e, varies in weight
from five to thirty pounds. We never see the fish here before May,
and then very rarely; a few come in June, July, and August if
there are high floods in the river, and about the latter end of
September they become tolerably abundant; as the fisheries near
the mouth of the river have then ceased for the season, and the
Salmon run very freely up the river from that time to the middle
or end of December. They begin to spawn at the latter end of
October, but the greater part of those that spawn here do so in
December. I believe nearer the source of the river they are
earlier, but many fish are seen on the spawning beds in January;
and I have even seen a pair so late as March; but this last is of
very rare occurrence.

Some of the male Kipper (Kelts) come down in December and January,
but the greater part of the females remain in the river until
April, and they are occasionally seen herding with shoals of
Smolts in May. In this state they will take a worm very readily,
and are, many of them, caught with the fly in the deeps; but they
are unfit to eat, the flesh being white, loose, and insipid;
although they have lost the red dingy appearance which they had
when about to spawn, and are almost as bright as the fresh fish,
their large heads and lank bodies render it sufficiently easy to
distinguish them from fish which are only ascending the river,
even if the latter were plentiful at this season; but this is
unfortunately not the case.

Secondly, we have the Mort. I am not sure whether this fish is
what is called the Grilse in Scotland, or whether it is the Sea
Trout of that country; it is a handsome fish, weighing from one
and a half to three pounds. We first see Morts in June; from that
time to the end of September they are plentiful in favourable
seasons in the Hodder, a tributary stream of the Ribble, although
they are never very numerous in the Ribble above the mouth of that
stream. It is the opinion of the fishermen here that this is a
distinct species; my own opinion is, that it is a young Salmon,
and yet, if I were called upon to give reasons for thinking so, I
could not offer any very conclusive ones: the best I have is, that
there is no perceptible difference in the fry when going down to
sea. It may be said, How do you know that one of the three or four
varieties of Smolts which you describe further on, is not the fry
of the Mort? To this objection, if made, I say that these
varieties exist