April *1, 1893] 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
231 
sidered over for the season. Some days before 
our friends had left in disgust, the river having 
run away to nothing ; while the fish were being 
pretty nearly boiled in the limpid water and were 
as sulky as could be. One day soon after 
being thus deserted, we were fishing our 
favourite “ fjeld-vand,” and were both astonished 
and disgusted at the extraordinary behaviour of 
the brown trout which formed its inhabitants, 
and which were usually a free-rising and con¬ 
fiding race. But on that day they seemed to have 
completely altered their natures, and instead of 
responding gaily to my invitation to “ come and 
l)e killed ” as was their friendly wont, they ap¬ 
peared to have assumed all the airs and graces 
( f our most highly-educated English fish, and no 
combination of fur and feather that we could offer 
would tempt their usually omnivorous appetites. 
The result was a mutual determination to return 
immediately to “ England, home, and duty ” and 
with a very light basket. (.)nce or twice during the 
walk home across the hills, a matter of six pain¬ 
fully honest miles, my Norwegian henchman, an 
extremely reticent individual who rarely offered 
an opinion upon anything under the sun, grunted 
out the word “Regnveir.” We examined the sky 
in all directions for the weather sign on 
which this authoritative prophecy (for Hans’ 
opinion about anything pertaining to fish and 
fishing was second to none) was based, but in vain. 
The sky was absolutely clear, and there was not 
a scintilla of cloud or even mist to be seen in any 
direction. On reaching the farm, however, we 
found that the aneroid agreed with Hans, and 
accounted for the eccentric behaviour of the trout 
in the mountain loch, for since morning it had 
gone back tremendously, and was still falling 
fast. Within a couple of hours the sky was com¬ 
pletely overcast with heavy black clouds, and 
before midnight the rain was descending in sheets, 
accompanied by a south-westerly gale which 
whistled among the higher tops and howled 
down the valley. But the time of figs was not yet. 
The next afternoon the river began to rise, con- 
1 inuing to do so for twenty-four hours, and so 
heavy and prolonged was the rainfall that for 
two days fishing was out of the question. Start¬ 
ing early the following morning, and fishing for 
twelve hours right away, wm killed with the fly 
2401b. weight of salmon and grilse, wdnding up a 
somewhat hard day with a thirty-three pounder 
in the Home pool. Besides the fish actually 
landed we rose many others, some of which were 
Imoked and played, but seeing that we had hit 
off a good day, which was not a Sunday, in each 
case we administered the butt freely ah iniiio, 
and doubtless lost several fish which, if more 
tenderly treated, might easily have been brought 
lo the gaff. The river did not quite reach its 
former low level again for five dajs, and during 
that time our individual efforts added 750lb. 
to an already very fair season’s bag, while 
the only other two Englishmen remaining 
on the river also did well. As I have 
already remarked, however, snow is the 
ih'ng one must look to for good sport on a 
Norwegian river, snow that has fallen on the 
mountains before the preceding Christmas, and 
has been so consolidated by alternating tempera¬ 
tures and by rain, as to melt gradually beneath 
the rays of the summer sun. Late fallen snow is 
generally worse than useless, it comes away all at 
once, creates a condition of the water unattractive 
to ascending salmon, and during which angling is 
useless, and is of no permanent benefit. In Scot¬ 
land the rivers that fish first are in the extreme 
north, the east coast streams are nearly all earl}^ 
V hile those of the west, on the other hand, have no 
spring run of salmon. In Norway the influences 
which create these somewhat remarkable condi¬ 
tions and apparent discrepancies are not at work, 
and it may be said that the further south a river 
i.s the earlier it fishes, and the further north the 
later. 
The Topdal, which enters the sea at Christian- 
sand close to the most southern point of Norway, 
may be quoted as an example of the rivers where 
sport may be had early in the season with the rod. 
In comparison to its neighbours, the Torrisdal 
and the Mandal, it discharges only a small volume 
of water, moreover it is of rather a slow flowing 
character, and the bulk of the ascending fish are 
stopped at Boenfoss, about four miles only from 
the sea, nevertheless it is frequented by large 
numbers of salmon which take the ily freeljq and 
which, although not celebrated for their hand¬ 
some ajipearance or their edible qualities, show 
good sport. As a specimen of what may be done 
on this little river, one rod in seventeen daj^s’ 
fishing killed with the fly 175 fish, weighing 
2,1141b., an average of 121b. throughout, while on 
the last day of one season, fifty fish were taken at 
the Boenfoss with the rod. 
The difficulties attending the artificial breeding 
of salmon in Norway are numerous and great. 
Frequently, owing to an exceptionally high or low 
state of the water of a river where a hatchery 
has been put up, no parent fish are obtainable at 
the proper season, and the hatchery remains 
untenanted and useless. Sometimes that estab¬ 
lishment has been constructed on a burn or 
spring, and a severe frost cuts off the water 
supply, effectually destroying all hope of the 
roe attaining maturity; from autumn, too, 
throughout the winter and spring, the spawning 
beds are subject to the action of severe frosts 
and heavy floods, both of which destroy immense 
quantities of roe and fry. 
To obviate these difficulties if possible, a scheme 
was under the consideration of the authorities 
for the erection of a groat central breeding 
establishment, where the possibility of the occur¬ 
rence of such misfortunes would be reduced to a 
minimum, and from which rivers throughout the 
country would be supplied at a reasonable cost. 
A plan for such an establishment was worked 
out, and after a careful consideration of the 
surroundings of all the rivers in Norway, the 
farm of Boon on the Topdal was finally selected 
by the inspector as fulfilling the necessary con¬ 
ditions better than any other place. Plenty of 
both river and clear spring water were to be 
found handy to the site of the proposed building, 
basins for the capture and retention of spawning 
fish could easily have been arranged, and in the 
inspector’s opinion, the facilities for the capture 
of parent fish were gi’eater than at any other 
place throughout the country. The scheme met 
with much approval in the Storthing, but it 
hung fire in committee to such an extent that the 
owner at Boen withdrew his consent. 
Another spring river is the Laagen, which 
enters salt water near the town of Laurvik on the 
south-eastern coast, but although salmon ascend 
it early in the year, they do not get as tar as the 
fall where the best fishing is until later on. It is 
by no means a typical Norwegian stream, as it 
consists mostly of long characterless reaches of 
slow flowing water; the rod fishing portion is 
therefore very limited in extent. The formation 
of the crack pool is somewhat peculiar and merits 
a brief description. When the river is at an 
ordinary height the fall is over 70 feet high, and at 
its foot there is a fine deep pool, always crammed 
with salmon after their arrival in these upper 
waters. At the tail of this pool the river con¬ 
tracts to a width of about thirty-five yards, with 
high rocks on either bank, the result being that 
a flood raises the level of the pool above very 
rapidly, frequently 15 feet to 20 feet, the outlet at 
the tad being insufficiently wide to allow the 
water to escape. When such is the state of 
matters there is no use putting up a rod, not a 
fish will move at any form of lure, but when the 
water has run off sufficiently to expose a certain 
rock, then salmon will take freely, not only along 
the rocks at the tail of the pool, but also 
all over it, and even in deep water. When 
the river is low, or at an ordinary level, it 
is of course out of the question for a 
fish to ascend the fall, but such is the im¬ 
mense reduction made in the height of the latter 
by a flood that a good many salmon are then 
enabled to pass up; immediately prior to these 
occasions all the fish in the pool assemble imme¬ 
diately below the fall in order to attempt the 
ascent. When in spate the Laagen comes down 
a beautiful brown colour, an advantage possessed 
by but few Norwegian rivers, but the soul of 
the angler is often sorely vexed with the sawdust 
and floating timber so common on these southern 
streams, and peace and amity can hardly be said 
to reign between the upper and lower proprietors. 
It is interesting to recall the bag made on this 
river by Sir Hyde Parker and Colonel Eyres, as 
far back as the year 1838, when, according to Mr. 
Lloyd, these two sportsmen killed in three days 
in the end of July “ 111 fish, some of them .Jolb., 
I and one 401b.” It appears, however, that a 
number of these were brown, and must have 
been in the river for a month or more. After 
relating how about the same time another angler 
landed fourteen fish to his own rod in one day, 
Mr. Lloyd gives the following extract from a 
private letter, dated 29th of J uly, from a friend : 
—“ We are now under weigh for Russia, having 
been stajing a fortnight at the falls of Laagen, 
and have killed ninety-seven salmon, the eight 
largest from 191b. to 201b. The remainder 13lb., 
91b., 81b., down to 41b., and we should have killed 
a good many more only, unfortunately, B. was 
confined with a bad knee that lasted six days, 
and is still completely disabled. I caught, the 
last few days, twelve, eleven, and nine salmon a 
day.” 
Many have been the experiments which have 
been made in Norway and in the British Isles by 
the constructibn of passes or ladders to open u]) 
fresh spawning ground to the migratory 
salmonidic, and few have been the successes. 
The latest of those which has turned out satisfac¬ 
torily, would seem to be the Birkremselv, or, as 
it is called in the lower portion of its course, the 
Tengs Elv, which enters the sea at Egersund, 
some 24 hours by train from the town of Sta¬ 
vanger. This considerable stream drains a basin 
some 270 square miles in extent, and the main 
branch has a course of about 40 miles, but up 
to three years ago the river was practically 
closed to ascending fish at a point less than one 
English mile from the sea. Here a fall some 
25ft. in height formed an obstacle, but not 
an insuperable one; it was rendered so, however, 
by a trap, and except in the twenty-four hours 
during which the law demanded that these con¬ 
trivances should be open, and after the com¬ 
mencement of the close season, hardly any fish 
passed up. These few, however, would seem to 
have contributed largely to keeping up the stock 
of salmon in the river, for the fishing in the 
portion below the fall was always very good in 
proportion to its small extent, and although 
there is hardly any spawning water. Now all 
this has been changed; the obnoxious trap has 
been removed, a pass has been constructed, and 
the migratory fish now ascend the Fotlandsfoss 
without difficulty. The tract of water thus 
opened out extends upwards for quite fifteen 
miles, and contains plenty of capital spawn¬ 
ing ground and many fine fishing pools; 
there are now no nets or cruives of any 
kind on the whole river, and it is pretty 
certain to become a first-class salmon stream. 
Such at any rate would seem to be the 
opinion of the present able Inspector of the 
Salmon Fisheries of Norway, Herr Landmark, 
who, in a special report on this river, dated in the 
autumn of 1891, says; “ The pass has proved a 
great success, large numbers of salmon having 
been seen last summer running up through it, 
and the upper water contains quite a number of 
splendid fishing pools and lots of excellent spawn¬ 
ing beds. There can, therefore, in my opinion, 
be no doubt whatever but that within a few years 
the fishing on the river will improve enormously 
in consequence of the pass, and judging from the 
results obtained last year by a sportsman who 
fished these upper waters for a few days, I dare 
say they will afford fine sport at once.” The 
Inspector’s anticipations proved correct, for last 
season the fish were more numerous than ever, 
and some capital sport was obtained with the 
rod. It must of necessity, however, take some 
little time before a tract of water, so extensive as 
compared with that previously tenanted, can 
have its full complement of inhabitants, and to 
accelerate this, artificial breeding is going to be 
resorted to on a considerable scale. 
A special advantage possessed by the Birkrem¬ 
selv is that it is free from the floating timber 
which is such a general nuisance on the rivers of 
southern Norway; moreover the majority of the 
casts can be fished from the bank, an immense 
advantage in itself, and there are no conflicting 
interests in the twelve or fourteen miles of river 
and lake immediately above the fall. An assimi¬ 
lation of the interests of upper and lower 
proprietors is always of immense advantage to 
the proper development of a salmon river, and a. 
conspicuous instance of this occurs in the case of 
the Suldal or Sands river, a fine sporting stream 
which enters a fjord on the west coast in the 
neighbourhood of Stavanger. Up to the year 
1884 much jealously existed between the riparian 
owners in the upper valley and those at and near 
