358 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



salmon fishing, which no fisherman can fail to have 

 observed, I am unable to account for. That all the inhabit- 

 ants of a portion of a stream should desist to feed 

 instantaneously, when a few minutes previously they have 

 been seizing with avidity your flies, is the subject on which 

 I should like to hear the opinion of some competent 

 authority. I remember asking an old hand, whose success 

 in his neighbourhood was a household word, and his 

 response was that a sudden change in the atmosphere 

 caused it This answer somewhat astonished me, nor 

 could I reconcile myself to the idea that fish which, in 

 the majority of instances, lie some distance beneath the 

 surface of the water, should be cognizant of an alteration 

 which is imperceptible to us 



From continued want of success, I changed my position, 

 and removed to a hole some way farther down. After 

 much difficulty from the quantity of brush that grew on 

 th u margin of the stream ; and carrying a rod among such 

 obstacles, I reached the water. The appearance of the 

 pool much pleased me, but it was difficult to fish, from the 

 timber growing so close to the water, and wading being 

 almost out of the question from the rough and irregular 

 bottom being thickly packed with large boulders. Obliged 

 to make a virtue of necessity, with a short line, and a quick, 

 contracted cast, I commenced operations. My companion 

 informed me that he very much doubted if a line had been 

 wet there that season ; from the result, I think his state- 

 incut must liave been correct. Scarcely had my flies 

 touched the water, when two beauties, radiant in their 

 handsome golden hues, simultaneously dashed at the 



