6 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



sometimes at nine o'clock in the eveniDg, to my little 

 glebe, there to enjoy with my wife a late dinner, and kill 

 our fish all over again. Many an exciting hour have we 

 passed in the rapids of the Shannon at Doonas — rapids 

 which I recommend every fisherman in Europe to see, and 

 to fish if he can — they are six miles from Limerick. 

 Many were the strong salmon which there walked off with 

 our most valued flies, and many were the beautiful and 

 shining swimmers which there fell victims to our feathered 

 deceits. These, however, were the clays when Irish gentle- 

 men did not rent their rod-fishing, but were glad to have it 

 near their residences, as an inducement to their friends to 

 come and visit them and stay with them. For fourteen 

 years I fished these beautiful, bright, and rajjid pools, 

 generally devoting to them a fortnight in April, and 

 another fortnight in June. In the former month the fish 

 were heavier, in the latter much more abundant. I have, 

 in a single day, killed twenty-one salmon and salmon peal 

 in these waters, and that on a bright, balmjr, deT\'y day in 

 June. 



But my first lessons in fly-fishing were not learned in 

 the " mightie Sheenane shining like y** sea." John ]Mason, 

 a lame gamekeeper of my grandfather, lent me an old rod, 

 attached to it a clumsily tied hook, impaled thereon a lono- 

 red worm, and brought me for the first time to try my 

 fortune in the brook which flowed across the road which 

 faced the entrance gate of which he was a guardian. 



