SALMON-FISHING 



By the RIGHT HON. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART. 



HE angler, having equipped himself according to the precepts 

 set forth in the foregoing chapters (so far, at least, as they 

 accord with his individual fancy), will now proceed to the 

 riverside to apply the apparatus of the craft to its purpose. 

 Of that craft there is only one branch, namely, fly-fishing, 

 whereon I can presume to offer any observations, forasmuch 

 as a man should only preach what he is prepared to practise, and I have 

 never practised any other. 



And yet — and yet — I must not pose as being more virtuous than it lies 

 in human nature to be. As was once remarked by a contrite sinner — '* I 

 can resist everything except temptation "; and the way in which I suc- 

 cumbed to temptation on one occasion is too deeply impressed on memory 

 to be slurred over with an easy conscience. It was on that fine stream, 

 the Logen Elv or Sand River, in southern Norway, and at that part thereof 

 where, after pouring with much fury through a rocky gorge, the water 

 spreads out into a wide, almost circular, basin which can only be fished 

 from a boat, except at one point where the rush of the rapids first slackens. 

 There is a recess in the cliff at that point, standing in which, at a height 

 of five -and -twenty feet or so above the water, the angler can get his line 

 over some very likely lies. Moreover he can see certain very interesting 

 objects moving in the clear green spaces among the effervescing bubbles, 

 and further down, where the bubbling ceases. 



Well, to this pulpit I climbed one day, and there were the fish, sure 

 enough, I suppose a couple of score of salmon, great and small, sailing 

 leisurely about in the deep, strong water. I put my fly over them with 

 much confidence; but it was in vain; not one would give it any attention 

 —crikey! what was that ? Just the biggest salmon I ever saw in my born 

 days. It came round with the current, dwarfing a couple of twenty 

 pounders in its wake into insignificance, and, just as my Silver Grey 

 passed over it, the monster came to the surface, inspected the fly and — 

 turned away. Aye, that was a moment, for he looked for all the world like 

 taking; but it was not to be. Time after time, as the great fish's perambula- 

 tion brought him within reach, I gave him the choice of a variety of flies, 

 but I never again succeeded in getting the least sign of notice. 

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