108 SALMON FISHING 



exasperating insect, the Highland Midge, which 

 during calm weather in spring and early in summer 

 is found in stinging myriads where land and water 

 meet. It seems probable, then, that throughout the 

 period of the year in which the surface of the whole 

 water is equably warm, the trout, though in wind 

 they rise in the shallows only, are distributed all over 

 the lake. If this be so, why should it be supposed 

 that the salmon, which are of the same race, are 

 not similarly dispersed ? I can imagine an answer. 

 " If salmon lie about all over the lake, as trout 

 sometimes do, why are they never seen rising there 

 when the water is calm ? " This looks convincing ; 

 but it is not so. We cannot with certainty dis- 

 tinguish between the rise of a salmon and the rise 

 of a trout. In the case of every salmon that has 

 honoured a fly of mine, the rise, as far as one's sight 

 could tell, was just like that of a trout. Hand, 

 arm, and nerves usually knew better in an instant; 

 but the vision was uninformed. It is just possible, 

 then, that some of the spreading rings on the surface 

 of a calm lake notify rises of salmon. If these fish 

 ever do take a real fly, it is morally certain that 

 they take it quietly. To say that they often leap 

 into the air would be beside the point. When they 

 leap into the air salmon are " rising to themselves," 

 and not, as far as can be seen, at anything to snatch. 

 When they rise at a fly they are much less acrobatic. 

 Often, indeed, they take it without breaking the 

 water. All the salmon with \\hich I myself have 

 had to battle in a lake have come on not far from 



