152 FLY FISHING 



time, but the angler cannot get the best of 

 salmon fishing now. It is only grilse and 

 small salmon that he can expect to get at their 

 best. The bigger fish, with which it really 

 needs a big rod and strong salmon gut to cope, 

 will not, as a rule, be fresh run or in fine con- 

 dition. There is, however, one sort of angling 

 that is at its best, and indeed is only good at 

 all in the months of July, August, and Sep- 

 tember. These are the months in which the 

 sea trout run up fresh from the sea, and it is 

 in pursuit of them that the best sport is now 

 to be had. It is not to large rivers that one 

 generally goes in search of sea trout fishing, 

 and the reason for this is to be found partly 

 in the habits of sea trout, and partly in the 

 arrangements made by mankind with respect to 

 rivers and their rents. Large rivers, to which 

 sea trout have free access, will also have numbers 

 of salmon, and if they are let at all will be let 

 at rents for which the presence of salmon is 

 entirely responsible, and which are far in excess 

 of what is charged or paid for the best sea 

 trout fishing alone. Sea trout in a large salmon 

 river are not of much more account than grouse 



