SALMON PISHING IN ENGLAND 



a certain stone in Feather Eiver, California. I saw it there every 

 day for weeks, bnt it ignored me and all my inventions. 



Among the quaint old customs that have come down to the 

 present day is sahnon Sunday on Paythorne bridge, on the 

 Eibble, which I crossed in 1910. The bridge is about ten miles 

 above Gisburn. It is an old custom for the inhabitants of the 

 surrounding country to go to this bridge on a certaia Sunday 

 (about November 20) and spend the day there watching the last 

 run of the salmon under the bridge. Thousands of people take 

 part iu this queer pilgrimage, to the dehght of the inhabitants 

 and the joy of the keeper of the neighbouring inn. 



One of the most inspiriting sights in England is the parti- 

 cipation in the sport of angling by ladies. There is nothing more 

 inspiriting and health-giving for women than casting a fly or sea 

 angling with rod and reel. A fascinating account of an English 

 salmon stream and the enjoyment of the sport is given by Mr. 

 E. B. Marston in the Gazette of December 7, 1912. The lady 

 anglers referred to are Lady Bernard Gordon-Lennox, Lady 

 Evelyn Cotterell, Lady Amy Gordon-Lennox, Miss Ivy Gordon- 

 Lennox, the Countess Percy n6e Lady Helen Gordon-Lennox. 

 Mr. Marston says : 



' Of all the British waters there is none that has no much of the 

 character of a Norwegian salmon river as the Spey in the last seven miles 

 of its course. Between Orton and the tide there is a fall of one hundred and 

 sixty feet, down which the river sweeps between huge banks of shifting 

 shingle with a force that adds greatly to the natural power of a sahnon 

 when hooked. In this part of the river there is hardly anything that 

 can be termed a pool ; nothing but a succession of swift, rough streams 

 with a little comparatively slack water along the sides and at the tails. 

 A fair proportion of the cast may be fished from the bank or by wading 

 deep-waist high ; and to accomplish this in a heavy stream over a bottom 

 covered with shppery, rounded stones requires some strength both of 

 body and nerve. 



' Such beiag the character of the Grordon Castle water, it would seem 

 at first sight most unsuitable for lady anglers ; nevertheless they do much 

 execution therein. Where wading moderately deep suffices, they are on 

 equal terms with the men ; in places where the fish lie far out they are 



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