THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 129 



nondescript, beautiful, large insect, swimming by fits and starts a little 

 beneath the surface of the water, and up stream. The salmon-fly must 

 be worked towards yon, up and down, and through the water, by moving 

 the rod up and down, not very rapidly, or very high or low. The hands, 

 grasping the rod, move up and down, just as if you were pumping 

 leisurely with a light free-handled pump. In previous writings, I have 

 made the following analytical remarks on humouring the salmon-fly : 

 " When the rod and line are lifted up, so will be the fly, and the 

 resistance it meets with from the superincumbent water against which, 

 in an upward direction, it is forced, will press down its wings on the 

 body, compressing, of course, the fibres of the feathery or fur material 

 of which wings, body, and legs are made ; when by the next motion, a 

 sinking one of the rod and line, the fly goes downwards against the 

 water, the resistance it meets with from beneath opens all the fibres 

 of the wing-feathers and hackles, displays the different colours of each, 

 and discloses the body and the tinsel with which it is ribbed. When by 

 the motion that occurs between the two others, the fly is drawn towards 

 the angler, the water presses it above and below indeed on all sides 

 and all the materials of which it is made are more compressed than 

 they are by any other motion. The motion I have called the sinking 

 one, is the most attractive of the three, because its effect is fuller deve- 

 lopment of the colours of the fly, and fuller action I may say almost 

 separate action of each of the fly's component parts. Now, if the 

 up-and-down and drawing-in motions are performed roughly or rapidly, 

 the effect, or rather one of the effects, will be, constant compression of 

 the fibres of the wing and hackle feathers, and of the hairs, be they 

 mohair, or pig's wool, or fur, of which the body is made. By this com- 

 pression shades of colour are hidden, and nearly all the beauties of the 

 most seductively tinted wing are obscured. The fall wing and the full 

 body are injuriously attenuated by water pressure. Certainly, no matter 

 how rapid the upward and downward motion of the fly may be, its 

 fibres must open as they descend against the water ; but their colours 

 are displayed for so brief a period, that the fish has not had sufficient 

 time to distinguish them. The too rapid motion between the heaving 

 and the setting of the fly, draws it so swiftly towards you, that few fish 

 are fleet enough to overtake it ; and if they are, they will be, I fancy, 

 disinclined to make use of extraordinary effort to do so." It is a less 

 fault to work the fly too slowly and gently, than too rapidly and roughly. 

 I have seen salmon follow with open mouth a rapidly worked fly, and 

 not being able to overtake it, turn back and descend to their lair. When- 

 ever you see a salmon following your fly, lower your rod a little, which 

 will cause the fly to rest, or move gently towards the fish, who, seeing it 

 with all its fibres temptingly displayed, will, in the majority of such 

 instances, take it eagerly. 



There is no greater defect in salmon-fishing, than striking too quickly 

 and too strongly at a rising fish. You should never strike at a fish 

 unless you feel him, which you will not do unless you have the fly 

 between his lips, or withinside them. The instant a salmon has taken 

 the fly, he turns his head downwards with it, ostensibly to swallow it 



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