SALMONS. 
235 
as high as if they had to scale a cataract, close to 
the boat. One which had jumped too far, was 
caught on the rocks by two of my boys whom I 
had left on the beach. . , For about an hour, I 
should say that the spot in question was the finest 
angling quarter I ever saw.” ^ 
The author of Wild Sports of the West” has 
described in liis lively manner Salmon-fishing in 
Ireland. Fly-fishing commences in March, but 
many are not caught in this way until the suc- 
ceeding month. In June, net-fishing begins. The 
weir is raised to stop the passage of the fish, the 
water being allowed to find vent only through a 
small aperture provided with a trap. 
The fishing is carried on only in the estuary 
where the river meets the sea. The draughting 
is confined to the last quarter of the ebb, and the 
Frst of the flood ; five or six boats with as many 
men in each are necessary. When the Salmon 
are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man 
on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity 
of the net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the 
boat makes an extensive circle round the place 
where the fish are believed to lie. This curve, is 
gradually diminished; stones flung in on each side 
prevent the fish from escaping ; at length the ex- 
tremity of the net reaches the bank, the semicircle 
is complete, and the inclosed fish secured. They 
* It is supposed that the first taste of the admixture of fresh 
water gives the fish a ravenous appetite for the fly, which occasions 
their extraordinary jumping and easy capture. At the spot referred 
to, the admixture of fresh water would hardly he perceptible to our 
taste at half-tide, as the stream is inconsiderable, and the sea covers, 
at that time of tide, many hundred acres. The fish certainly forbear 
from their gambols at high and low water, and during the flow.” Page 
255 . 
