l«4 SALMON AND TROUT. 



A spring salmon will not travel as fast as a summer salmon. 

 The rate at which salmon travel is dependent upon the state of 

 the weather and the temperature of the water. Should there 

 be a hard winter, lasting, as it often does, well into the spring, 

 hardly a fish will have found his way to the upper waters ; but 

 should there have been an open winter, with good travelling 

 water and no obstruction, the upper reaches will be fairly stocked 

 by the time the fishing season commences. Of course there 

 are exceptions, and, however mild the spring may be in some 

 rivers — for instance, the Wye and the Usk in Monmouthshire 

 and Brecknockshire — spring fish will not travel above a certam 

 distance, and the upper waters do not get stocked until well on 

 in the season. In Scotland the temperature of the water in 

 the early spring is always very low, and obstructions in the 

 Scotch rivers stop the fish running, so that they will not pass 

 these until the weather gets warmer and the temperature of 

 the water higher.^ 



On the Helmsdale and Shin, in Scotland, are falls over which 

 salmon can easily pass, but they will never do so until the 

 month of April, and it is known almost to a day when they will 

 make their appearance in the stream above these falls. That 

 salmon are very susceptible to cold is quite certain ; although 

 they are fresh out of the sea, and in their primest condition, and 

 will take a fly or bait greedily, yet they will not lodge in a rapid 

 stream in the early part of the spring, but are always found in 

 easy water, just where one would expect to find a spent fish ; 

 and it is not until well on in the spring that they will lodge in 

 rapid water.* 



^ Is it not probable that the big fish travel slower than the smaller ones, as 

 in all rivers the first school of fish that come in are the biggest and heaviest during 

 the year, and each subsequent school is successively smaller? Also as the 

 weight and volume of water coming down are greater in the spring than the 

 sunmier, does that not probably make the progress of the fish slower in 

 spring ? — Ed. 



* Who can account for the fact that when you cannot find, or certainly see 

 or rise a fish on the Lochy in the early spring, you can take scores on the Garry 

 of beautiful large salmon in prime condition? The shortest journey to the 

 Garry is through the river and loch Lochy, and yet the fishermen will tell you 



