NIL DESPERANDUM 161 



phenomenal, and must be ascribed partly to the 

 enormous quantity of fish collected in the tidal 

 part of the stream, beyond which it was impos- 

 sible for them to run ; and partly to some climatic 

 influence which I can neither understand nor ex- 

 plain. I am an old fisherman with a tolerably 

 varied experience, and the more I fish the less 

 inclined I feel to lay down the law dogmatically 

 on the habits and caprices of that most capricious 

 of fish the salmon. If I have sometimes met 

 with unexpected success, I have much more often 

 returned with an empty basket, when all condi- 

 tions seemed to point to a record day ; but fish- 

 ing would lose its greatest charm if it lost its 

 uncertainty and " scent " itself is not more 

 uncertain. 



The moral I draw is that, given the necessary 

 combination of fish and water, however low and 

 bright the latter may be, if you fish fine enough, 

 and use small enough flies, you need not despair. 

 I would also add my own belief that it is a com- 

 mon error of fishermen to use flies unnecessarily 

 large. With regard to rod and tackle, I am well 

 aware that there are not many rivers where it 

 would be safe and easy to catch salmon with a 

 small single-handed rod, yet where I was fishing 

 I believe that I exercised a wise discretion in my 

 choice of a short light rod, considering the day, 

 the water, and the period of the year. It was 

 quite easy to keep as much strain upon the fish 



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