SALMON- ANGLING. 331 



stray stems of trees breaking away from the float, which often 

 settle in the finest casts of the river and block them up. I 

 always transpose the old adage, 



" A mile o' Don's worth twa o' Dee, 

 Except for salmon, trout, and tree " 



thus, 



" For salmon's sport, a mile o' Dee 

 Beats twa o' Don keep aff the tree." 



In spite of every caution, I have, like the above patient 

 fisher, often lost the first boast of the Dee by means of the 

 third. Once, when a good salmon was playing freely, and the 

 run at its height, the fish stopped suddenly in the throat of a 

 rapid stream. The weight of water giving the line and rod's 

 point a lively look, quite deceived my companion, who kept 

 insisting that the fish would soon move. Having doubts, I 

 gave him my rod, and wading in, easily detected the sunk tree 

 wedged across the current, with my fly stuck in the wood. 



On the last day of the fishing season in 1853, the river 

 being too large, and fish stubborn, I raked all the water with 

 my most deadly flies, from the top to the second lowest pool, 

 without a single offer. In this pool was a " potted " fish, 

 which I had raised and touched on two former occasions. 

 That very morning, before breakfast, I had wandered to the 

 pool with my rod ; but a heavy rime kept him down. After 

 breakfast the sky had clouded over, and I felt confident that 

 this cast was my best chance in the whole water. I there- 

 fore reserved it as a lonne louche for the end of the day. It 

 was growing dusk when I delivered my line over the very 

 inch where I knew he lay. The rolling boil-up and stiffened 

 rod-point instantly followed, and I played my fish with great 

 content. He was in shallow water, and quite spent, when the 

 line seemed glued to the bottom, although I distinctly felt the 

 salmon at the end of it. On creeping forward, I saw he had 

 sneaked under one of these disgusting trunks, and being out 

 of reach of the gaff, my only chance was, if possible, to raise 



