ii6 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



this we think is also a fact from watching their habits from high 

 banks and bridges; we are also quite sure they see further 

 afield than is generally supposed, for though the accepted 

 theory is not to advance more than a yard at each cast, we 

 think quite two yards may be taken at every fresh throw ; thus 

 when fishing in this quicker style, if there be a taking fish 

 in the pool it will be equally certain to see the lure, for a 

 fish that wishes to feed will be sure to be keeping a sharp 

 look out on all sides. In this way a long pool can be fished 

 twice over, with two different flies, in the same time that the 

 cast-at-every-yard angler will take to fish it once. If a fish 

 rises short, then throw the line gently on the bank without 

 reeling up, change the fly for a smaller one of the same 

 pattern, and try him again in a few minutes from exactly the 

 same spot. Fish may often be seen splashing at the sides 

 of narrow, heavy rushes of water, and the eddies formed by 

 such streams are often dead or even moving gently up stream. 

 Such waters are best fished by commencing at the tail of the 

 pool and casting into the rapid, when as soon as the fly nears 

 the still water the angler should walk smartly up stream for 

 three or four paces. By this means the fly will be kept " alive " 

 and working in the slack, and thus this sort of awkward place 

 can be fairly well fished, and if salmon are to be seen splashing 

 in such situations they are usually hungry ones. 



It may be fancy, but we prefer the old gut fly loop to the 

 more modern metal-eyed one, as the former seems to swim the 

 fly with more life ; also, to a great extent, we are believers in 

 every river having its own special flies ; at any rate, it is 

 certain the local ones are lures shown by long experience to be 

 killers. At the same time, we are averse to having a very 

 large selection of flies, and any angler who is provided with 

 various sizes of Blue Doctors, Jock Scots, and Gordons for 

 "gaudies," and the Glen Tana, the Killer and the Grey Heron 

 of the Spey for "spiders," never need fear of catching fish 

 wherever he may go. The four last-mentioned flies not being 



