NYMPH-FLY FISHING 



fly, showing changed conditions within a few hours. 

 It looks as if the nymph style of fishing was best 

 when a hatch of water insects is coming on and 

 the larvae are rising. Evidently the salmon have 

 their attention on them and do not pay heed to 

 anything else. 



I have always been surprised at the holding 

 power of these small hooks. One day I raised a 

 fish on a No. 14 fly. He immediately settled 

 down and felt as if he was a big fellow. At the 

 same moment my son had a fifteen-pound fish 

 which had run across the pool below where I was. 

 While he was standing on the opposite bank my 

 fish went straight down the pool like a submarine, 

 right under his line. Here was a chance to lose 

 two perfectly good leaders, to say nothing of the 

 fly and line ! I called for the canoe and paddled 

 after the fish; it was my only hope. When we 

 came to my son's line, I fished it up with the paddle 

 and passed it back over the canoe and we were 

 clear, my fish still making down-stream. After a 

 half hour's hard fight, the fish finally came ashore, 

 having towed the canoe all around the pool. I 

 thought surely I had caught "Old Bill" at last, 

 but it was only a twelve-pound fish after all, hooked 

 in the belly fin. That No. 14 hook had held and 



[ H9 ] 



