The preceding hints on trout fishing may with some exceptions, be adopted by the salmon and salmon peal fisher; before I proceed however to offer a few observations on the mode of fishing for these fish, a brief notice of the natural history of the trout may not be unacceptable.
The common trout is an inhabitant of most of the rivers and lakes of Great Britain. It is a voracious feeder and is vigilant, cautious, and active. During the day, the larger sized fish move little from their accustomed haunts, but towards evening and during the night, they rove in search of small fish, insects, and their various larvæ, upon which they feed with eagerness.
The young trout fry may be seen throughout the day, sporting in the shallow gravelly scours of the stream, where the want of sufficient depth of water, or the greater caution of larger and older fish prevent their appearance. Though vigilant and cautious in the extreme, the trout is also bold, and active. A pike and a trout put into a confined place together, had several battles for a particular spot, but the trout was eventually the master. This fish varies considerably in appearance in different localities; so much so, as to induce a belief that several species exist. Lord Home, however, who has paid much attention to the subject, remarks, “I am much inclined to think there is but one kind of river trout; the large lake trout may be different.”
Sir Wm. Jardine, in a paper on Salmonidæ, has described at considerable length, the variations observable in the trout of some of the lakes of Sutherlandshire. The fish in these lakes are reddish, dark, or silvery, according to the clearness of the water.
Mr. Neil, in his tour, notices the black moss trout of Loch Knitching, and Loch Katrine, is said to abound also with small black trout; an effect considered to be produced in some waters by receiving the drainage of boggy moors. In streams that flow rapidly over gravelly or rocky bottoms, the trout are remarkable for the brilliancy and beauty of their spots and colours. Thus, in our immediate neighbourhood, we find that the trout caught between Shaugh Bridge and Plym Steps, on the river Cad, are generally very dark, approaching in some instances almost to a black; whilst on the Tavy, below Denham Bridge, they will be found of a light silvery hue; so also on the Yealm—those taken below Lee Mill Bridge, are of a bright sparkling appearance, whilst others caught in Horns and Dendles, or on the moor above, are generally very dark, and in some of the pools which seldom enjoy the rays of the sun, are almost black.
The author of the “Wild Sports of the West of Ireland” remarks, “I never observed the effect of bottom soil upon the quality of fish so strongly marked as in the trout taken in a small lake, in the county of Monaghan. The water is a long irregular sheet, of no great depth: one shore bounded by a bog, the other, by a dry and gravelly surface. On the bog side, the trout are of the dark and shapeless species peculiar to moory loughs, while the other affords the beautiful and sprightly variety, generally inhabiting rapid and sandy streams. Narrow as the lake is, the fish appear to confine themselves to their respective limits: the red trout being never found upon the bog moiety of the lake, nor the black where the under surface is hard gravel.”
Sir H. Davie gives the following account of their spawning; and his remarks on some of the flies upon which they feed will be found interesting.
“Trout spawn or deposit their ova and seminal fluid in the end of Autumn or beginning of Winter, from the middle of November till the beginning of January: this materially depending upon the temperature of the season, their quantity of food, &c. For some time (a month or six weeks) before they are prepared for the sexual functions, or that of reproduction, they become less fat, particularly the females, the large quantity of eggs and their size, probably affecting the health of the animal, and compressing generally the vital organs in the abdomen. They are at least six weeks or two months after they have spawned before they recover their flesh, and the time when these fish are at the worst, is likewise the worst time for fly fishing, both on account of the cold weather and because there are fewer flies on the water than at any other season. Even in December and January there are a few small gnats, or water flies on the water in the middle of the day, in bright days or when there is sunshine. These are generally black, and they escape the influence of the frost, by the effects of light on their black bodies—and probably, by the extreme rapidity of the motions of their fluids, and generally of their organs. They are found only on the surface of the water, where the temperature must be above the freezing point.