SALMON FISHING- IN LABRADOR. 211 



swiftness a hooked salmon can swim even with the strain 

 of a powerful rod and stiff reel to impede his progress ; 

 and again, who, that has ever witnessed a fresh run 

 salmon endeavouring to divest himself of sea-lice, can 

 doubt for a moment that if the fish does not become 

 charmed^ or entranced so as to paralyse his powers of 

 locomotion, in a race he could far outstrip his awkward 

 and ungainly foe. That seals prey upon salmon, and 

 that to an enormous extent, is beyond a doubt, but 

 how they succeed in capturing them is to me still a 

 mystery. 



On arriving at the upper pool I found the water 

 perfectly boiling with fish ; up, down, or across, wher- 

 ever you cast your eyes, you could either see the dark 

 back of a salmon or the splash made by its plunge. 

 This symptom, I am inclined to believe, is frequently 

 ominous of bad sport, as fish will play in the manner 

 described before a fall of rain, and at the same time 

 will totally disregard the most alluring fly that can 

 be fabricated. In trout-fishing, particularly, I have 

 found this to be the case. One evening, a few years 

 since, when on a fishing excursion in Northern Maine, 

 the show of fish was immense, and the water being 

 perfectly smooth permitted every break to be seen. 

 The forenoon had been unusually warm, in fact the 

 atmosphere felt as if surcharged with electricity, and 



