NOTES ON TWO MORE SALMON-RIVERS. 
135 
between boulders and gravel-beds of the size suitable 
for spawning. There is no lack of rapids or aerated 
water, nor of “ back-sets ” for the young fry. Pre¬ 
sumably the netting business outside is greatly over¬ 
done. In rivers which are approached through twenty, 
thirty, or forty miles of narrow fjord-waters (as is the 
case with most Norsk streams), five days’ netting out 
of seven over the whole length of those constricted 
water-ways is more than any river, however prolific, 
can stand. The nets, of course, yield the larger 
revenue, and so deserve consideration; still, the upper 
riparian proprietors (who produce and protect the fish) 
also have their rights, and these should not be over¬ 
looked, or both interests will soon be sacrificed. Pru¬ 
dence should avoid precipitating a catastrophe which 
can be seen to be imminent. 
I will only relate one fishing incident, and that of 
a kind that most folks prefer to keep dark. Having 
received by steamer a new rod (nineteen-foot Castle- 
Connell), and fancying that a change in gear might 
change the luck, I spliced it together, and in the first 
pool tried, rose, and I thought hooked a good fish. Yet 
ten seconds later the rod stood upright with line all 
slack. On reeling-in, however, I found the fish was there 
—he had run up faster than I could take up the line. 
Hardly had we settled down to business than bang falls 
the reel down on the bottom-boards of the boat. Ere it 
was replaced, a lot of line had been lost, and in order 
to recover this, I directed Kristian to let the boat drop 
down-stream. He set off, backing water at some thirty 
strokes to the minute, and this, with an eight-knot 
current, soon placed us below our captive and the line 
