in the 

 North Queich between Lethangie and Lathro. 



It would seem to be by no means unlikely that three causes have been at work 

 to destroy these fishes from Loch Leven : (1) indiscriminate slaughter, especially 

 during the spawning season ; (2) decrease in the depth of the water of the lake 

 following the drainage works, and (3) diminution of food occasioned by the 

 drying up of the margins of the loch where snails and other suitable nourishment 

 was previously in abundance. 



Means of capture. — Char are not so sporting a fish as trout, being more 

 nocturnal in their habits and living in deeper waters. But in some localities 

 they are found feeding at the surface and taking artificial flies* or other lures.f 

 In Windermere they are netted in deep water, cubbies being the name applied to 

 these fisheries.! ^- B. L. in The Field (January 22nd, 1887), observed — " All the 

 earlier fish appearing in the markets are so taken, but as the weather becomes 

 milder (say towards Whitsuntide), the nets are used in a different manner, so 

 manipulated as to fish in mid-water only, the char having now come nearer the 

 surface. But by far the most important and interesting means of taking char 

 here is by means of the plumb-line (see p. 235 ante). . . . The baits usually used 

 are artificial, pieces of metal silvered on one side, copper, red, green, or brown on 

 the other, spinning from either the head or tail. Minnows can be used in the 

 same way, spoon baits too, and both the blue Phantom and Gamet-qtiill 

 minnows have been tried successfully. Still the natives prefer the metal baits, 

 and the sizes used for ordinary trout are of course the correct ones. Usually two 

 such lines as the above are worked by each boat, and the fisherman shows 

 considerable skill in his manipulation of them and rowing his craft along at a 

 proper speed at the same time — the latter is just sufficient to keep the baits 

 spinning and the tackle taut. The boatman knows the ground char frequent, and 

 the nature of the bottom too, for should he come upon rocks and weeds his tackle 

 gets entangled, and a big smash must almost inevitably result. ... In Ooniston 

 Water, Bassenthwaite, Ennerdale, &c., this fish is taken by similar means, but in 

 smaller quantities. In Hawes Water and Goats Water, as already stated, it rises 

 to the fly pretty freely, but it is seldom caught in any other north of England 

 lake, excepting by nets and with the plumb-line. ... In the lake of Llanberris, 

 where char are likewise fairly numerous, they are usually taken in nets, as they 

 are in Lough Esk (co. Donegal) and in many other waters. In The Field of 

 August 6th, 1883, a description of a night's char fishing appears, the correspondent 

 using worms as bait. He appears to have had good sport, fishing from a boat, 

 using two hooks properly baited about half a yard apart. Many years ago char 

 were taken in the English lake district both with worm and salmon roe, but this 

 was when they were spawning. I believe that the char rising best to the fly in 

 Scotland are those of Loch Doon, in Ayrshire ; but they also take fly fairly freely 

 in Loch Knockie, Inverness, during October; in the Tarfi", Kirkcudbright, also late 



* Mr. Bantook, Lochs and Rivers of Sutherland, observed "char abound in scores of the 

 Sutherland lochs, but they are very rare risers to the fly, and have never been taken by any other 

 lure." 



t E. B. L. likewise observed that " some thirty years or so ago most of the char fishing on 

 Windermere, &c., was done by means of the ' otter ' or ' lath,' as it was locally called. Both flies 

 and spiiming baits, natural and artificial, were attached to the line ; but, the fish being near the 

 surface only during the summer months, such mode of fishing had but a short season. It wiU be 

 between forty and fifty years ago since a Mr. Spencer, from Manchester, first introduced the 

 plumb-line into the Lake district, no doubt his method being an adaptation from the one used in 

 mackerel and some other sea fishing. Mr. Spencer, a capital angler himself, had the bestof 

 tackle, and contrived to kill large quantities of char ; his success, season after season, speedily 

 induced imitators, and the plumb-line did not take long to become established." 



t Praser, On the Salmon, dtc, 1833, p. 71, remarked, " I find that last season a man having a 

 blaze of fir broom or heather in the left hand and a hoop or pock-net in the right, could fish up 

 as many (char) as a net can do." 



16 * 



