How to Fish for Salmon. 2 1 



and I the upper. When we met, I had got five fish, — 

 two salmon, one of 14 lbs., one of 12 lbs., and three 

 grilse, all taken with this fly, and I had risen four 

 or five other fish and lost two. 



" Let me look at that flee agin," he exclaimed. 

 " Ah ! I did na see that wee bit of blue jay's feather ; 

 the fish are verra fond of that colour." He begged 

 the fly of me, and it became a great favourite with 

 him. The old man has gone to his rest, but there 

 never was a better fisherman or a more genial com- 

 panion, always ready to show you how to get sport, 

 and with a fund of information as regards fishing, 

 which, however, from his strong Scotch accent, was 

 most difficult to understand. 



When a salmon rises and misses the fly, it is 

 customary to wait a minute or two before again 

 casting over him, as in a quick stream and with the 

 impulse of the rise, the fish will take that time to 

 return to his original r^^V^ d'avantage; he may not rise 

 again even to that fly or to any other, but if 

 hungry in all probability he will, and he seldom 

 misses his prey the second time. Again, he may 

 have moved a bit, and you will raise him a yard or 

 so lower down, — many thinking they have raised 

 another fish. But fish are very capricious. I once 

 on the Spean, at the tail of Fern-a-mor,^ rose a 

 large salmon eleven times without his touching the 

 ^ The Pool of the Big Alder. 



