[Perh. a corruption of lax-pink (see LAX sb.1 b); interpreted as a contraction for last spring; cf. last brood in quot. 1861.] One of the many names for the young salmon. Also gravel laspring.
1760. Hawkins, in Walton’s Angler, I. vi. 143, note. A small but excellent fish of the Trout kind, called a Last-spring. Ibid., vii. 153, note.
1836. Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, II. 50. Brandling, Fingerling, Skirling, Gravelling, Laspring, Sparling, &c.
1861. Act 24–5 Vict., c. 109 § 4. ‘Young of Salmon’ shall include … Par, Spawn, Pink, Last Spring, Hepper, Last Brood, Gravelling [etc.].
1881. R. D. Green Price, in 19th Cent., April, 693. It is equally unlawful for me or my lads to catch a small samlet or laspring as long as my finger, although there are thousands on the streams below my house.
1889. ‘J. Bickerdyke,’ Bk. All-round Angler, III. 7. Gravel laspring, same as par.
