CHAPTER XV 

 MATTERS CONNECTED WITH FISHING FOR SALMON 



Non-rising fish Stoning a pool Entering fresh pools The Wye cast 

 and how to fish it A sagging line Sinking the fly Harling 

 Presenting the lure to the salmon The rise of the salmon Gaffing 

 Renting a fishing water. 



IT may occur to the reader that if salmon, while in fresh 

 water, be actuated by an instinctive impulse to destroy all 

 the possible enemies to their future young, they but too 

 frequently display a considerable disinclination to respond 

 to this call, and the lures with which he endeavours to 

 awaken them to this duty, and incidentally to effect their 

 capture, are, as a consequence, disregarded. 



There are, however, several circumstances which may 

 explain this apparent lapse of duty on the part of the 

 salmon. In the first place, it is certain that salmon are not 

 exempt from the natural laws which affect all living creatures. 

 They require rest, and for this reason alone it is little wonder 

 that they may at times neglect the instincts of hunger or 

 destruction whichever they may be though perfectly 

 conscious of the presence of the moving life around them. 



In the second place, it can hardly be supposed that they 

 are lacking in the wisdom which teaches the majority of 

 created beings to avoid objects which have occasioned them 

 pain, and which threaten danger. 



In the third place, those inhabitants of our rivers and 

 seas comprised in the families which are attacked by 

 salmon, although progressing in a variety of different ways, 

 are yet affected by the natural phenomena of the currents 



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