THE SALMON 



word of warning against such an error is not altogether 

 out of place. Spring fishing is really the^cheapest in 

 proportion to its merit ; the competition which sends up 

 rents to famine prices is not so severe then as later. 

 Comparatively few can get away in the early part of the 

 year, and even of those who are free to select the period 

 of their holiday, most for various reasons prefer the 

 autumn. The greatest drawbacks to early fishing are 

 kelts, frost, and east wind : but there can be little 

 doubt that a real spring salmon gives better sport, 

 and is altogether a more desirable acquisition, than 

 two or three fish caught in the late autumn. On the 

 other hand, the advantage of an autumn river is that 

 it works in with other sports, and that if a long spell 

 of dry weather spoils your chance of a salmon, it is 

 favourable for grouse shooting or stalking. I have 

 fished in a good many such rivers in August, Septem- 

 ber and October, and a short account of the sort of 

 sport to be obtained in some of them may be of 

 interest. 



The little river that I know best, having fished . it 

 regularly for the best part of a quarter of a century, is 

 the Add, which rises in the hills near Loch Fyne and, 

 after a short but rapid course through gorges and over 

 rocks, descends into the plain, and for the last few 

 miles of its career meanders slowly through the 



