They probably
reach at least four or five pounds, but it is unlikely that the biggest
take the fly, and one may doubt whether they propagate their species, as
small trout are never seen there.
There are two ways of enlarging the size of trout which should be
carefully avoided. Pike are supposed to keep down the population and
leave more food for the survivors, minnows are supposed to be nourishing
food. Both of these novelties are dangerous. Pike have been introduced
in that long lovely sheet of water, Loch Ken, and I have never once seen
the rise of a trout break that surface, so "hideously serene." Trout, in
lochs which have become accustomed to feeding on minnows, are apt to
disdain fly altogether. Of course there are lochs in which good trout
coexist with minnows and with pike, but these inmates are too dangerous
to be introduced. The introduction, too, of Loch Leven trout is often
disappointing. Sometimes they escape down the burn into the river in
floods; sometimes, perhaps for lack of proper food and sufficient, they
dwindle terribly in size, and become no better than "brownies." In St.
Mary's Loch, in Selkirkshire, some Canadian trout were introduced. Little
or nothing has been seen of them, unless some small creatures of a
quarter of a pound, extraordinarily silvery, and more often in the air
than in the water when hooked, are these children of the remote West.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71