TROUT FISHING. 259 



are constantly taken, with the fly, of ten pounds weight and upward ; 

 and sometimes, in the lakes of Ireland and Cumberland, in the Black- 

 water, Coquet, and Stour rivers, attain to the enormous bulk of twenty- 

 six and thirty pounds. 



" With regard to the second point of distinction, I have never heard 

 of a Trout being taken at all in the Hudson ; never in the Delaware, 

 even so far up as Milfbrd, where the tributaries of that river abound 

 in large and well-fed fish ; never in the lower waters of the Connec- 

 ticut, or any Eastern river so far as the Penobscot, although the head 

 waters of all these fine and limpid rivers teem with fish of high color 

 and flavor. In Great Britain, on the contrary, it is to the. larger, if 

 not to the largest, rivers that the angler- looks altogether for good 

 sport and large fish ; and it is there as rare a thing to take a fish a 

 pound weight in a rivulet or brook, as it is here to catch a Trout at 

 all in a large river. 



" In Canada, and in the British Provinces to the eastward of Maine, 

 it is true that Sea Trout, or Salmon Peel, are taken of large • size in 

 the St. Lawrence, and in the rivers falling into the bays of Gaspe" and 

 Chaleurs ; but although occasionally confounded with the Trout proper, 

 this is in truth a totally different fish, and one, so far as I know, which 

 is never taken in any of the waters of the United States. , 



" In appearance, the Brook Trout of America and Great Britain 

 are to my eye almost identical ; both presenting, in well-fed and 

 well-conditioned fish, the same smallness of head, depth of belly, 

 and breadth of back ; the same silvery lustre of the scales, and the 

 same bright crimson spots. The flesh of the American fish, when 

 in prime order, and taken in the best waters, is, I must confess, of a 

 deeper red hue, and of a higher flavor, than that of any which it has 

 been my fortune to taste at home — and I have often eaten the Thames 

 Trout, which, rarely taken below ten pounds in weight, are esteemed 

 by epicures the very best of the species. 



" We travel now, be it observed, by railroad to our fishing stations, 

 but for the convenience of reviewing the country, and scanning the 

 waters, in regular succession as we pass eastward, I will suppose that, 

 as in the pleasant days of, old, we are rolling along in our light wagon, 

 over the level roads, on a mild afternoon in the latter days of March, 

 or the first of April. 



