THE LAND-LOCKED SALMON. 99 



A pleasant variety will be found in a clamber over the rocks 

 along the rapids, at times high up above the water, and drop- 

 ping the fly into some snug little corner where the constantly 

 recurring tail in a circular patch of foam shows a Wananishe 

 "at home;" at others standing on a ledge over which the waves 

 roll knee-deep and break on the rocks with a roar like the 

 surf on the sea-shore, which drowns your attendant's voice 

 and reduces him to pantomimic expression of the size or num- 

 ber of the fish rising far out in some caldron-like whirl, where 

 the down and up rush of the waters meet, while you do your 

 best by the Spey or switch-cast to get the fly to them without 

 smashing it on the rocks behind. The high-tossed spray from 

 the crests of the waves, the seething whirlpools and the play 

 of light and color on the ever-changing forms of water, on the 

 varied foliage, and on the purple rocks, make a beautiful scene, 

 to which the turmoil of the rapids adds its musical charm. 



If you did not see them with your own eyes you would be- 

 lieve it impossible for any fish to remain in such a fury of 

 water, far less to feed there; but hook one, and then see how 

 much at his ease he is, and how he will stem the full rush 

 of the Grande Chute, dragging thirty or forty yards of line 

 after him. 



It was while watching a Wananishe hooked at the head 

 of Isle Maligne, round which the fiercest rapids in the Grande 

 Decharge sweep, that I first fully realized their great strength 

 and greater pluck. Standing thirty feet above the water, I 

 could see him plainly in the clear, deep stretches between the 

 white-crested rollers; and a beautiful sight it was to watch 

 him mount a series of inclines with straight steps of three to 

 four feet at the top of each, and then, after resting a while 

 on the summit of the fall, dart off like a flash into the full 

 strength of the down-current on the other side of the point, 

 only to be steered into a little cove at the end of his run, and 

 there fight till, all strength gone, he lay exhausted on the sur- 

 face. 



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