NOTES ON SALMON-FISHING. 
53 
a bang.) “No; it’s that . . . Jock Scott again, size 
3.0, I fancy—and this time it’s fast right in the roots of 
my tongue, so help me Dagon ! ” 
From the above it will be apparent that it is of less 
importance to discuss biological theories that cannot be 
solved, than to keep the fly ever “ working ” in that 
enticing, exasperating style that first excites, then 
arouses the watching salmon below. 
Another essential point in the life-history and 
habits of the salmon must be taken into account by 
those who would compass his capture. Unlike the 
trout, the salmon always lies at the bottom —he rests 
on the river-bed. I do not mean to attribute eel-like 
propensities to the king of fish, nor to infer that he lies 
whole-length like a log; for that he does not. Trout, 
being furnished with air-bladders which they can inflate 
at will, are thereby enabled to hang poised in mid-water, 
on the look-out for food. But in the salmon (which 
does not feed so) these air-glands are wanting, or at 
least obsolete, and the fish, therefore, being incapable 
of floating without exertion in mid-water, necessarily 
rests on the bottom, though supported only at one 
point. That point can readily be seen in spring fish 
(after a week or two in fresh water) by the discoloured 
mark below the throat, or just aft of the pectoral fins— 
the point at which he balances, the head being relatively 
the heaviest part.* 
* In Northern Spain, salmon are regularly captured by expert 
divers while lying thus on the river-bed. The position of each fish 
being accurately marked in the crystal-clear water, the diver, swim¬ 
ming up cautiously from behind, slips a running noose over its head. 
The noose being drawn tight, when the salmon begins to run, an 
attached line is hauled upon by a second fisherman on the bank. 
