63 



The <^lorioiis uncertainty of salmon fishing- is provei- 

 bial, and therein lies one of its chief charms With water 

 very low and stale, a scalding- snn, and an east wind, ^y& 

 commenced operations last Saturday, an<i nrithing- could 

 have been more depressing- than our prospects of sj.ort. 

 Said an old croaker, who shares our farmhouse quarters, " I 

 have been here a month, and only caught four salmon." 

 A\'e told him it was due to his not being- able to fish ; for 

 hope springs eternal in the breast of the fisherman, and 

 he always believes himself able to succeed where others 

 have failed. At aiiy rate, we started wdth an eleven 

 ])ounder that afternoon, by way of beginning, and on, 

 Simday the wind veered to the south and worked itself 

 up to half a gale. This lasted through the night, and 

 although the rain held off, there was no sun on Monday, 

 and the river was lashed into life by a rattling breeze. 

 There were "lashins o' fish" in the water, and my clnun 

 Avas up and at them by six o'clock. I have long since 

 come to the conclusion that early rising is a mistake, and 

 when I came down at 8.30 and saw the pretty eight 

 pounder that had rewarded the early riser I was not in the 

 least envious — he had earned the prize. We started 

 together at ten o'clock, and he scored a seven pounder 

 within one hundred yards of the house. Then I was 

 envious, but congratulated him on his luck notwithstand- 

 ing. You can forgive your friend anything else but you 

 cannot forgive him catching more fish than you do. About 

 a hundred yards lower down I had my revenge by hook- 

 ing a very sporting fish, but my pleasure was short-lived, 

 for after playing her for about five minutes she made a 

 flying leap, and dropping the point of rod, in orthodox 

 fashion, the fly fell out of her mouth ! She was a clean, 

 fresh run fish of about twelve pounds, and I felt bad, very 

 bad, for the next quarter of an hour. The English lan- 

 guage is too poor to enable an angler to do justice to his 

 feelings under such conditions. 



I told my boatman, Cornelias O'Hara, that if he did not 

 put me into a sixteen or seventeen pounder before lunch- 

 time he would be dismissed without a character. He 



