2 2 o BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



two rods had been at work morning and afternoon without 

 landing a fish, the water being still too heavy. My hostess 

 asked whether I would have some tea, or fish the pool 

 next the lodge, which had been well flogged that day. 

 Now in Norway Sunday begins at 6 p.m. on our Saturday, 

 so there was not time for both. Without a moment's 

 hesitation I declared for fishing. It was a quarter-past 

 five by the time I got afloat ; at half-past five I struck 

 a fish, and landed him just in time to save breaking the 

 Sabbath 21 Ib. 



Of course it is probable that this fish had newly arrived 

 in the pool, and took the fly at the first offer ; but here 

 follows an example where there was no question of fish 

 running, for the water had run very low. It was in the 

 Luce, a small river in the west of Scotland, and on the last 

 day of the season. The sun was bright ; there were but 

 two or three places where there was a faint chance. I had 

 tried them all but the last, and any lingering idea I had of 

 success there was dissipated as I approached the pool by 

 the flash of another angler's rod in the sunlight at the very 

 place. I sat down and prepared to take down my tackle ; 

 but I was young in those days, and hope dies hard on the 

 bright side of thirty. I saw my rival finish the pool and 

 walk away. 



<c Come ! " methought, " it is the last chance of the 

 season. It is sometimes the rank outsider that pulls off the 

 big event." 



Well, the event weighed just 22 Ib. avoirdupois, and 

 I pulled it of? or rather, pulled it in the handsomest 

 salmon I ever saw so late in the season, except in the 

 Tweed. 



Probably the most notable performance by a party of 

 salmon-anglers, at least in regard to the number of fish killed, 

 was that of three gentlemen Mr. George Probyn, Mr. A. M. 

 Naylor, and Mr. H. L. Hansard in the Grimersta River, in 



