16 



BY HOOK AND BT CEOOS:. 



the unsatisfactory conclusion that either it had been 

 stolen or the cattle had pushed it into the water : the 

 former seemed unlikely, but still the more probable 

 explanation ; however, nearly six months after his fly- 

 book was returned to him by some fishermen who had 

 caught it while fishing with dredge-nets in the estuary 

 15 miles lower down ; his name was just legible, but the 

 book was worthless, and the flies it contained ruined, 

 still the mystery was cleared up. 



When otters are known to exist in a river, the angler 

 should be careful to put any fish he has killed out of 

 their reach, for, as we know to our cost, they are capable 

 of making off" with a fresh-killed salmon in broad day- 

 light — the tracks of the animal in the sand left no room 

 for doubt in the instance we quote ; likewise pigs will 

 worry and devour salmon left within their reach. Not 

 long ago we left a large fish on the bank while fishing 

 the pool over a second time, and happening to look 

 round saw an old sow worrying it. We were casting 

 from a boat, and shouted aloud as the man pulled to 

 shore ; fortunately the fish, being over 30 lb., was too 

 large to enable her to mouth it until she seized it by the 

 tail and dragged it up the bank through a hedge. 

 When the man got to her she dropped the fish and 

 made for him open-mouthed, but she went off with a 

 well-directed kick on the snout. We fully expected 

 to view the fish badly mauled, but were glad to find that 

 a good washing in the river revealed nothing more 

 serious than a split in the tail. 



