You see them in the shops all the time - trout with an unmistakable purple streak about half-an-inch wide running along the side. They are rainbow trout. A couple of days ago a friend rang to say that they had just been given two lovely plump trout caught on the Slaney and would we take one. From a description of the silveriness of the fish. it sounded over the phone as if it was a sea trout or white trout. Whatever sort it was, the answer was an immediate "Oh, please", and it was duly brought around - already beautifully cooked. Now that's just the sort of present to round off the holiday weekend. It was baked in the Aga, according to the expert. The flesh was of a good salmon pink. It turned out to be a rainbow, which may well have come from the sea. Do rainbows go to sea and return in the manner of the sea trout or salmon? In fact, says Paul Bourke of the Central and Regional Fisheries Boards, the thing is to prevent them from running, as he termed it.
Although the first rainbows, it is believed, were brought to Ireland about a hundred years ago by Moreton Frewen, it was mainly in the 1950s and 1960s that they became popular with anglers and the authorities. For it thrives in enclosed waters, and farms well. But, given half a chance, it runs to sea - runs and runs again. Paul told of an 11 lb Rainbow caught on the Dodder which was proved to have been four times to sea and had come back to spawn four times. So the Fisheries Boards do not sell young rainbows to clubs unless they have a completely foolproof lake or pond at their disposal, from which no fish can escape. Otherwise the buyers would find themselves casting their flies over empty waters.
You may have heard the term Steelhead applied to a certain fish in America. That, Paul tells us, is what they call a rainbow which has gone to sea and come back. And the Fisheries Boards even go to the length of insisting on having a grill installed where they fear that even a small trickly stream might tempt the wanderers. This particular fish, handsome as bedamned, encouraged the diners to feel it had to be a sea-run specimen because of its fine flavour and good colour. Colour can be added in a fish-farm, of course, but this seemed like sea trout eaten in the West in the good old days. Thanks to angler and donor.