258 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



months approach ; until then, the salmon may continue 

 to feed while in the sea. 



DISCOLOURED FISH 



The fact that discoloured salmon of both sexes are cap- 

 tured in the sea, does not prove that these fish have so 

 altered while there. They hang about the estuaries, or in 

 the mouths of the rivers after their arrival in a clean 

 condition from the sea until an opportunity offers to run 

 up to the spawning grounds. 



A " fresh run salmon " if it means anything, means a 

 fish fresh from the sea ; a fish ascending from an estuary into 

 a river, unless it has come direct from the sea should not be 

 classed as a " fresh run salmon." 



Salmon undoubtedly make their way up the tidal estuaries 

 of our rivers, and some way into fresh water with each 

 recurring tide, and descend again as the tide ebbs. This 

 may happen daily until a favourable moment occurs for the 

 run up the chosen river, but while they are awaiting the 

 chance to ascend the river, their appearance and their 

 condition undoubtedly alters. 



It is far more natural to assume that the fish which 

 are now considered to have become discoloured in the sea, 

 are those which, after spending some months in the rivers 

 or estuaries, have become discoloured there, and have 

 from some impelling, because natural, reason descended to 

 the sea and then lost their freedom in the nets. 



Marked, unspawned fish will drop down to the sea, feed, 

 acquire weight and return the same year. 



Unspawned salmon have been captured in fresh water 

 and marked, and have thereafter gone down to the sea, put 

 on from one to two and a half pounds in weight, and after 

 from thirty to forty days have elapsed, these fish have been 

 recaptured. 



