222 AN OPEN CREEL 



rivers the order is "fly only," and there you might 

 really just as well give it up, were it not for the abiding 

 truth about the " flee aye in the watter." Perhaps 

 that is the only truth in salmon-fishing on which one 

 can lay fast hold ; the rest of it is mystery, uncertainty, 

 and ignorance. 



Even more does this one truth shine forth when the 

 water is dead low, a condition much to be preferred to 

 the constant semi-flood, if there has been rain within a 

 reasonable time. The fish are there in the pools sulky 

 maybe, but still there ; red maybe, but still there ; you 

 may have covered them with a dozen flies and had 

 never a touch, but they are still there. How important 

 this is can only be fully realized by those who have 

 waited about by a river when the fish were not there. 

 With salmon in the pools perseverance may at any 

 time meet with its reward. Given a good blustering 

 south-west wind with a brisk feel in the air, one need 

 never be daunted by low water. Even a calm, bright 

 day has its time of dusk, and that time its possibilities. 

 It sometimes happens that one has lost heart just before 

 the twilight half-hour comes, and it is very difficult to 

 whip one's zeal on to the necessary last effort. It is 

 some sort of remedy to leave one pool unfished till the 

 evening, and to seek it after despair has entered one's 

 soul. The sight of an untried pool is a wonderful 

 stimulant which will keep one going till dark. And if 

 at the last moment a fish takes, the sensation is supreme. 

 Night is so near that no law can be given. A strain is 

 applied which would seem sheer madness at midday, 

 but all holds, the fish is kept from the rapids by pure 

 force, plays doggedly in the pool, and at length is on 



