116 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



that there you are to fish for him, and that he is to be caught 

 as the trout is, with a worm, a minnow, which some call a 

 penk, or with a fly. 



And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed 

 to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at 

 a fly ; but more usually at a worm, and then most usually at 

 a lob or garden-worm, which should be well scoured, that is 

 to say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish 

 with them : and if you double your time of eight into six- 

 teen, twenty, or more days, it is still the better ; for the 

 worms will still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and 

 continue so longer upon your hook ; and they may be kept 

 longer by keeping them cool and in fresh moss, and some 

 advise to put camphor into it. 



Note also, that many used to fish for a salmon with a ring 

 of wire on the top of their rod, through which the line may 

 run to as great a length as is needful when he is hooked. 

 And to that end, some use a wheel about the middle of their 

 rod, or near their hand ; which is to be observed better by 

 seeing one of them, than, by a large demonstration of words. 



And now I shall tell you that which may be called a 

 secret : I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now 

 with God, a noted fisher both for trout and salmon, and have 

 observed, that he would usually take three or four worms out 



various ; sometimes close by the banks, in an eddy or little current, formed by 

 rocks or roots ; sometimes a little further out ; sometimes in the middle, or at 

 the sides, of the rapidly running tails of pools ; sometimes at their head ; some- 

 times in the middle of deep or shallow currents. In line, in any spot to which 

 the current or the chief strength of it, tends or diverges, thereby bringing some 

 sort of food to the salmon on the look out for it. Two rocks, a yard or two 

 apart, will form an angular current, or a wedge-like one. At the point of the 

 wedge, no matter whether in the middle of the river, or by its sides, salmon 

 surely lie, because to that point insects, larvae, worms, and other food are 

 washed, sucked in at the head of the triangular rapid formed by the two rocks. 

 If a sharp-run is caused by a rock placed at a short distance from the bank, 

 the salmon will lie close by the inside of the rock, or near the bank, or at the 

 tail of the sharp-run. The precise lairs of salmon in different rivers, can only 

 be known by experience. No general rule respecting them will hold good. On 

 first fishing a river, you must have a guide a fisherman, born, as it were, on 

 its banks and he will show you what are called the best " salmon-casts." 

 Without such a guide, you will waste much time, by fishing likely-looking spots, 

 but which, from some cause or other unknown to you, are not frequented by 

 salmon ; and you will pass over, without fishing them, unfavourable spots 

 apparently, but where salmon lie, from some cause also unknown to you. In 

 the pools immediately above waterfalls, or any difficult " salmon-leap," salmon 

 very rarely take the fly, or any other bait. They stop in these pools for 

 the sake of repose, and are disinclined to disturb it even for the sake of food. 

 To the non-local salmon-fisher a local guide is indispensable. ED. 



