192 FLY FISHING 



was fished from a boat, and the old gillie told 

 me that for years he had known that in all 

 heights of water there was only one particular 

 bit of some six yards in the whole of it that was 

 worth fishing; but he neither knew nor could 

 guess the reason, till there came an unprecedented 

 drought, and for the first time in his life he saw 

 the bottom of this part of the river. Then going 

 quietly down it all in a boat he saw the salmon 

 lying together at this one place on some stones 

 which were more flat and smooth than the sur- 

 rounding rock and gravel. 



This sort of knowledge must be learnt, in the 

 first place, from those who know; we must in 

 salmon fishing at first profit by the experience 

 of past generations on each river and take it on 

 trust. It would need a lifetime to discover the 

 best places of a river afresh for ourselves. A 

 salmon angler of great experience may make 

 some good guesses at the favourite spots of a 

 strange river, but even he is sure to mistake 

 some useless places for good ones, and to pass 

 lightly over some of the best. Now the most 

 essential thing in salmon fishing is concentration 

 on the best places; it is not enough to be told 



