Why was Paul Bourke of the Central Fisheries Board HQ in Glasnevin laughing? Because he had listened, as a letter of some significance had just been read out to him. It appeared in the English Field in 1862. It was from a Sergeant Pepper (R.I.C.) of Mount Shannon, Scarriff, County Galway.
"Sir, on the first of September I went out as usual pikefishing on Lough Derg with my otter board which carries nine baits, spoons etc." (Not legal today, 1996.) "It was blazing hot at the time, as bright a sun as we have had all year, and quite calm. When I got a fierce pull at a spoon, next the otter, I said it was a pike and commenced to play him cautiously." Anyway, the sergeant describes a long struggle, up to forty minutes, with the cot being dragged behind the prey. Eventually he gaffed the fish and, with both arms lugged it over the side.
"To my amazement I found it was a splendid trout. My boatmen shouted for joy for five minutes. The trout weighed 29lb 6ozs. It was seen by a number of Englishmen here for the fishing, and by E. F. Ryan, Esq., R.M., who took a sketch of the fish. It was 3ft 7ins long and two feet in girth, and his splendid condition surprised all who saw him. He was truly one of the great Irish lake trout." For a century it was Ireland's record trout.
To come back to the beginning. Paul Bourke was laughing and saying "That's known as Pepper Ghost." And if you go into that wonderful storehouse, the Natural History Museum in Merrion Street, Dublin, you will find the original fish, and labelled "Pepper's Ghost", but it is not any longer a trout. The label tells you that in 1964, the late Dr. A.E.J. Went of the Department of Fisheries took a sample of scales and proved that it was clearly a salmon.
The record trout, by the way, Paul Bourke says, is one caught in Lough Ennell, County Westmeath, again over one hundred years ago; 1894. It was 26lbs 2ozs. Record salmon is 57lbs and stands since 1874. Those were the days. But, don't you feel sorry for poor old Pepper.
And, by the way, you could spend a day in that magnificent Natural History Museum. Where else would a young person study what a corncrake is like? Stuffing birds may be regarded as not the thing today. It is a way of learning. You can study and admire at your leisure. Photographs or film aren't the same.