Salmon Fishing. 133 



their reach to insure success ; and when obliged 

 to return evening after evening with no " spolia 

 opima" to send off to their expectant friends at 

 home, as an evidence of their prowess, they 

 become cowed and crest-fallen, and leave the 

 river, determined never to try it again. Scores of 

 such disappointed ones can I recall to mind. 

 And yet when I think of their tackle, and want 

 of skill to use it, coupled with their own helpless- 

 ness in being compelled to confide in their hired 

 companion for the most likely " shop" in every 

 catch, to find Salmo Salar at home in, I must 

 confess I am not much surprised at their failure 

 in general. 



To learn a river well, requires time, study, 

 and experience, and to fish it properly, tact and 

 skill. The best guide it is possible to secure 

 will, no doubt, for his own credit, take the 

 stranger in tow to the most likely parts of the 

 pools and streams he is acquainted with. But 

 to a real fisherman in rivers as changeable as the 

 Dovey, it is not enough to keep always in 



