SALMON FISHING 195 



was no reason why any one of their patterns 

 should succeed better than the one already 

 tried ; till at last I have looked at the un- 

 conscious water and doubted whether there were 

 any salmon there that day at all ! 



I have never been very successful in salmon 

 fishing. Another angler once caught over fifty 

 fresh run salmon with fly in six consecutive days 

 in March on a river on which I was fishing 

 at the same time. That is the best record for 

 the United Kingdom of which I know, for I 

 should not count any number of autumn salmon 

 or of salmon caught with minnow as against 

 these. My own total for those six days was 

 fifteen clean salmon. I was sharing a rod with 

 a friend, and in consequence only fished for 

 half of each day, but I felt that under no 

 circumstances should I have come near to my 

 neighbour's figures. 



I once caught two fresh run spring salmon 

 in one day which weighed over 50 pounds 

 together. The actual weights were 29! pounds 

 and 2i pounds. The first one rose to my fly 

 four times before I hooked it. After the first 

 rise I made a mark in the bank, walked back a 



