SALMON FLIES, KNOTS, AXIOMS, ETC. 311 



lines, and lures can be used, and with advantage ; but when 

 the water is small and as clear as crystal the lighter the 

 rods, tackle and flies, the greater should be the success in 

 getting fish. 



Fish carefully but quickly. Do not potter in your fishing 

 and as much as possible avoid showing yourself. 



Rough weather, or tumbled water, especially in the 

 summer time, is a factor in favour of the salmon fisherman, 

 probably because the breaking and tumbling of the waves 

 oxygenates the water and enlivens the fish. 



It is believed by many experienced fishermen that sea- 

 trout and salmon seldom take while on their initial run up 

 a stream, and not until shortly after they have reached and 

 settled for the time being in a pool ; but if they have 

 been washed down they may take at any time or anywhere 

 for the first day or two after the spate has begun to 

 subside. 



My reason, for saying this, is that I have so frequently 

 hooked a discoloured fish in the more rapid parts of a river 

 and in the most unlikely places for a salmon to lie. 



The record salmon for 1907 was caught by myself after 

 a spate on the Namson River, in the middle of a run between 

 two pools, and in a portion of the river in which it seemed 

 impossible for a fish to rest. From its appearance this salmon 

 must have left salt water at least two months previously. 



While the colour of a salmon fly is undoubtedly of some 

 importance in securing fish, the size of the fly is of even 

 greater consequence. 



The fly which has killed your last fish will be the one you 

 fancy, but perhaps not the best. 



