EASTERN COAST FISHES. 263 



cnce in two years, which, if a fact, accounts for their periodical 

 scarcity in certain rivers. Tags that have been attached to fish 

 set loose have never been brought back the next season, although 

 several have returned on the second season ; which facts seem to 

 verify the opinion as given above. 



Salmon do not eat while on their travels ; or if perchance they do 

 feed at long intervals (as setting hens do when they come off their 

 nests betimes) they digest so rapidly that nothing has been found 

 in their stomachs in quantity sufficient to determine what consti- 

 tutes their favorite bill of fare. It is only when resting in occa- 

 sional pools that they take the angler's lure. At the mouths of 

 rivers, however, on the very threshold of their departure for the 

 upper waters, they will take bait and red worms with avidity. 



Fly fishing for salmon in no wise resembles fly-fishing for 

 trout. In the first place the fish bemg heavier the rod is more 

 ponderous, and the man who is handy with an eleven feet single- 

 handed trout rod, will assuredly bungle with an eighteen feet two- 

 handed salmon rod, until practice has made him expert. Salmon 

 are caught only in those places where they halt to rest, and such 

 places, called pools, are either at the head or the tail of a rapid. 

 In long reaches of still water, often a two-m.iles stretch or more, 

 salmon may be seen moving slowly up stream in no particular 

 hurry, as if they enjoyed their elegant comfort for the time being ; 

 in these places is the spearsman's golden opportunity, but the fly- 

 fishermen seldom meet with encouragement. Here they are often 

 seen frolicking and turning somersaults in the air — the only bit of real 

 enjoyment they seem to have in their transitory life ; but it is of no 

 use to cast flies over them ; they will not rise. The best times to 

 fish for salmon -are in the early morning and from four o'clock P. 

 M. until dark, and the best success is had after the first spring 

 freshet begins to subside. After a month of good fishing then — 

 say from the middle of June until the middle of July, the chances 

 are precarious. There is always a late run of fish in August, and 

 September, which often brings a full reward, but it is unwise to 

 trust to it. The sagacious angler goes early in the season. 



In fishing for salmon our choice of flies has to be tested by ex- 

 periment for the time being. Rules go for naught. That which 

 killed in the one pool last year on the same day of the month may 



