346 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



consequence. I should advise the constant use of the 

 handle of your landing net to feel and guide your steps, 

 on no account permitting the excitement of hooking a 

 large fish to make you lose your head. 



A couple of hundred yards beneath the dam is a 

 splendid pool, difficult to fish and difficult of ac- 

 cess, but a trial will be amply rewarded. Scarcely in 

 the memory of a long fishing career have we ever- 

 enjoyed such a couple of hours' sport as fell to< 

 our luck the first time we wetted a line upon its. 

 well-stocked surface. On the first cast not one but 

 half a dozen of the spotted beauties rushed to the 

 surface, so that we were ultimately compelled to reduce 

 the number of flies we were using to a solitary spe- 

 cimen. For two hours we confined ourselves to this 

 pool, with the simple change of altering situation or 

 cast, and even then only desisted, not from want of fish 

 but for fear the constant strain would wear out the rod. 

 On this occasion the results were nearly four dozen, 

 and none under half a pound, many reaching as high 

 as three and even three and a half. The guide, whom 

 I have previously mentioned, was my companion, and 

 most satisfactorily he did his work, although on many 

 occasions he was compelled to wade up to his middle ; 

 in fact, I never met a more obliging person, or one 

 more fearless in entering water, or better skilled in 

 handling a landing net. 



Another day's sport I will quote more minutely, as 

 another part of the river was the scene of operations. 

 Within an hour and a half I had killed eleven fish, 

 averaging two and a quarter pounds, when suddenly 

 they stopped rising, and all my skill was wasted, for 

 I could not raise a fin. This striking peculiarity in 



