SALMON— MODES OF CAPTURE. ^ 1.37 



purpose, to clivo into the river, like an otter, at the upper end of the jiool, on 

 which the alarmed salmon dashed down stream and became meshed in the 

 ti-ammel. 



In the employment of nets during dry seasons the take of salmon in tlic 

 tideway is above the average because they are detained and unable to ascciul. 

 But in such years with low rivers and clear water anglers rarely have a successful 

 time. If it is desired to increase the stock of fish in a river both the period 

 during which netting is permitted, the number and size of the nets which are 

 licensed, how they are used, and the localities where they are allowed should bo 

 strictly limited. But it must always be a question as to what extent the laws 

 are or can be carried out, and whether any local customs exist which are opposed 

 to such. It has been already observed (p. 69) that some fishermen asserted 

 that were night-fishing in rivers abolished their occupation would be at an end. 

 However, the Conservators of the Wye have enacted a bye-law to abolish night- 

 netting and so far it has acted advantageously.* In many rivers when the salmon 

 season has legally closed, fishermen substitute fine meshed nets for salmon-nets, 

 and continue fishing as before, pretending to be doing so for coarse fish and in the 

 estuary for shrimps, while in reality they are capturing salmon. The nearer tlic 

 spawning season the more inferior in quality are the fish ascending rivers to breed, 

 and these are the class of salmon which are captured by shortening the close season 

 at its commencement in August and September. 



But in the fresh waters above tidal influence many diSerent methods of 

 netting may be employed, as by the draft-net which will subsequently have to be 

 considered. That from coniclesf is commonly employed in the Severn and rivers 

 of Wales. The shape of the coracle resembles that of a walnut shell, about six 

 feet in length and four feet in width, while it has a seat across its middle. It 

 is constructed of basket work, and covered with cloth or flannel which is subse- 

 quently overlaid with tar, while a paddle is employed to propel it. These boats arc 

 very light and portable. There are several sorts of nets used by coracle fishermen 

 as the trucJde net, when there are two of these boats separated by a net about 

 sixteen yards in length. There is also a second line, which on being tightened 

 closes the net. Each fisherman holds one end of the drag-line and paddles with 

 the other hand, so as to keep the boats as far asunder as possible. Directly they 

 feel a fish the drag-line is let go and the second line is at once tightened, the net 

 closed, and the fish drawn into the coracle. In the up23er waters of the Dee these 

 nets are used by poachers, and are so small that they can be carried in a bag oi' 

 even in the pocket. The very darkest nights are the best for the poachers. They 

 glide down the river in their two coracles with this deadly net between them and 

 without making the slightest noise except the splash of the captured Csh: while 

 accomplices are employed to watch the water-bailiffs. 



Weirs or dams are obstructions in rivers extending partly or entirely across 

 their course, and from their height either impeding or preventing the ascent or 

 descent of salmon and other fish : but the injury they occasion has in some 

 localities been partly obviated for ascending forms, by the construction of free 

 gaps or fish passes {see pp. 73, 74, and 121). Some are for the use of mills or other 

 works or for the purposes of irrigation, or raised by companies for the assistance 



the Major's excursions, all unobserved, ijlunged into the stream, with the apparent object of 

 ' bearing a hand ' in the capture. Vociferous calls to return to bank were unavailing, and 

 ' Dandle ' vigorously pursued his way towards his intended game, with which he soon came into 

 close quarters, and adroitly laid hold of the dorsal iin, to which he clung with all the tenacity of 

 a bulldog. The line became entangled around the dog and the fish, and unable to bear the 

 additional strain soon gave way. The gallant angler's feelings at that moment may be more 

 readily imagined than described ; but the dog kept his hold on the fish, and, after a struggle with 

 his prey which lasted from eight to ten minutes, Dantlie succeeded in approaching sufficiently 

 near to the bank to enable the major to make use of the gaff, aud both fish and dog were soon 

 safely lauded." 



* In the Severn it was illegal from 1766 to 1861. 



t Coracles were employed so long ago as the time of the Komaus, when their outer covering 

 was made of sldns. They are in use in Southern India, and I have fished from them in the 

 Bowany river iu the Presidency of Madras. 



