THE SALMON. 35 



other will not look at anything you may put on the line. 

 At other times, on the contrary, we have found both trout 

 and smelt, darting at the same fly with equal voracity 

 and determination. 



In some salmon-rivers, in the north of England and in 

 Scotland, it is forbidden to catch the smelts; or, at least, 

 it is expected that the fly-fisher should throw them all in 

 again; but as far as our observation goes, we have never 

 seen this rule obeyed to any extent, even by the most 

 scrupulous and high-minded angler. With the mass of 

 fishermen, the maxim unhappily holds good, that " all 

 are fish that come into the net." 



There are two particular movements of the salmon, 

 which the fly-fisher will find it absolutely necessary to 

 attend to in his dealings with this monarch of the stream ; 

 namely, his furious leaping when he is hooked, and his 

 taking what is termed the " sulks," when exhausted by 

 vain exertions to escape. 



After a fish has taken the fly, he often makes several 

 desperate springs out of the water; and, if he happen in 

 his fall to come across the line, he will most certainly 

 either snap it, or break his hold. We have occasionally 

 seen their springs so frequently repeated, that the fish was 

 deprived of his best strength in a great measure, by the 

 unusual exertion, and killed in a comparatively short 

 space of time. 



When, however, a fish takes the "sulks," the matter 

 assumes a very ominous appearance. In nine cases out of 

 ten, you will lose him and your tackle also. He will run 

 to his haunt either under a stone, or some old tree root, 

 at the bottom of a deep hole, and there lie perfectly still. 

 In this situation stones have been thrown down upon him, 

 sticks have been poked into his den, and other similar 



