8 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



I may pass over a nearly unsuccessful after- 

 noon's fly-fishing in the upper part of the 

 Gosau Bach, a tributary of the Hallstadter See, 

 which has its rise in the two blue Gosau lakes, 

 which in their turn are fed by the great Dach- 

 stein Glacier. Nor was better luck in store 

 when we reached Bad Gastein, after several 

 days' fine mountain walking. Permission to 

 fish was duly obtained at Straubinger's hotel, 

 but a morning was spent quite fruitlessly. 

 Nearer the junction of the Gastein stream with 

 the Salzach, in the more open part of the valley, 

 would probably be a better spot than so far in 

 the heart of the Hohe Tauern range as Bad 

 Gastein lies. But throughout its course, from 

 its rise among the glaciers of the Venediger 

 Alps to where it pours its grey waters into the 

 Inn at the edge of the Bavarian plains, the 

 Salzach is nourished by tributaries which, in 

 some part of their rapid course, will be found 

 to contain trout small or great. It is one of 

 the chief attractions of the district which goes 

 roughly under the name of the Tyrol, the 

 Salzkammergut, and the Bavarian Alps, that 

 t is so intersected by mountain-streams, by 

 stately rivers, and by sheets of water from 



