SEA-TROUT FISHING 



39 



ing out. However, Canadian guides are, generally speaking, 

 expert canoemen and adepts in woodcraft, and one can often hire 

 good Indians, who are agreeable, by their wonderful gift of taci- 

 turnity, to one who wishes to do nothing and think of nothing but 

 fish and enjoy the beauties of his usually romantic environment. 



As a canoe whether of birch bark or cedar is a sine qua non 

 in the majority of Canadian rivers, the angler should practise casting 

 with a firmly balanced body and hold his movements at all times 

 well under control. It is true that the little craft can often be steadily 

 held by the poles during the play of a fish, but it is sometimes 

 necessary to run free and trust the skill of the men in navigating 

 the rapids while one keeps his attention riveted on the struggling 

 game fish. Whenever there has been a heavy spate the Canadian 

 angler looks forward eagerly to the few days during which the 

 water is slowly subsiding to its normal average condition as certain 

 to offer the best fishing. Both trout and salmon may doubtless 

 have run up river during the flood, but it requires the dwindling 

 current to settle them in their accustomed pools and stations. 



A favourite ' station ' for large trout in a river is an eddy behind 

 some shelving rock where flies and smaller fishes are carried by 

 the set of the current. There are some such haunts never unoccupied 

 when fish are running, for if a trout is taken out of one of them his 

 place is immediately supplied by another who has deserted a less 

 desirable station. 



Should it be near the time of the full moon, when one run has 

 passed on its way, there will be no long wait until the next one 

 arrives, though the fish will certainly not average the same size. 

 There is undoubtedly something about the ' bright regent of the 

 heavens ', when in the majesty of full orb, which determines the flights 

 of snipe, woodcock, and other migrant birds, and which determines 

 the inshore movements of anadromous fish. In the case of the birds 

 it may be that they prefer to travel beneath a bright sky. The 

 high tides prevailing at the full of the moon doubtless account 

 for the approach of the fish to the rivers at this time the sand 

 b.iix .ind reefs being better covered up and affording an easier 

 passage than ordinary. 



Whoever has had the privilege of lying at full length on some 

 mossy overhanging bank while watching a large trout in his lair, 

 perceives that a true figure has yet to be drawn of him. Even 

 photography can give no hint of the wavy circles from the spotted 

 dorsal fin undulating loosely athwart the broad back ; of the per- 

 petual fanning of the pectoral fins, of the capacious gills opening 

 and closing, the half-open round mouth, the luminous brown eye, 

 the ceaseless slow vibration of the powerful tail ; nor can pen 



