SALMON. n 



frost drove him last year, and once more he tries 

 all his old flies. The sea-trout are not slow 

 to take his lures, and many a stout fight is made 

 in the darkness. More often than not, the fisher 

 knows every hole of the pool, and fight as it 

 may, the game fish cannot shake him off. He 

 mechanically leads the fish in the darkness, and 

 can hardly discern it, even as he takes it off 

 the hook. At the coming of day, his creel is full 

 of beautiful fish, every one of which has tried 

 his skill, but has eventually come to his basket. 

 If the fish have run early, this fine sport some- 

 times lasts for a couple of months, and for the 

 salmon or trout-fisher it finishes the season. 



It requires a practical fisherman to at once 

 detect the sea-trout. Speaking generally, it 

 resembles its cousin the brown brook-trout, except 

 that one is done in bluish-silver, the other in 

 brown and gold. The water in which it happens 

 to be for the time being, has much influence 

 upon its colour, and the silvery sea-fish becomes 

 more like the trout in proportion as it stays in 

 fresh water. The white-trout, which run. in 

 autumn, range from half-a-pound, to three, four, 

 and five pounds in weight ; fish exceeding this 

 being uncommon. The food of this species 

 varies considerably, according to haunt and 

 season. In the sea it is an omnivorous feeder, 



