MISADVENTURE TO A SALMON. 249 



resemble a small eel. The whole had a blue stripe down 

 the middle. 



An artificial shrimp has been lately brought out, 

 and I should think it is very likely to answer as a 

 bait, as those creatures will no doubt constitute a large 

 portion of the food of salmon when upon the coasts ; 

 while it is highly probable that it will also be taken in 

 estuaries and tideways, where the fly is now useless. 



It must be remembered that salmon will only rise 

 at the fly after they have run a considerable distance 

 from the sea, and been quietly located a few days in 

 some favourite pool ; and that during the continuance 

 of a freshet in a river, if they are at all upon the run to 

 the higher waters, it is quite in vain to attempt fishing, 

 as they will then utterly disregard the most brilliant 

 lures that can be offered to them. On one occasion I 

 witnessed a singular misadventure happen to a 12-lb. 

 salmon while fishing at Tarset in North Tyne. There was 

 a good deal of freshet in the river, and the fish were all 

 upon the run, so that our sport was nil. When approach- 

 ing an angular bend, where the stream suddenly darted 

 off towards the left bank, and left a gradually shelving 

 bed of gravel straight in front of a deep pool, I observed 

 a fine fresh-run fish run straight out of the water up the 

 dry gravel for a distance of a couple of yards (such had 

 been the velocity with which he was running), when a 

 friend who was with me, the tenant of the water as 

 well, instantly pounced upon him. 



