THE HUMOURS OF SALMON. 2l)7 



To triumph on such days, one must provide a practical novelty that 

 may rouse the " tiresome Salmon " from that too volatile or too inert 

 mood which prevents him paying the least attention to the politest Sir 

 Oracle or his ordinarily quite attractive flies. According to my opinion, a 

 special work of art in respect of flies is, so to speak, an image, not 

 necessarily of any living thing represented, but of the impressions or, 

 shall I say, " phantasy pictures " forced by an independent reality on the 

 mind of the experienced hand. And yet due thought must in all cases 

 be given to the idiosyncrasies of Salmon. These distinguish the fish 

 of one river from the fish of another. What are improperly called " fish 

 humours " commonly but not invariably, depend on light, shade, the 

 nature of surroundings, and so on. A fine Angler gives all these 

 things justifiable weight, and whilst never supposing that all the fish in 

 this river have an exclusive natural love of blue and hatred of red, and 

 that, contrariwise, all the fish in that river are disinclined to blue and 

 enamoured of red, sets himself to devise something really ticklesome for 

 their acceptance rather than follow common practices and submit to 

 barren statements founded on " fish humours." 



These statements violate all rational probabilities, and to embrace 

 them would simply compel us to accept the ridiculous proposition that all 

 the fish which prefer blue go to one river, those affecting red to another 

 river, and so on through the colours of the rainbow. 



The humour of the fish is to recognise that which excites his 

 curiosity, appetite, a singular sort of cupidity, or whatever it may 

 be ; and different combinations and tactics are often required to stir him. 



Writing on the subject of " Exaggerations," Land and Water says : 

 " For sometime past, Mr. George M. Kelson has been explaining the 

 minutifE of this higher branch of fly-fishing in the Press. In his articles, 

 the reader has not only the experience of one who has from boyhood fished 

 in every quarter of the kingdom, but who has also the transmitted 

 knowledge of a Father equally skilled as the son, both in tying the fly and 

 handling the rod. . . . Put into a few words what Mr. Kelson 

 advocates in the case of lazy fish, is to first rouse them by an ' exaggeration.' 

 When a fish is roused into a condition of expectancy, it is as good as half 

 caught ; all that is then wanted is a ' modification ' deftly manipulated. 



