154 FLY FISHING 



and I fished with nothing but salmon flies and 

 salmon gut and a seventeen feet rod. I was con- 

 tinually hooking sea trout of all weights from 

 one pound to three pounds, and of course getting 

 no fun with them on such tackle : if I had used 

 a small rod, and been content to fish the sides of 

 the stream and the stiller parts with sea trout 

 flies, I should have had wonderful sport with sea 

 trout, and probably have hooked an occasional 

 small salmon or grilse also, even though it was 

 impossible to cover the whole water properly 

 with anything but a salmon rod. As it was, my 

 total for five days was four salmon (none of them 

 large) and six grilse, besides a number of fresh 

 run sea trout, which were all wasted as far as 

 sport was concerned. The memory of that week 

 is one of wasted opportunities, which have never 

 recurred. On the other hand, if I were by that 

 pool again and the same conditions were present, 

 I should remember that once in July a friend of 

 mine landed fourteen fresh run salmon and grilse 

 in one day from the stream there, and if I gave 

 myself up to sea trout fishing I might be tor- 

 mented by the thought that I was missing an 

 opportunity of having such a day as he once had. 



