NYMPH-FLY FISHING 



one of them almost at the root of the tongue, show- 

 ing that he really meant to take it for food. While 

 the erect wing style of fly was better than the 

 regular salmon fly type, and took the fish much 

 more readily, I could get fish on any of the regular 

 flies or trout flies if they were small enough, Nos. 

 10 and 12. I even tried a No. 16 and found they 

 were just as anxious for that. Both my son and I 

 were absolutely satisfied that these fish were tak- 

 ing the larvae of flies, even if they were spitting 

 them out later. Of course there was none in 

 the stomachs, as they are almost closed at the 

 throat. However, these fish were evidently tak- 

 ing these flies as food, as I hooked them at the 

 base of the tongue. Since they cannot eat solid 

 food at this stage, is it not possible that they take 

 these small flies into their mouths and squeeze 

 the juice out of them at the root of the tongue, 

 suck the juice into their stomachs and eject the 

 fly itself ? The stomach of these fish often contains 

 a brownish-yellow slime which would certainly 

 not be there unless something entered the stomach, 

 yet we find no solid food there. I believe they can 

 and do take fly juice in large quantity whenever 

 they can get it. One day on the Upsalquitch dur- 

 ing lunch, I noticed a salmon in an eddy come up 



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