424 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



donned his salmon waders, as will also have his four or 

 five assistants, who are already on the ground. They 

 have with them the nets which have been kept all day 

 in readiness near the waterside, and they have also a 

 couple of stout poles 6 ft. long, not only to beat the water 

 and prod the banks, but to help them to keep their 

 balance in the icy stream. 



Arrived at our destination, we are told that several 

 pairs of salmon, or sea-trout, or trout, as the case may 

 be, are on the redds. We see for ourselves the females 

 flashing their sides occasionally in the brown water, and 

 the attendant males dashing every now and then 

 almost ashore on the shallows. The river (we shall 

 suppose) is some fifteen or twenty paces wide, gravelly 

 runs alternating with slacker places, scarcely pools, of 

 from 2 to 4 ft. in depth. We select a stretch of water 

 where there are several pairs of fish, and at the lower 

 end of this, at a point where the river narrows, we fix 

 our principal net. 



This is a large bag-net of a 4 in. mesh, neither 

 floated with corks nor leaded, but simply reeved to a 

 circle of rope, the diameter of the mouth being 20 ft., 

 and the bag extending 40 ft, tapering to a point where, 

 by means of a slip-knot, we can take out any of the 

 enclosed fish that is required. Besides this large net, 

 four smaller bag-nets, 10 ft. diameter at the mouth and 

 10 ft. in depth, are useful for catching trout in small 

 burns, and for retaining large fish temporarily till 

 wanted. The large bag-net is now fastened by two guys 



