THE SALMON FAMILY. 259 



stone. This is one amongst other reasons why no angler 

 should ever, if he can avoid it, fish a strange river without 

 a competent guide or keeper to point out the best pools 

 and most likely casts ; and when such a pool is reached, 

 every yard of it should be carefully and closely fished over, 

 if necessary with a change of flies, before it is quitted for 

 less certain finds. In some waters, such as the Tweed, the 

 minnow is occasionally more killing than the fly*, and in 

 periods of summer droughts the worm is not unfrequently 

 a deadly bait. 



With the advance of the season the fish begin to gain 

 the upper and shallower reaches, or spawning-grounds ; and 

 at this time all the Salmon and Trout species resident in 

 fresh water, both migratory and non-migratory, acquire, in 

 lieu of their brilliant spring tints, a dusky -yellowish exte- 

 rior, accompanied by a considerable increase of mucus or 

 slime, the fins also becoming more muscular. As the im- 

 portant operation approaches, these colours undergo a still 

 further deterioration, the general hue of the body in the 



* BOB-FLIES or DROPPERS. I may perhaps here mention inci- 

 dentally a method of fastening drop-flies on Salmon casting-lines which 

 I have found very successful, and which, I believe, is not generally 

 known. The object sought to be attained is, of course, that the fly 

 should remain for the longest possible time standing clear from in 

 fact, almost at right angles to the line, with the least amount of knot- 

 ting or thickening, and the greatest facility for changing. To secure 

 the first, it is absolutely necessary that the casting-line should be 

 stiffened at the point of intersection. This is effected by joining there 

 two lengths of gut in a single fisherman' s-knot, leaving about half an 

 inch over at each end. The knot having been drawn straight and 

 close, these two ends should be lapped down to the line with a few 



