SECRETS OF THE SALMON 



present time no better way has been found to 

 catch fresh run salmon. 



When rivers rise due to rains at any time in 

 the season, salmon seem to revert to those habits 

 for a few days and are easily caught on the regular 

 wet-fly tackle. It requires little skill to hook one, 

 as he will hook himself if the fly is only where he 

 can see it. These are the conditions the regular 

 salmon fisherman prays for, not knowing, poor 

 fellow, that he is missing his finest sport in not 

 knowing how to follow the habits of the fish. 



As the water drops and becomes warmer the 

 salmon tend more and more to settle in the pools. 

 Some nights they move from pool to pool up the 

 river, or they may even go many miles in a single 

 night. I have seen them travelling in the day- 

 time over the bars, slowly making their way and 

 resting every little while. But generally when the 

 height of the water does not favor their moving 

 on they stay in the pools which suit them. It is 

 often hard to discover why they like one pool and 

 not another. One year one pool will be full of 

 fish all the season and the next, almost empty. 

 Another year the conditions may be reversed. 

 Sometimes this is caused by changes in the bottom 

 due to freshets, or by logs, or by changes of depth, 



[ 16 ] 



