134 THE SALMON. 



into Plymouth sound, the latter of which together with the Camel, 

 and some others, by a special act of parliament, it is allowable to 

 fish for salmon in after the fisheries have elsewhere closed for the 

 season. It has been remarked that those rivers that issue from 

 extensive lakes are generally the earliest ; whilst the exact reverse 

 has been noticed of rivers, whose waters are swollen by the melt- 

 ing of the snow. A striking instance of this, though by no 

 means the only one that might have been adduced, is mentioned by 

 Sir W. Jardine, and quoted by Mr. Yarrell, respecting two rivers 

 in Sutherlandshire. " One the Oikel, borders the county, and 

 springs from a small alpine lake, perhaps about a mile in breadth ; 

 the other, the Shin, is a tributary to the Oikel, joins it about five 

 miles from the mouth, but takes its rise from Loch Shin, a large 

 and deep extent of water, and connected to a chain of other deep 

 lochs. Early in the spring all the salmon diverge at the junction, 

 turn up the Shin, and return again as it were to their own warmer 

 stream, while very few keep the main course of the Oikel until a 

 much later period.'' Walton also mentions a singular occurrence 

 respecting the salmon of the Dee and the gwyniads of Pemble- 

 mere. " The river Dee which runs by Chester springs in Merion- 

 ethshire, and as it runs towards Chester, it runs through Pemble- 

 mere, which is a large water : and it is observed, that though 

 the river Dee abounds with salmon, and Pemblemere with the 

 gwyniad, yet there was never any salmon caught in the mere, nor 

 a gwyniad in the river. 



On their first arrival from the sea salmon will not often either 

 rise readily at a fly or take a bait ; seeming to require a little rest 

 before they look about for food ; and it is generally after an in- 

 crease in the waters has sent them again upon their travels, that 

 they are found to take most freely ; a slight rise, and a water a 

 little coloured being the best time for catching them. But they 

 rarely if ever take well in turbid waters. The greatest numbers 

 are usually caught after they have passed their prime, particularly 

 on their return in the spring, but being at the latter time wholly 

 unfit for food, it is a great pity that any one should then be put 

 to death. 



A salmon is not like a trout generally to be found lying under 

 the banks or in the shallows, but usually in the deepest and central 

 parts of the pool. la casting therefore the best plan is to throw 

 first on the opposite side drawing your flies across the stream by a 



