414 AS UDDEN SHO IV OF FISH 



a cold day in March, the wind being N.E., and so 

 cold that the gillie, who was in a kilt, could stand it no 

 longer, and disappeared into some bushes. I had my 

 waders on, and while I was casting away against the 

 wind, an incident occurred the like of which is by no 

 means strange to fishermen, but which no one has ever 

 yet been able to account for satisfactorily. In the space 

 of a few seconds three fish showed themselves in different 

 parts of the pool. I have often known fish in pools 

 suddenly show themselves all at once, and perhaps 

 after I have been fishing for hours without rising 

 a thing, and have almost felt inclined to believe that 

 there was not a fish in the river ; for salmon can at 

 times be excessively sulky, and refuse to move at 

 any price. On the occasion referred to these three 

 fish rose on the opposite side of the river, and I 

 hooked the three and landed two of them ; the third 

 broke me after a desperate run. Just after this had 

 happened the nets came down to us, and after three 

 sweeps only succeeded in getting one fish, that one 

 being the one I had lost, and with the fly still in its 

 mouth. 



Taking the above fish on so cold a day seems to me 

 to be a conclusive proof that, however miuch river-trout 

 may be affected by the weather, not rising when it is 

 very cold, salmon are indifferent to such conditions. I 

 have found that sea-trout are just as keen as salmon 

 are in cold snow-showers, and I have many a time had 

 the most wonderfully good sport on days when the line 

 has been so frozen as to run through the rings with 

 great difficulty. On one such day I once killed a 

 hundred and twelve sea-trout. 



On pools where it is not possible to make use of 



