THE LAND-LOCKED SALMON. 9/ 



the finer the leader the better, and this is true of all fly-fishing. 

 As to color, there is not much to be said. Personally, I prefer 

 undyed ^ut, which soon loses its glitter and gets a satisfactory 

 stain from the water itself, which in the Saguenay, though 

 clear, is of a tawny amber. 



Avoid cheap reels; get a good one, and have it rather large, 

 with good, free-running bearings and a moderate click, just 

 enough to prevent over-running. 



A landing-net is handier, and for these small fish surer 

 than a gaff, which only one man in a hundred can use prop- 

 erly, and only one in a thousand well. 



There is no wading to be done in fishing for Wananishe — the 

 Saguenay is too large, deep, and strong; therefore rubber boots 

 or wading trousers are superfluous, and, moreover, are danger- 

 ous in case of an upset canoe or a slip from the rocks. As a rule, 

 there would not be much chance in either case, for on the 

 Grande Decharge, which is about as unlike ordinary Salmon 

 or Trout water as can well be imagined, the best fishing is on 

 the verge of tremendous rapids, and sometimes in the most 

 dangerous parts of them. 



This brings me to one of the greatest charms of Wananishe- 

 fishing— its excitement, with an element of danger — and to the 

 peculiarity in the feeding habits of the fish which was alluded 

 to above. When they come down from Lake St. John 

 they lie in the large eddies formed by the innumerable cur- 

 rents running in every direction — up, down, and across the 

 course of the river, round the islands and points along 

 the great rapids. When at rest they rise like Salmon 

 from the bottoms of the pools, if this word may be used to 

 describe their favorite places, which are very different from 

 Salmon-fishing pools, or "streams," to use the more descrip- 

 tive Scotch term, and nothing at all like the ordinary idea 

 of a Trout pool. 



They will come from a great depth for the fly. Often, 

 when looking down from a high rock into fifteen feet of water, I 

 7 



