SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 183 



found in the stomach of a salmon, that he does not feed. A 

 friend of mine, who takes the greatest interest in this subject, 

 told me that, when he was fishing in Norway some years ago, 

 he cut open every fish he caught (thirty in number), and did not 

 find anything inside any of the salmon, but three of the grilse 

 tvere gorged with insects, which he thought were daddy-long- 

 legs. This is the only instance I ever met with of food being 

 found in the stomach of a salmon : it is, of course, an excep- 

 tion : but if any evidence were wanting, this of itself proves 

 that salmon will feed, though how to account for the absence 

 of food in their stomachs is a puzzle. I have often noticed, 

 fishing with natural bait, when a salmon is landed the bait is 

 torn from the hooks and sent up the line a foot or more. Does 

 not this show that a salmon has marvellous power of ejecting 

 its food ? Is it not probable that, when he gets into trouble, 

 either by being hooked, or netted, he will disgorge the contents 

 of his stomach ? A trout that is full of food will, we all know, 

 do so after he is landed and why not the salmon ? My friend 

 who told me he found food inside the grilse also said that 

 several Norwegian net fishermen informed him that, after their 

 nets were drawn in they generally found a number of half- 

 digested fish amongst the salmon thus caught. He also said he 

 had heard the same story at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. If these 

 fishermen spoke the truth, it goes a long way in support of my 

 theory. l 



The absence of food in a salmon's stomach has been 

 accounted for in one other way. A salmon may have such 

 powers of digestion that whatever food he consumes disappears 

 almost at once ; but against this supposition there is the fact 

 of what my friend found inside three grilse. As it is certain 

 grilse are only salmon in youth, this theory must fall to the 

 ground, and I am inclined to think the former explanation is 

 the correct one. 



1 From my own experience I fully endorse this. Salmon must feed in fresh 

 water, or they would take neither fly nor bait spoons, prawns, or anything else. 

 Yet I never found anything in their stomachs ; they must eject it when in 

 trouble. BEAUFORT. 



