WHEN SALMON TAKE FLIES BEST. 65 



good resting and a good feeding- place. Salmon 

 fight for such comfortable spots, the strongest 

 and bravest taking possession of them, and when 

 one fish is hooked and taken away, another fish 

 invariably fills the vacated locality. It is for this 

 reason, that a generally favourite spot is seldom 

 without an aquatic tenant. Fish fresh from the 

 sea, and found in the streams and pools near it, 

 take the fly with far more avidity than those that 

 have been long in the rivers. There are several 

 reasons for this ; the fly is a new object for them, 

 they have not as yet been scratched, pricked, or 

 hooked by it, and being satiated with sea-food, 

 such as fish, salt-water insects, and so forth, they 

 seek for some substitute, and fancy they may find 

 it in that nondescript fabric, termed a salmon-fly. 

 I have now, as plainly as I could, and with a 

 steady view to truth and practical utility, told 

 all I know about casting the line, working the fly 

 in the water, hooking and playing a fish. I have 

 given my opinion as to the best salmon-rods, 

 winches, and lines. I have shown how a river 

 ought to be fished, where it should be fished, 

 and I have added a variety of corollary inform- 

 ation. I dare not think myself orthodox, and 

 if any kind being more skilled in piscatorial 

 F 



