SECRETS OF THE SALMON 



I do not claim that nymph-fly fishing is essen- 

 tially different from wet-fly fishing with a small 

 salmon fly, which all salmon fishermen use at times, 

 but it was the realization of the fact that the salmon 

 were behaving like bulging brown trout which 

 made me feel that they were taking nymphs. I 

 therefore adapted my fly and my whole method of 

 fishing with this in view and did not fish in the 

 regular wet-fly style of casting, drawing the fly 

 across the current. I worked the fly as I would a 

 nymph fly for brown trout and immediately had 

 extraordinary results where I had been getting 

 only a few fish before. It is the point of view and 

 not the essential difference in the tackle which 

 animates this chapter. 



One afternoon recently on the Restigouche on 

 the Looking Glass Pool, there was a large number of 

 salmon collected at the point where some spring 

 water comes in near the head of the pool. For 

 several days previously they had taken a dry 

 fly readily and all the party had hooked all the 

 fish they wanted. On the day I refer to, about 

 five o'clock in the afternoon, the fish broke water 

 all about, rolling and bulging, but they absolutely 

 refused to take a dry fly, no matter what size or 

 kind we used nor how we cast it. On the day be- 



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