SALMON FISHING 197 



water was in order the whole time, but I not only 

 never landed one salmon, but never even had a 

 rise. On the last day of all my fly was taken by a 

 fish under water, and I landed a sea-trout kelt ! 

 Finally before the day was over my rod broke in 

 two. It is difficult to believe that it all happened 

 without design on the part of some hidden 

 power, which took delight in watching my long 

 blank days of disappointment, then in mocking 

 me with a sea-trout kelt, and which at last in 

 sheer hatred and malice broke my rod. 



I have found the weather very interesting in 

 March in the north of Scotland. More than 

 once the river has been frozen. There was one 

 exceptionally severe frost in 1891, which for a 

 few days made fishing impossible. In the first 

 days of the frost we used to break the ice at the 

 sides of the best pools and push it out in large 

 pieces into the open stream in the middle, which 

 gradually carried it away. By this means we 

 used to get a little clear water in which to fish 

 during the middle of the day, but every night the 

 frost became more and more severe, and at last 

 there was no open water left except just the 

 rough streams at the head of the pools, which 



