finnock

English

Alternative forms

• finnac, finnack, finnoc
• phinnock (obsolete)

Etymology

A possible anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic fionnag (“young salmon”). Compare fionnag (“whiting”), a calque of English whiting, from fionn (“white”).

Noun

finnock (plural finnocks)

1. (Scotland) A young sea trout, in the year after they return to fresh water after their smolt migration stage.

   Synonyms: herling, school peal, school peel, harvester

   • 1866, Thomas Tod Stoddart, An Angler's Rambles and Angling Songs, page 46:

     Previous to their descent, I caught in all, not far from the tideway, about half-a-dozen finnocks, on two or three different occasions.

   • 1893, J Moray Brown, Stray Sport:

     Have you ever had a day's finnock-fishing? If you have not, and you happen to be a keen disciple of Izaak Walton, take my advice and seize the first opportunity of doing so.

   • 2006, Graeme Harris, Nigel Milner, editors, Sea Trout:

     Emigrating smolts were captured by fyke net in 1998 and early 1999. […] The returns to date suggest that the sea survival of stocked fish returning as finnock is consistently lower than that of wild smolts and that the survival of both groups to mature sea trout is almost non-existent at present.