248 SALMON AND TROUT. 



infallible test should it be doubtful if the fish caught is a salmon 

 or a sea trout. 



Salmon fishing out of a boat in a lake should be carried on 

 on the same principle as when fishing on the river bank, with 

 the exception that a drop fly may be used in addition to the tail 

 fly. A drop fly is often used on a river, but I think it is objec- 

 tionable in consequence of the risk of its getting foul at the 

 bottom. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



There is no accounting for the humour of a salmon. You 

 do not know the minute he will take it into his head to rise ; he 

 will rise freely sometimes on the worst possible looking day for 

 fishing, when no sport is expected. The appearance of a day 

 is most deceptive. You may go out full of hope and certain in 

 your own mind you are going to have great sport, and you will 

 often go home blank without a rise ; but although as a rule it is 

 impossible to foretell in the morning what sort of fishing day it 

 will turn out, there is an exception. If the wind is in the east 

 with a blue hazy atmosphere it seems to affect the fish in some 

 unaccountable way, and while it lasts a rise can rarely be got 

 out of them. I have noticed this hundreds of times, often when 

 the water was in splendid fishing order, and the river full of 

 new run fish, but whatever quarter the wind blows from there 

 is always a chance while the fly is in the water, and to insure 

 success the angler must make up his mind to have many blank 

 days. He must never tire of throwing his fly, and never be put 

 out by failure. 



The time of day when I have found salmon take best is 

 between the hours of nine o'clock A.M. and one o'clock P.M., and 

 from four to dusk in the evening. In early spring if there is no 

 frost it will make little difference what hour one fishes, but in a 

 hard frost it is not often a salmon will rise until the afternoon, 

 and then only for a short time. In the latter part of the spring 

 months, when the weather gets bright and hot, the earlier the 



