36 ANGLING. 



the river is narrow in its channel, and fills it completely up, and 

 when timber and brushwood abound, is always a work of some 

 difficulty and uncertainty to kill a large salmon with the fly ; 

 and if the bottom of the stream be full of roots of trees, large 

 stones and reeds, the case Becomes still more desperate and 

 hopeless. 



When the fish bounds repeatedly out of the water, the chances 

 are that he will succeed in breaking his hold, either by the main 

 force of his fall into the stream, or by tumbling across the line ; 

 the latter accident scarcely ever fails to set him free. There is a 

 remarkable difference in salmon in reference to their particular 

 movements after being hooked; some never leap at all, while 

 others are continually at it. When the fish takes what is called 

 the sulks., the chances of killing him, when the bottom of the water 

 is not favourable, are very problematical. 



A salmon will rise again and again at the fly after he has once 

 missed it. In this respect he differs widely from the trout. We 

 have seen the salmon miss the fly a dozen times in succession, and 

 at last take it greedily. Should he, however, be slightly hooked in 

 any instance, and break off, he will come no more at any rate, not 

 for a considerable time. 



It is an essential part of an angler's knowledge to be able to detect, 

 with a glance of an eye, the most probable places where salmon 

 may be expected to lie. When fishing in lakes, he must necessa- 

 rily take the water at hazard ; but in rivers and smaller streams, a 

 considerable latitude is afforded him for a display of judgment and 

 skill. It is not often that the fish are to be found in long strag- 

 gling streams, comparatively shallow, and not leading directly into 

 a longer or shorter reach of deep and still water. They are always 

 very shy in trusting themselves in such places; on the contrary, 

 a rapid stream running directly into a sheet of deep and still way, 

 is the most probable haunt for fish. Many large fish, however, 

 never go into the streams at all they keep in deep water amongst 

 large stones, brushroots, and old sunken roots of trees. When, 

 therefore, there is a fine and brisk curl on the surface of the water, 

 and it is otherwise in good condition, the deeps are the places for 

 finding fish. The shallow end or tail of a good long stretch of 

 water where there is a broad bed of gravel or slopes, is, in all 

 salmon rivers, a favourite locality for the fly-fisher. 



