212 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



to enter into a detailed account of all the vagaries and 

 eccentricities of the fish, both before and after hooking ; 

 most of these will come before the salmon angler in the 

 pursuit of his sport. How, when weather and water are 

 perfect, and the river full of fish, they will steadfastly refuse 

 to take any lure, no matter how temptingly displayed. 

 Again, when water is very low and weather bright, and the 

 angler, following the correct rule, will put up his smallest fly 

 without receiving any response, he alters his tactics and 

 putting on his cast a fly almost as large and brightly coloured 

 as a canary will succeed in hooking fish after fish> 

 Often the fly has to be discarded and the spoon put up, and 

 this again to give way to the minnow, the par-tail, or the 

 tail of an eel (the latter a very taking bait in the evening 

 on many salmon rivers in the south of Ireland), and after 

 all to find the only successful lure would be a worm, or a 

 bunch of these reptiles. Therefore the angler should never 

 despair, but keep both his brain and his body actively 

 employed. Try one thing after another. It is weary work, 

 but at the first mad rush of a lively " springer," or the 

 determined pull of a lusty summer fish, all the weariness 

 will fade like "snow before the sun." Then begins a 

 stirring fight. The fear that the fish is not well hooked 

 the hope that that spring into the air was the last the 

 momentary cessation of the beating of the heart as the line 

 feels slack, to be sent throbbing again by the certainty that 

 all is still right then the anxiety about the bringing in and 

 landing, and, to crown all, the exultation and the pride 

 when the white gleaming sides of the fish lie high and dry 

 on the grassy bank these give a zest to this sport that 

 makes all others tame beside it. For more detailed accounts 



