SALMON FISHING IN ENGLAND 



the history of such a fish, it returns to the sea a Jcelt, Kves offshore 

 during the Tvinter, preying upon herring or such fishes as it 

 follows, and other succulent game. This often gives it a remarks 

 able growth, so that in the following spring when it enters the 

 river, runs the gauntlet of poachers and netters, it appears in a 

 pool of some fortunate angler, on the Bsk, we wiU say, a plump, 

 fighting, full-fledged, salmon weighing possibly twenty pounds, 

 that takes his fly and gives him the play of his life. 



It is the knowledge of this experience, this survival of the 

 fittest, this extraordinary struggle to produce its kind against 

 aU obstacles of man and nature, that gives the true angler the 

 high appreciation of this royal fish. It is this that has made 

 salmon fishing what it is in the United Kingdom, and when 

 one hears the criticisms of some would-be anglers that the best 

 fishing is bought, controlled by private owners or clubs in all 

 lands, it is well to remember that without these safeguards, or if all 

 the salmon rivers of Great Britain were thrown open to the public, 

 the fish in five years would disappear, and salmon fishing would 

 be a lost art and a legend. 



There are of course many curious and interestiag exceptions 

 to the life history I have briefly drawn, which would flU a volume 

 alone in their presentation and discussion. Some fish remain 

 in the ocean a longer or shorter time. There is an interesting 

 difference in the time of salmon in ascending the rivers of Great 

 Britain. If the river is polluted, Mke the Thames, and no river 

 should be polluted, they pass it by. In the rivers of Scotland 

 that flow into the German Ocean and Pentland Firth, the ascent 

 is easily made. In December and January there are fresh salmon 

 in the Thurso and Naver rivers ; also in the Tay ; but in York- 

 shire streams the ascent begins in July, August or September in 

 wet seasons. If it is dry and the rivers very low, it will be 

 delayed until the autumnal raias raise the rivers. 



It is not believed by Dr. Jordan, the eminent authority, that 

 on the Pacific Coast the salmon invariably return to the same river 

 in which they were hatched, or where they have spawned. This 



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