504 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



to permit them to proceed, they were taken by dozens, in very 

 bad order, in the nets that were drawing for trout at the end 

 of the lake.' l The author of Observations chiefly Lithological 

 wrote in 1804 : 'The lake of Derwentwater has no char in it ; 

 only perch, or bass, as it is here called, eels, pike, and trout ; 

 and the salmon which pass through the lakes of Derwent and 

 Bassenthwaite from the river Cocker to spawn in the winter 

 season. In the month of May the salmon smelts, or fry as they 

 are called, are on their way to the ocean. They may then be 

 very easily caught. They are esteemed a great delicacy.' It is 

 sad that this noble fish has fallen upon evil days, when the 

 pollution of mines and factories invades its favourite pools, 

 while the direful pestilence of leprosy selects the finest fishes, 

 and destroys them piecemeal before ever a ' fresh ' can arrive to 

 sweep away their exhausted bodies into the wholesome currents 

 of the Irish Sea. The intervention of poachers in removing 

 diseased fish, if allowed full scope, would do something to 

 decrease the risks of contamination. Poachers unfortunately 

 cannot be trusted to destroy diseased fish. Usually they try to 

 sell the carcases, sending them to a purchaser in a basket full of 

 clothes going to the laundress, or disposing of them at a low rate 

 in rural public-houses. Quite recently two little boys, six years 

 of age, were discovered in a public-house in Carlisle, endeavour- 

 ing to dispose of an Eden Salmon on their own account. But 

 notwithstanding the ravages of disease, the finest and gamest 

 Salmon are taken as often as ever they were. It is believed 

 that the Eden produced the heaviest Salmon authenticated as 

 taken in Lakeland waters. It was not, however, a native of 

 this region, but a Liverpool angler, Mr. Frances, who secured 

 this prince of fishes. It was on the 9th of November 1888 

 that the fish was hooked in Cat Clint. Half an hour's fine play 

 followed before the fisherman landed his prize in Colley's Nab, 

 the next stream below. It proved to be a finely proportioned 

 male fish, measuring 51 inches in length and 29 inches in girth. 

 The breadth of the tail was 14 inches. The weight was regis- 

 tered at 55 J lbs. 2 



1 A Tour in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 50. 



2 Carlisle Express, Nov. 10, 1888. 



