166 BY HOOK ANB BY CBOOK. 



often not of the most cordial nature, as, in the first 

 place, his appearance means an extra rod on the water; 

 and when placed in this position, having to join a 

 party of friends at meals one feels as if intruding upon 

 them; but the natural sympathy existing among anglers 

 soon overcomes such little considerations and makes 

 all friends alike. 



A few hundred yards above our quarters the river 

 comes tumbling over a high caul or " bay ,^' as they term 

 it in these parts, then rests in a wide deep pool for a 

 while ere it continues its course over rough rocks and 

 boulders. In this pool may be counted scores of fish 

 waiting until the water may be sufficiently high or low 

 for them to journey up, for they cannot surmount it in 

 either extreme. 



In the spring-time salmon appear to be in no great 

 haste to pass beyond this '^bay,^' and even in March many 

 of them are tinged with red, having perhaps been two 

 or three months in fresh water ; but they do not much 

 trouble the angler, being very bad takers, and so long 

 as they remain close up ,to the falls the law protects 

 them against the greedy net, which, however, can well 

 aff'ord to bide its time, knowing full well that as 

 they gradually but surely become enfeebled by their 

 existence in fresh water, so they will one by one drop 

 back into its cruel meshes. 



The fishermen in this district declare that most of the 

 fish which have not ascended this " bay " by the middle 

 of May drop back again to the sea, a distance of nearly 



