ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION 189 



paces wide, gravelly runs here and there alternating with slacker water 

 of two or three feet deep. We select a stretch in which we know there 

 are several pairs of fish, and at the lower end of this, at a point where 

 the river narrows somewhat, we fix our principal net. 



This is a large bag-net of a i^in. mesh, neither floated with corks 

 nor leaded, but simply reeved to a circle of rope, the diameter of the 

 mouth being 20 ft. (or of such smaller width as will serve the spawning 

 stream one has in view), and the bag extending 40 ft. tapering to a point 

 where, by means of a slip-knot, we can take out the fish, all at once, or 

 one by one as they are required, when the net is brought ashore. 

 Besides this large bag-net, two smaller bag-nets, 10 ft. diameter at the 

 mouth and 10 ft. in depth, of a i in. mesh are used to catch fish which 

 penetrate into the smaller streams in which case one man stands astride 

 the stream holding down the sole-rope with his feet while holding open 

 the mouth of the net with his hands. But the larae bao;-net is fastened 

 by two guys at the water level with other two made fast to branches, or 

 some projection at a higher level, a few stones being laid along the sole 

 rope to keep the net on the bottom while the inflowing water trails the 

 bag down stream. The men, two, three, or four in number, now enter 

 the water at the head of the reach selected, not more than 200 yards or 

 so upstream (and in most cases conveniently much less), and begin to 

 beat the fish down to the bag-net. Fish often try to break back 

 upstream and a stop net is often useful. This requires to be stretched 

 across stream by two extra " hands," and is of more practical use when 

 capturing salmon than sea-trout. The male sea-trout when alarmed 

 usually make a headlong rush downstream and are caught at once, but 

 the females hide closely under the banks and under bushes and tufts, 

 and all likely hiding places must be well prodded in the downstream 

 progress. So closely do some lie that they are easily taken out by 

 " guddling," when they are carried down to the net by their captor. 

 When the drive is over, the bag-net and its contents are drawn on to 



