CHAPTER V 



In conjunction with some notions of my own, this chapter con- 

 tains the opinions which many good and observant anglers have 

 expressed to me verbally or by letter. EacK and all, however, 

 have been somewhat prone to preach from the narrow stand- 

 point of some favourite river ; moreover, all hints and sugges- 

 tions have reached me as detached items spread over a series 

 of years ; in the interest, therefore, alike of salmon, netters and 

 anglers I have endeavoured to marshal these facts and fancies 

 into one solid phalanx. 



Before proceeding further, however, I will ask permission 

 of my readers to narrate the memoirs of an unusually intelli- 

 gent, well-educated salmon of fifty-four pounds weight. We 

 all know there are talking birds, the Scriptures tell us of a 

 talking ass, while the Westminster Aquarium has recently 

 advertised a talking horse, so for these reasons I must beg my 

 readers to accept the assurance that the before-mentioned fish 

 duly confided to me the following episodes of his life. It is my 

 secret as to how such communication was made, and suffice it 

 to say, as I am bent on silence, it remains but for my readers 

 to remember the usual fate of the too pressing questioner. 



Of course, also, everyone is aware that birds, beasts and 

 fishes can converse with each other, although at the moment of 

 first introduction an Indian mahseer or a Florida tarpon would 

 not at once perfectly understand salmon language, yet they 

 would get on better than a Highlander and a Matabele meeting 

 for the first time. Here then, as nearly as possible in his 

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