138 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



shades of night were closing in to put up a 

 4/0 Black Doctor, and quickly hook my fish. 



It is this question of size on which the 

 angler's success chiefly depends. On our tidal 

 water we have exceptional opportunities of 

 observing the effect of different sizes, in vary- 

 ing heights of water and changing conditions 

 of light. Within the twenty-four hours we 

 have killed fish on such widely differing hooks 

 as a No. 2 Silver Grey, and a 7/0 Durham 

 Ranger. The last is an extreme instance, but 

 in the rough water at the head of Lervik 

 Pool, in a big river, on an unusually dark 

 night, it has often done its work. 



Whether fish are colour-blind, as some assert, 

 or not, these Norwegian salmon certainly do 

 not seem to have any decided preferences in 

 that respect. If there is a choice, perhaps 

 red is the colour most appreciated ; a view 

 which runs counter to the story told by old 

 Pontoppidan of a fisherman in this district of 

 Sondfjord : " They say the Salmon has a great 

 aversion to any thing red ; so that the fisher- 

 men that watch this fish, must never wear 

 red jackets nor caps of that colour : a certain 

 person here in Sundfjord for that reason took 



