THE TROUT.* The Trout, written by Lord Granby and others,
is the latest addition to the "Fur, Feather, and Fin" series, edited by Alfred E. T. Watson. Of this series each volume is devoted to one of the birds, beasts, and fishes which come under the head of "game," to describing with the fullest detail all that from a natural history point of view can be said about it, every method known to the sportsman or the poacher for its capture or destruction, and finally the most appetising ways of preparing it for table. The present volume may be said to be up to the standard of its predecessors as far as it goes, but the subject of trout and trout-fishing is such a large one that it has suffered by the curtailing process neces- sary to condense the information into the allotted space. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which is trout-fishing by Lord Granby, himself an enthusiastic and practical angler. Fly-fishing has always been considered the most delicate method and the one requiring the most skill, and is, therefore, justly deserving of the first and longed chapter of the book ; but of 9y-fishing, which was once a speciality in itself, there are nowadays minor specialiems, of which the greatest is dry-fly fishing; and it is undoubtedly the case that many of the okl adherents of the "chuck aid chance it" style of fishing with the wet-fly have forsaken it in favour of the more beautiful and scientific
• The Trout. By the Marquess of Granby aid Others. London : Longmans and Co.
branch of the art. For a few brief days at the latter end of May or the beginning of June, when the mayflies in their thousands are dancing and bobbing over the surface of the water, every trout in the river appears to be feeding upon these wonderful insects, whose sole reason for existing seems to be to perpetuate their species, and whose lifetime lasts but a few hours. Then it is that the heart of the fisherman rejoices at the news that the mayfly is "up," and then that the heaviest fish are taken and the largest catches made, whether it be with the artificial fly on some English chalk stream or with the natural insect on an Irish loch. Daring the rest of the season the dry-fly fisher en- deavours to match as nearly as possible from the contents of his book or case of flies the fly upon which the fish are feed- ing. In the present work, although the author does not give us many new wrinkles, he takes us with him in imagination along the river-bank, and having found a rising fish, he succeeds in hooking and landing it with leas loss of time than is usually the case. We follow him a little further with varying fortune, and he manages to give us probably as accurate and clear a description as is possible of how the thing is done.
It is to be regretted that from want of space other methods of catching trout have to be dealt with in so cursory a manner. Of worm-fishing it used to be, and by the uninitiated it still is, customary to speak in contempt, although, in the North especially, Mr. Stewart has done much to explode the fallacy that worm-fishing means a thick water, a thick line, and little or no skill required to catch fish. Thanks, however, to the gentleman spoken of, and to his invention of the worm tackle that bears his name, it is now possible to fish and to enjoy sport on days when other methods would only serve to scare the fish. It is when the sun is hottest, and the river at its lowest, that a worm impaled on Stewart tackle is a deadly lure in the hands of an expert. Wading up-stream, and being careful to make as little disturbance as possible in the shallow water, he casts his bait well above him, allowing it to be swept down almost to his feet before making another cast. When he gets a bite he strikes at once—there is no waiting for the fish to pouch the bait—and drawing the fish down-stream in order to prevent its frightening those above, he either steps ashore to land it, or lifts it from the water with a landing net in mid-stream. Truly this mode of fish- ing does not possess the charm of fly - fishing, but nevertheless it is an important method, as it can be practised with the greatest chances of success when all others. are hopeless ; and inasmuch as it requires all-round skill and lightness of hand, it cannot legitimately be looked down upon. Spinning and Thames trout-fishing also receive bare recog- nition; yet of those who love to spin a minnow when the water is discoloured after a spate there are many, and of those who are content to sit in a boat all day and troll the natural or the phantom bait in hopes of tempting a form from the depths of some Scotch loch, not a few. Whilst as to the Thames trout, the increase of recent years in their number ia equalled by the increase of those patient people who fish for them, and whose efforts are surely deserving of some notice in a work of this kind.
Before leaving the subject of trout-fishing, it is perhapa. worth while to consider for a moment the development of the latest branch of the sport. Thirty years ago, or even less, fishing with the dry-fly as it is practised to-day was practically unknown, and although Walton gives instructions how the fly only is to tench the water and to be kept moving, his method was undoubtedly that known as the "wet-fly." Within the last twenty-five years, however, the popularity of angling generally has increased in a very remarkable degree, and it is. therefore not surprising, owing to salmon-fishing being within the reach and means of comparatively few, that the number of trout-fishers has yearly become greater. The little trout stream to which the non-sporting owner paid small attention formerly has now become an important and valuable posses- sion. The open water which fifteen or twenty years ago was frequented by a few anglers only is now on any favourable day crowded with ticket-holders. To this there could be but one result; the trout became more wary and difficult to catch, to the extent in some cases that it was impossible to catch them by the old-fashioned methods. In the case of the South Country chalk streams some knowledge of entomology and the natural history of the trout became necessary to circumvent these sapient fish. On the Hampshire Test, for instance, where at certain times great rises of a particular fly take place, a fish will take up position a few inches below the surface of the water, gently swaying his tail to maintain his place against the current, and hardly moving to the right or left, will feed upon this particular fly until the rise is over or his appetite appeased. Such a fish would either pay no attention to a cast with three flies attached coming over him, or, what is more probable, he would turn away with a whisk of his tail and be seen no more. To induce that trout to take an artificial fly it is necessary to offer, as nearly as possible, a facsimile of the particular fly he is feeding on, and to cast it in such a manner that it alights on the water some six inches in front and sails down to him as jauntily and lifelike as any natural insect. He may take it, or he may see one that he prefers and seize it within half an inch of the artificial one, or he may come up and, after inspection, turn contemptuously away ; then must the brain control the hand to be steady, or if the fly is flicked away the chances are that the fish will suspect something and observe even greater caution in his selection of flies than before. It cannot be said that it is any one thing that constitutes the attractiveness of this style of fishing, for it is a combination of agents. One very great charm and source of excitement is, that very frequently the whole process is plainly visible to the angler. Crouched on the bank, sometimes only a few yards behind the fish, there is usually ample time to admire his proportions and to speculate .as to his probable weight. It may happen that it has been impossible to catch a specimen, or to see clearly what kind of fly the fish are taking, so one tries change after change of .flies throughout one's repertoire, and if at last, after re- peated refusals, the right imitation is found and the trout sucks it in, is it not a triumph ? Have not the skill and ingenuity of the fisherman outwitted the daintiness and caution of the trout? What matter if the fly .comes away, and the fish escapes when the net was almost under him! The good fisherman will soon forget big disappointment, and remember only that he succeeded in cajoling that trout into taking his fly. The pursuit of dry-fly fishing takes the angler into pleasant ways, different, though equally beautiful in their way, from the wilder scenes by _Northern streams, and—contemplative man as doubtless he is —there are many sights and sounds of Nature, many a bird -or flower, that the enjoyment of listening to or examining may console him for the ill-lack that occasionally comes to all fishermen.
In the second part of the book Colonel F. H. Custance contributes three chapters upon trout-breeding and the stocking of rivers and enclosed pieces of water. Though only introduced into this country in 1837 by John Shaw, ,gamekeeper to the Duke of Buccleuch, the artificial hatching of fishes' eggs dates a long way back, and since the days when it was the custom of the Chinese pisciculturists to place the spawn in a hen's egg, previously emptied of its natural con- tents, and having sealed up the opening to put it under a hen to be hatched out, the science of fish culture has been greatly developed all over the world. The process of rearing trout from the egg till they are ready to go out into the world -as lively yearlings 5 in. or 6 in. in length is such an interesting, and in some respects such a beautiful, one that, with natural facilities at one's command, one need mot be an angler to find a daily and absorbing pleasure in the business of pisciculture. Owing to the increase in the number of trout fishermen, and the consequently increased 'demand for fishing in recent years, it has been found neces- sary and profitable to stock streams and ponds which formerly were troutless ; and there have sprung up many fish-breeding -establishments throughout the country, and the science has become more perfected. Before even the ova are placed in the trays of the hatching-boxes, the fullest arrangements must be made to ensure a steady and continuous flow of Tare water of an even temperature, and from the moment the ova are taken from the fish unceasing care on the part .of the person in charge is necessary to guard against the ills that the embryo fish is subject to. Perfect cleanliness -is, of course, a sine qua' non, and the prevention of fungus -and intrusion of predatory animals a necessity. All the in- structions on fish culture given by Colonel Custance are based on his own experience, and written in an admirably .clear and interesting manner.
The concluding pages by Mr. Alexander Innes Shand contain various recipes for cooking the trout, without which the book would not be complete, though the directions given are perhaps needlessly spun out and involved.
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