United States
£ GBP
On a chilly January day in 1864 James Arndell Youl stood on the dockside at Southampton supervising the packing and loading of salmon ova bound for Tasmania. It was not the first attempt to export live sporting fish to the Empire – others previously had failed. But this time it was going to be different. Shortly before the ship sailed, Youl was joined at the quayside by Frank Buckland and Francis Francis. Both had brought with them consignments of brown trout ova. And so began the extraordinary tale of the trout's travels to all corners of the Empire. The dashing brown trout is one of our most widespread sporting fish, having colonised half the world in the past century and a half, with a little help from man. In The Trout's Tale Chris Newton explores the trout's origins and the reasons for its extraordinary adaptability and tells the story of the pioneers of acclimatisation and their heroic endeavours to introduce Salmo trutta to the furthest corners of the globe. The brown trout has haunted the dreams of many a British angler, not least the colonial expatriates exiled from their favourite trout waters.
