OF 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 ASSISTED BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON 
 
 FISHING 
 
 (SALMON AND TROUT}
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTT1SWOODE AND CO., N'W-STREET SQUARE 
 LON 7 DON
 
 FISHING 
 
 BY 
 
 H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL 
 
 LATE HER MAJESTv's INSPECTOR OF SEA FISHERIES 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER' 
 
 AND OTHER WORKS 
 
 WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OTHER AUTHORS 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT 
 
 * 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 
 FOURTH EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1888 
 
 A 'I x'f/tts.
 
 Stt 
 
 DEDICA TION 
 
 TO 
 
 H.RJL THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 BADMINTON : October 1885 
 
 HAVING received permission to dedicate these volumes, 
 the BADMINTON LIBRARY of SPORTS and PASTIMES. 
 to His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES, I 
 do so feeling that I am dedicating them to one of the 
 best and keenest sportsmen of our time. I can say, from 
 personal observation, that there is no man who can 
 extricate himself from a bustling and pushing crowd of 
 horsemen, when a fox breaks covert, more dexterously 
 and quickly than His Royal Highness ; and that when 
 hounds run hard over a big country, no man can take a 
 line of his own and live with them better. Also, when 
 the wind has been blowing hard, often have I seen 
 His Royal Highness knocking over driven grouse and 
 partridges and high-rocketing pheasants in first-rate
 
 vi D ED 1C A TION. 
 
 workmanlike style. lie is held to be a good yachtsman, 
 and as Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron is 
 looked up to by those who love that pleasant and 
 exhilarating pastime. His encouragement of racing is 
 well known, and his attendance at the University, Public 
 School, and other important Matches testifies to his 
 being, like most English gentlemen, fond of all manly 
 sports. I consider it a great privilege to be allowed to 
 dedicate these volumes to so eminent a sportsman as 
 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and I do 
 so with sincere feelings of respect and esteem and loyal 
 devotion, 
 
 BEAUFORT.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A FEW LINES only are necessary to explain the object 
 with which these volumes are put forth. There is no 
 modern encyclopaedia to which the inexperienced man, 
 who seeks guidance in the practice of the various British 
 Sports and Pastimes, can turn for information. Some 
 books there are on Hunting, some on Racing, some on 
 Lawn Tennis, some on Fishing, and so on ; but one 
 Library, or succession of volumes, which treats of the 
 Sports and Pastimes indulged in by Englishmen and 
 women is wanting. The Badminton Library is offered 
 to supply the want. Of the imperfections which must 
 be found in the execution of such a design we are con- 
 scious. Experts often differ. But this we may say, 
 that those who are seeking for knowledge on any of the 
 subjects dealt with will find the results of many years' 
 experience written by men who are in every case adepts 
 at the Sport or Pastime of which they write. It is to
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 point the way to success to those who are ignorant of 
 the sciences they aspire to master, and who have no 
 friend to help or coach them, that these volumes are 
 written. 
 
 To those who have worked hard to place simply and 
 clearly before the reader that which he will find within, 
 the best thanks of the Editor are due. That it has been 
 no slight labour to supervise all that has been written 
 he must acknowledge ; but it has been a labour of love, 
 and very much lightened by the courtesy of the Publisher, 
 by the unflinching, indefatigable assistance of the Sub- 
 Editor, and by the intelligent and able arrangement 
 of each subject by the various writers, who are so 
 thoroughly masters of the subjects of which they treat. 
 The reward we all hope to reap is that our work may 
 prove useful to this and future generations. 
 
 THE EDITOR.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 PROBABLY few persons who visited the late International 
 Fisheries Exhibition in South Kensington could fail to 
 have been struck by the multiplicity, and, to the un- 
 initiated, complexity of the engines and appliances used 
 in the capture of fish. The observation applies even 
 more to the 'angler' a generic term that I have a 
 special objection to, by the way, but let us say to the 
 fisherman who uses a rod than to the 'fisherman' 
 proper, whose weapons are net and hand-line, and who 
 'occupies his business in great waters.' 
 
 In consequence of the growing artfulness of man or 
 of fish, or both, angling has come to be nearly as wide 
 a field for the specialist as doctoring. Each different 
 branch has its own professors, practitioners, and students ; 
 and its gospel as preached by apostles, differing often 
 widely from one another, and perhaps eventually break- 
 ing away altogether from old tradition and founding a 
 cult of their own. Thus the late Mr. W. C. Stewart, a 
 lawyer of Edinburgh and a ' famous fisher ' of the North, 
 may probably be called the apostle of up-stream fly-
 
 x PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 fishing, as contrasted with the time-honoured plan of 
 fishing ' down : ' fishing, that is, with the flies below 
 rather than above the angler's stand-point. Not that I 
 mean to assert that Mr. Stewart was by any means the 
 first to preach the new doctrine, still less the first to 
 practise it, but that he was the first to ' formularise ' it, to 
 give it consistency and shape, and to bring it prominently 
 before the angling world. . . . And even then and it is 
 a good illustration of the 'specialism' referred to his 
 book was (statedly) confined to one branch of one kind 
 of angling for one species of fish : ' The Art of Trout 
 Fishing, more particularly applied to Clear Water.' 
 It might have been added 'and in streams and rivers 
 north of the Tweed,' for I believe there is not a word 
 in the book about the rivers or lakes of England, 
 Ireland, or Wales, or how to catch trout in them. I 
 say this in no disparagement of the author or his 
 capital book, but only to illustrate the complexity and 
 ' elaborateness ' at which the art of angling has arrived. 
 So far from disparaging, it is probable, on the contrary, 
 that if all writers on fishing had the modesty to confine 
 themselves, as Mr. Stewart did, to subjects they were 
 really personally acquainted with, the gentle art would 
 not be afflicted with a literature containing a greater 
 amount of undiluted bosh to say nothing of downright 
 'cribbing' than probably any printed matter of equal 
 bulk in existence. We want a few more ' Gilbert Whites 
 of Sclborne' amongst our angling authors. . . . Poor 
 Stewart ! he was a fine fisherman and a right good com- 
 panion, and pleasant days we fly-fished side by side, with
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. xi 
 
 another famous angler (and politician), alas ! no more 
 the Johnson of Scotland, as he was well called I mean 
 Alex. Russel, Editor of the Scotsman, and author of the 
 book of ' The Salmon.' He and Stewart were two 
 of the finest fishermen that it has ever been my lot 
 to know, and I loved them both well for ' like and 
 difference,' as Mrs. Browning puts it though Stewart 
 was very wroth with me afterwards and devoted a 
 whole pamphlet to my annihilation, pugnacious ' moss- 
 trooping Scot ' as he was. . . . No reason that, how- 
 ever, why I should not write his epitaph in the Field 
 when he died . . . 
 
 I'd give the lands of Deloraine 
 
 Stout Musgrave were alive again ! . . . 
 
 But, some one asks 'Why do you not practise 
 what you preach ? You eulogise monographs, and you 
 write books yourself which embrace every variety of 
 angling and " fishey lore " from bait-breeding to salmon- 
 catching.' 
 
 Dear critic (forgive the adjective when perhaps you 
 are in the very act of sharpening your ' scalping-knife '), 
 I do nothing of the sort ; and though it is true I have 
 
 o / o 
 
 'graduated' in most kinds of fishing, from sticklebacks 
 upwards, there are many subjects germane to angling, 
 such as fish-rearing both of Salmonida and ' coarse ' 
 fish fish-acclimatisation, and several special depart- 
 ments of angling itself, where I have need to learn 
 rather than to pretend to teach. Consequently I have 
 thought myself fortunate to be able to secure for these
 
 xii PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 pages the very kind assistance of the eminent and 
 scientific gentlemen who write in regard to such special 
 subjects with equal felicitousness and authority. Thus 
 the volumes of the Badminton Library confided to me 
 by the Editor and publishers will not lose either in com- 
 pleteness or trustworthiness by my shortcomings. 
 
 Frankly, however, this is not the reason why I have 
 sought the able co-operation of Major John P. Traherne, 
 Mr. Henry R. Francis, and Mr. H. S. Hall, in dealing 
 with the theory and practice of artificial fly-fishing. The 
 reason is that in some of my former writings I have put 
 forward certain opinions on these subjects which if not 
 ' revolutionary,' may certainly be called in one sense 
 ' radical/ and which have not as yet found general 
 acceptance amongst fly-fishers. 
 
 Whether the said opinions are right or wrong matters 
 not. If I had seen any sufficient reason to alter them 
 at any rate in regard to their main outlines I should 
 have unhesitatingly avowed it long ago, for I look upon 
 a man who says that he never changes his mind as an 
 ass, or else as sacrificing truth to ' consistency ; ' but 
 whatever my theories, and whatever may be their ulti- 
 mate fate, I had, of course, no right or desire to air my 
 hobbies in the pages of the Badminton Library ; and 
 I am sure that my readers will, in any case, be the 
 gainers by the substitution of the admirable essays 
 alluded to, written as they are by fly-fishers of long and 
 successful experience and in every sense entitled to be 
 regarded as masters of the craft. 
 
 To the Marquis of Exeter, Mr. William Senior,
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. xiii 
 
 angling Editor of the Field, Mr. Christopher Davies, 
 Mr. R. B. Marston, Editor of the Fishing Gazette, and 
 Mr. Thomas Andrews, I am also under the greatest 
 obligation for the very charming and interesting con- 
 tributions to which their names are attached. I only 
 regret that circumstances should have unavoidably 
 deprived my readers of a promised contribution on 
 salmon fishing from the pen of His Grace the Duke 
 of Beaufort, which would have been warmly welcomed 
 by all fly-fishers. 
 
 For the rest, it has been my aim to make these 
 volumes as practical as possible ; and if the exigencies 
 of this role have involved a certain amount of space 
 being devoted to more or less technical matters which, 
 however necessary and important, are, perhaps, less 
 attractive to the general angling public than to the 
 enthusiastic student I hope the other part of the pro- 
 gramme laid down by the Editor has not been over- 
 looked, and that the following pages will be found to 
 be sufficiently diversified with anecdotes and incidents 
 of sport to redeem them from being hopelessly ' dull 
 reading.' 
 
 H. C.-P.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGH 
 
 A CHAPTER ON TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR i 
 
 H. Cholmondeley-Pennell. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E . . .no 
 
 H. Cholinondeley-PennelL 
 
 SALMON-FISHING WITH THE FLY. Also a few Notes on 
 
 Fly-Fishing for Sea Trout 178 
 
 Major John P. Traherne. 
 
 FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING ; OR ' FINE 
 
 AND FAR OFF' 257 
 
 Henry Ralph Francis, M.A. 
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH THE DRY FLY . . . 330 
 
 H. S. Hall. 
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING FOR SALMON AND TROUT 346 
 
 H, Cholmondeley-Pennell. 
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR .... 394 
 H. Cholmondeley-Pennell. 
 
 THAMES-TROUT FISHING 410 
 
 Henry R. Francis. 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE .,,,,. 434 
 Thomas Andrews. 
 
 INDEX , . 467
 
 NOTE. 
 
 If it is desired to give a trial to the hooks, tackle, &c., recom- 
 mended in the following pages, it is advised that no change of any 
 kind should be introduced, and that in case of purchases or orders 
 from tackle-shops an exact compliance with the instructions should 
 be insisted upon. 
 
 Experimental variations and improvements, so-called, are very 
 apt to produce results the opposite of ' improved' This is specially 
 true as regards bends of hooks, and the proportions of spinning 
 flights.
 
 FISHING. 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 A CHAPTER ON TACKLE AND FISHING 
 GEAR. 
 
 Tell me what your tackle is, and I will tell you what your bag is. 
 
 Angling Paraphrases. 
 
 THE saying goes ' A good workman never finds fault with his 
 tools,' but if by this it be meant that he can work as well with 
 bad tools as with good, or produce equally satisfactory results, 
 then it says little for the sagacity of those who made the 
 proverb. It is specially in the more artistic descriptions or 
 work that the importance of good tools is apparent. The fly 
 fisher is a workman in a highly artistic school, and, if he is 
 to do his work thoroughly well, his tools, that is, his tackle 
 rods, reels, lines, &c. &c. must be of the very best. 
 
 There are still some 'happy hunting grounds' scattered 
 throughout the British Islands on which ' the shadow of the 
 rod or glitter of the bait ' has but seldom fallen. Small 
 mountain lochs and moorland streams wherein fish are so 
 guileless and simple in their habits that they will rise with 
 delightful confidingness at the most rudimentary specimen of 
 the artificial fly, offered to them in the least attractive manner. 
 Such spots I have met with where it took weeks to impress 
 upon its trout the melancholy fact that 'men were deceivers 
 ever,' and where day after day the veriest bungler might fill his 
 
 I. B
 
 2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 creel, and, for that matter, his pockets and his wading boots, 
 with the unsuspecting fario, which came up gaily to his flies, 
 three or four at a time, in blissful ignorance and apparently 
 undiminished numbers. Such spots, however, are becoming 
 rarer year by year. Even the most sequestered waters are 
 now sought after, and generally found out, by the indefatigable 
 tourist or the lessees of the sporting rights; and the inhabitants 
 of such waters, however unwilling to be taught, are receiving 
 the benefits of a sort of ' compulsory education ' that is gra- 
 dually opening their eyes to several little things going on in the 
 wicked world around, with which it is to their advantage to 
 be acquainted. 
 
 There are, of course, and probably always will be, degrees 
 of advancement in ' trout knowledge.' The streams of Scotland 
 and Ireland can never, in our time at least, be fished to the 
 same extent as those of England, and especially of our southern 
 counties. And it is very fortunate that it should be so, for 
 many a man whose trout-fishing experience has been attained 
 principally amongst the Scotch and Irish lakes and rivers, 
 and who, not unnaturally, perhaps, considers himself a highly 
 artistic performer, would be literally ' nowhere ' if suddenly 
 transferred with the same tackle and mode of fishing to the 
 banks of the Itchin, the Test, or the Driffield Beck. Instead 
 of finding comparatively few trout and those under-fed, and 
 predisposed to at least regard his lure with a friendly eye, he 
 would see a water literally teeming with pampered and, there- 
 fore, highly fastidious, fish, whom his first appearance on the 
 bank sent flying in a dozen different directions, and who, when 
 his saturated nondescript did happen to pass over their noses, 
 moved not a responsive muscle, and by their attitude conveyed 
 the general idea of what Lord Randolph Churchill would call 
 ineradicable superciliousness. . . . 
 
 But these are the products of ' centuries of civilisation,' and 
 the ultimate outcome of the theory of the survival of the fittest ! 
 
 In regard to salmon as well as trout the principle of the 
 'higher education ' also holds good, although not quite in the
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 3 
 
 same degree as in the extreme cases above referred to, inas- 
 much as such abodes of bliss in regard to salmon have un- 
 fortunately long ceased to exist either in the British Islands or 
 anywhere else within comfortable travelling range of Charing 
 Cross. Every year the rent of a salmon river goes up ; already 
 it is but little less than that of a grouse moor, and what it may 
 eventually come to, if we are not all ruined in the meantime, 
 doth not yet appear. 
 
 Naturally, those who pay so dearly for their mile or half- 
 mile of salmon water make up their minds to get the utmost 
 possible out of it in the way of sport. The pools are assi- 
 duously fished whenever the water is in ' possible ' condition. 
 Often they are fished over two or three times a day, and some- 
 times by two or three different rods ; and the consequence is 
 that, at any rate after having been in the fresh water for some 
 little time, and successfully resisted the first seductions thrown 
 in his way, the salmon becomes much more shy and wary, 
 and untemptable by tiy or bait unless presented in the most 
 enticing fashion. 
 
 To this end the refinement of every part of the fishing gear 
 is one of the principal, indeed, the chief means. Like his 
 ' star-stoled ' cousin of the chalk streams, he scrutinises with a 
 practised glance the object which is glittering before his eyes ; 
 and, however attractive may be the lure, if the ' line of invita- 
 tion,' as some one calls it, with which it is presented be coarse 
 or clumsy, or of flattened and, therefore, non-transparent gut, it 
 is ten to one that he will ' decline with thanks.' In short, as 
 'fine and far off' might be taken, in the case of the trout fisher, 
 as the pass word to success, so ' neatness and strength ' should 
 be the shibboleth of the salmon fisher. 
 
 I make no apology, therefore, for dwelling in some detail upon 
 all that constitutes the perfection of the fly-fisher's equipment. 
 
 In Vol. II., where the tackle for pike and float fishing is 
 referred to, I begin with the rod, and end, I think, with the 
 hook. In the present instance I propose to begin with the
 
 4 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 hook and end with the rod, as the hook is relatively more 
 important in the case of the fly-fisher than of the float-fisher, 
 and greater strides and innovations have been made in it of 
 late than in any other branch of fishing tackle. There have, 
 of course, been also the usual controversies of the rival in- 
 ventors, or claimants to be such, into the merits of which I do 
 not propose to enter in these pages, but rather simply to notice 
 the inventions themselves where they appear to be of value. 
 
 To take salmon hooks first. 
 
 Two great and comparatively recent l improvements stand 
 out boldly from amongst all minor matters connected with the 
 subject of salmon hooks and their manufacture. The first is the 
 substitution of eyes or loops of metal for the old-fashioned gut 
 loops, and the second the employment of double hooks brazed 
 together, which will, in many cases, especially for the smaller 
 sizes of salmon fly, be found a great improvement, at any rate 
 in regard to the holding of fish when once hooked. The metal 
 loop, however, is by far the more important of the two inven- 
 tions as it is of universal applicability. 
 
 This loop may be either turned up, or turned down, or 
 'needle-eyed' that is, drilled perpendicularly through the 
 end of the hook shank like the eye of a needle. 
 
 Whatever disadvantages might be imagined to attach to the 
 turned eye in fine trout hooks, they certainly disappear in the 
 case of the large-sized hooks ordinarily employed in salmon 
 and grilse fishing. The undoubted advantages of the system 
 of metal eyes or loops are, on the contrary, brought out in 
 
 1 The general idea of these improvements is not new, but old. Eyed hooks 
 for trout, if not for salmon also, were known more than a century ago. Such 
 a hook, with a fly dressed on it, is engraved in Hawker's edition of Walton's 
 Angler, temp. 1760, and the double salmon hook was described nearly a hun- 
 dred years earlier still, in the Angler s Vade Alecum, published by James Chet- 
 ham in 1689. In using the expression ' recent improvements,' I mean that it is 
 only recently these ideas have been so far elaborated and worked out as to 
 become practically available for general use in fly-fishing. Indeed, it was only 
 a few months ago that a writer on the subject asserted ' The eyed trout hook 
 and its gut attachment may be said to be perfected in the Fishing Gase/te of 
 April 4, 1885, by Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell's article. But see how many 
 years it has taken to do this I '
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 5 
 
 strong relief, inasmuch as the two great points on which the 
 eyed hooks claim superiority over lapped-on hooks namely, 
 strength, and durability of the fly are clearly more important 
 in ,the case of very heavy fish, and flies which sometimes 
 cost half a sovereign each. How annoying it is, again, when 
 salmon are rising freely at the fly on the cast to find that 
 the gut is so worn to the ' unsafe point ' by previous encounters 
 as to necessitate a change, whilst no other specimen of the 
 same pattern, or size, may be, is in the tackle box ! . . . And 
 it is almost always at the head of the fly that the fraying-away 
 of the gut first takes place. 
 
 For these reasons the balance of argument appears to be 
 in favour of metal looped salmon hooks whether turned or 
 needle-eyed ; and of turned loops I very much prefer, for 
 the reasons hereinafter explained, loops turned down to loops 
 turned up. I shall, however, for the sake of completeness, and 
 to meet differing tastes, give representations of both, with the 
 best modes of attachment, as well as of the straight needle-eye 
 in which there is no turn whatever. 
 
 FIG. I. NEEDLE-EYED GRILSE HOOK KNOTTED ON TO GUT. 
 
 To take the latter first. The engraving (fig. i) is a facsimile 
 of a needle-eyed grilse or small salmon hook, Limerick bend, 
 with the casting line attached. 
 
 This attachment (fig. 2) is of the simplest form, consisting merely 
 of threading the end, A, of the gut (previously well soaked], through 
 the eye, B, like thread through a needle, and then making round the 
 central link, c, a double ' half-hitch,' D. The latter, having been 
 first drawn quite tight, is then slipped downwards to its proper 
 place by a sort of compound process of pushing and pulling pushing 
 the knot downwards, that is, towards the hook shank with the one 
 hand, and at the same time with the other pulling the central link.
 
 6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The preliminary stage of the knot, after the gut has been threaded 
 through the eye, and before it has been tightened and drawn to its 
 place, is shown in the engraving. 
 
 FIG. 2. MODE OF ATTACHING GUT TO NEEDLE-EYED GRILSE HOOK. 
 
 This makes, it will be observed (ride fig. i), an exceedingly 
 small knot, distinctly smaller, in fact, than the knot produced 
 
 FIG. 3, TURNED-UP EYED SALMON HOOKS. 
 
 by a loop of twisted gut. It is, however, only so long as the 
 gut remains moist and the knot perfectly tight that a correct 
 'set ' of the needle-eyed hook can be relied on, and in the 
 case of large -sized salmon hooks their weight is very apt to 
 overbear the 'clasping' tension of the knot, when, of course, 
 the proper horizontal position of the fly in regard to the line 
 would be lost. I am therefore inclined to think that for all 
 hooks for artificial flies the loop turned down which I origin- 
 ally introduced to public notice in the columns of the ' Fishing 
 Gazette' is entitled to preference over every other kind of 
 eye or fastening whatsoever ; and I should be disposed to em-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 7 
 
 ploy it myself for every description and size of salmon and 
 grilsefly. 
 
 The engraving (fig. 4) is a facsimile of a double salmon or 
 grilse. hook, with a turned-down loop, attached to the main 
 casting line by a single slip knot half completed, and before 
 the final stage of slipping the knot, A, into its eventual position 
 in the metal loop B. 
 
 FIG. 4. TURNED-DOWN EYED HOOK AND SINGLE KNOT. 
 
 Fig. 5 represents a single salmon hook with turned-down 
 loop in process of attachment by a double slip knot. 
 
 FIG. 5. TURNED-DOWN EYED HOOK AND DOUBLE KNOT 
 
 Although a 'single slip' knot is all that will usually be 
 found actually necessary, especially with the smaller-sized grilse 
 hooks ; yet even in this case and still more in that of the 
 larger-sized salmon hooks a 'double,' instead of a 'single,' 
 slip knot makes 'assurance doubly sure.' Indeed, I myself 
 invariably use the double slip knot, and recommend its adoption 
 for all metal-eyed hooks that are too large for the ''Jam Knot ' 
 attachment (hereinafter described) say for all sizes above No. 2 
 (fig. 13). The double slip A, fig. 5 makes, when artistically 
 tied, a fastening quite as neat as, if not, indeed, actually neater 
 than, the single slip ; and is in many other ways preferable.
 
 8 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The following verbal instructions may perhaps assist the . 
 tyro, in attaching his casting line to a turned-down eyed salmon 
 hook for the first time. 
 
 Take the hook by the bend between the finger and thumb of 
 the left hand, with the eye turned downwards (in the position shown 
 in the diagram, fig. 5) ; then the gttt being first thoroughly well 
 soaked push the end, with a couple of inches, down through the 
 eye, B, towards the point of the hook ; then pass it round over the 
 shank of the hook, and again, from the opposite side, downwards 
 through the eye in a direction away from the hook-point. [The gut 
 end and the central link will now be lying parallel.] Make the single- 
 (or double-) slip knot, A, figs. 4 and 5, round the central link, C, 
 
 FIG. 6. FACSIMILE OF SALMON FLY WITH TURNED-DOWN METAL EYE 
 ATTACHED TO GUT. 
 
 and pull the said knot itself perfectly tight ; then draw the loop of 
 gut, together with the knot, A, backwards (towards the tail of the 
 fly) until the knot presses tightly into and against the metal eve of 
 the hook, B, where hold it firmly with the fore-finger and thumb of 
 the left hand, whilst with the right hand and 'humouring' the 
 gut in the process the central link is drawn tight, thus taking in 
 the ' slack ' of the knot. When finished, cut the superfluous gut 
 end off close. [For tying this knot to a turned-up eyed hook 
 vide fig. 7.] 
 
 To tie a double slip knot : first make a single slip knot, a, 
 
 r:^ ,,,. c and, before drawing close, pass the gut 
 
 end, />, a second time round the central link, r, and then again 
 through the loop, a when the knot will be like ' A ' in fig. 5. To
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 9 
 
 complete it, pull the end of the gut, , gradually, and very tightly, 
 straight away : in a line, that is, with the central link, c. 
 
 FIG. 7. SINGLE SLIP KNOT FOR TURNED-UP EYE HALF FINISHED. 
 
 The foregoing is also the best knot for attaching the casting 
 line to flies with gut loops, and should be tied as described 
 in the last page for a turned-down eyed hook. 
 
 FIG. 8. ATTACHMENT TO GUT LOOP, WITH SINGLE SLIP KNOT. 
 
 The same knot may be produced in another manner when 
 the fly-loop is large enough by first completing (separate from 
 the fly) the loop and slip knot, with the doubled-back end of 
 the casting-line ; and, afterwards, passing, from above, through 
 the fly-loop, the ' apex ' of the noose thus formed. The noose 
 is then opened out and turned upwards, so as to envelope and 
 pass over the whole fly, ' lasso-wise ' ; the knot is drawn to its 
 place in the gut loop-, and the ' slack ' gradually taken in. 
 This is the plan adopted by my friend Major G. F. Whittingstall, 
 than whom I know no better or more thoroughly practical 
 salmon -fisher. 
 
 There is a mode of knotting or rather of attaching casting 
 lines to gut-looped hooks, which is very commonly employed on 
 account of its extreme facility of manipulation, and the saving 
 of trouble and time in changing flies. It consists in tying a
 
 io SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 knot at the end of the gut, and then passing the knotted end first 
 through the loop from below, and, after giving it one turn round 
 under the hook shank or loop, finally passing the knotted end 
 under the central link, and drawing the latter tight. It is in 
 fact the same fastening recommended farther on for attaching 
 gut to turned eyed trout flies, plus the knot at the end of 
 the line. Excellently well as this knot answers for hooks of the 
 smaller sizes, as hereafter described, it does not and never can 
 make a thoroughly ' ship-shape ' knot for a salmon fly, inasmuch 
 as the latter when thus fastened invariably hangs and therefore, 
 of course swims out of the horizontal : in other words head 
 
 FIG. 9. FACSIMILE OF KNOT TO GUT LOOP OF FLY COMPLETE. 
 
 downwards. If, on the contrary, the gut is passed through the 
 loop from above and the turn taken over the hook shank, 
 an opposite but equally inelegant effect is produced ; the fly 
 'cocks up,' and might swim in almost any position conceivable, 
 except the horizontal. There are several variations of this 
 fastening ; but I cannot say that I ever met with one entirely 
 satisfactory for salmon flies. The best knot for gut loops, 
 twisted or single, is that shown in the diagram (fig. 8). 
 
 Neither this nor any other knot, however, tied on loops of 
 twisted gut as commonly used is so small and neat as that 
 tied on a properly constructed loop of metal. This will be 
 readily seen by reference to diagrams io and 1 1, which contrast.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 n 
 
 in facsimile, the same knot tied with a metal loop and with a 
 twisted gut loop on an extra-large double salmon hook. The 
 strands of salmon gut used were of equal stoutness. 
 
 FIG. 10. GUT KNOTTED ON 
 TWISTED-GUT LOOP. 
 
 FIG. II. GUT KNOTTED ON 
 METAL LOOP. 
 
 In order, however, to get a perfect result that is, that the 
 hook shank should stand in a line true with the central link of 
 gut it is necessary that the eye of the hook should be turned, 
 up or down, at the inclination shown (fig. 13, p. 12) something 
 orer half a right angle ; and that the loop should 'start,' so to 
 speak, direct from the shank without, that is, any intermediate 
 bending upwards (or downwards) of the shank end, or other 
 deviation from the true horizontal. If this is not strictly ad- 
 hered to the result will be that the line of the gut will not be 
 true with that of the hook shank, and the fly will not swim 
 properly. An illustration of this is seen in the engraving 
 
 FIG. 12. DFFECTIVE TURNED UP EYE. 
 
 (fig. 12), where the very slight 'turn up' of the end of the hook 
 shank itself (c) has been sufficient to produce the result indi- 
 catedthe lower, or dotted, line (A) representing the correct and 
 true line of the gut, and the upper, or solid, one (B) its actual
 
 12 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 position when attached to the defective loop. Such a hook 
 as this must obviously lose in penetration as well as in 
 ' flotation 'or ' swimming ' qualities. Again, if the turned eye 
 is set at an angle either greater or less than that shown in 
 the engraving that is, if it is either ' broader ' or ' narrower ' than 
 
 1IG. 13. PKNNELL-LIMF.RTCK' BEND SALMON AND GRILSE HOOKS, 
 TUKNKD-DOUN LOOPS. 
 
 it should be a corresponding deviation in the straightness of 
 the set of the fly, upwards or downwards, will be the result. 
 
 Looked at from the fly-fisher's though not perhaps from 
 the fly-vendor's point of view, the advantages of salmon hooks 
 with metal eyes, made as above, contrasted with flies with gut 
 loops or tied on to the central link, are so great and so obvious
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 13 
 
 that I cannot doubt their absolutely superseding the latter in 
 the long run. 
 
 Although for the sake of not doing too great violence to 
 my reader's nerves, I have here dealt at some length, and I 
 hope completeness, with the question of hooks with metal eyes 
 
 FIG. 14. ' PENNELL-LIMERICK ' SALMON AND GRILSE HOOKS, PLAIN. 
 
 turned up, and also needle-eyed, as those with which the 
 public mind is partially familiarised, yet were I to make a full 
 confession of faith, I am clearly of opinion that our preference 
 ought, on several grounds, to be given to loops turned down 
 and not to loops turned up. The turned-down loop certainly 
 makes it more difficult I may say makes it impossible for
 
 14 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the fly to lose its correct horizontal position, or turn ever so 
 slightly ' head down,' and the line of ' pull ' when the hook 
 point strikes a fish's mouth is more direct and therefore more 
 deadly. It produces, in fact, in this respect the same result, 
 in a somewhat greater degree, that is arrived at by lapping the 
 gut underneath instead of on the top of the shank of the hook 
 a point, by the way, never to be lost sight of by the fly tyer. 
 
 Turned -down looped hooks, as well for sea trout as for 
 grilse and salmon flies, have been made to my patterns and 
 instructions by Messrs. Harrison & Bartleet, of Redditch, who 
 are now manufacturing them, under the name of the ' Pennell- 
 Limerick ' bend, in various sizes, both single and double. 
 They also manufacture them plain (as shown in the diagram) 
 without metal eyes or loops. The bend of these hooks, 
 which is a variation of existing recognised bends, is one that 
 I think will commend itself to the practised eye without 
 much argument. The bend has been designed to combine 
 in a mechanical form the three great requisites of penetra- 
 tion, holding power, and 'flotation.' The last-named, which 
 sounds rather Irish, is a question of the general contour of the 
 shank. It will be seen that in the patterns in the diagram 
 the hook shank itself or rather that part of it on which the 
 fly is tied is very nearly straight, whilst in the Limerick 
 bend the shank is commonly slightly more curved, or, as it is 
 termed, hog-backed, which when exaggerated, as it frequently 
 is in the so-called Limerick hooks, supplied by the fly tyers, 
 has the effect of preventing the fly swimming or floating 
 perfectly straight, and, indeed, when the stream is strong, 
 
 FIG. 15. DEFECTIVE OR HOG-BACKED-SHANKED HOOK. 
 
 an excessive ' hog-backedness ' will not unfrequently cause it 
 actually to spin.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 An exaggerated example of this is shown in the cut. 
 
 The penetrating power in my bend is obtained by the angle 
 at which the point and short side of the hook stand in regard 
 to the -hook shank, towards which, it will be observed, they are 
 inclined. In other words, the point turns somewhat inwards, 
 so that when it pricks the mouth of the salmon the probabilities 
 of its penetrating are greatly increased. C&teris paribus, the 
 penetrating power of any hook will be greater in proportion as 
 the angle of impact the angle, that is, at which the point of 
 the hook strikes the fish's mouth coincides with the direction 
 of the applied force [i.e. in this case, ' the pull ' of the line]. 
 
 The diagrams (fig. 16) are illustrations of defective hooks. 
 They embrace nearly every vice which, mechanically speaking, 
 
 "NEEDLE POINT." 
 
 "ROUND BEND. 
 
 <* o 
 
 n n 
 
 n 
 
 FIG. 16. DEFECTIVE HOOK BENDS. 
 
 can be imported into a hook. And yet they are taken, facsimile, 
 from a bookmaker's catalogue (I forbear to give the name) as 
 illustrations of what in his opinion hooks ought to be ! If one 
 of these abortions, say No. 4 or 5 ' needle point,' so called, 
 were attached to gut and the point pulled in the ordinary way 
 against a piece of cork which represents fairly well the inside 
 of a fish's mouth I doubt very much if it could by any possi- 
 bility be made to penetrate ; the hook point would, in fact, 
 strike the fish's mouth horizontally instead of vertically. 
 
 As I have observed in the second volume, a propos of the 
 bends of triangles, the stupidity of hookmakers in their own 
 business can hardly be imagined except by those who have, as 
 I have had, day after day, and week after week, to drive- if it
 
 16 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 were possible, some few ideas of mechanical principles into their 
 heads. Even when one has at last succeeded in producing a 
 comprehension of what is required the difficulty is only half 
 vanquished ; the other half, which remains unfortunately as an 
 ever open source of annoyance, is that when they have got at 
 the patterns you want they will not keep to them. About ten 
 years ago I brought out a pattern of hook which still passes 
 under my name, and which was constructed, at any rate so far 
 as the earlier specimens were concerned, upon mechanical prin- 
 ciples ; and especially for the smaller sized hooks, I believe it 
 was not easily to be beaten. 
 
 But in vain I hoped that my troubles were then ended. 
 Ever since, hookmakers, who have professed to manufacture 
 my patterns, have vied with each other in diverging in every 
 direction from the original model, and in each case I believe 
 I may truly say the divergency has been to spoil some good 
 feature in the hooks, or to import some mechanical defect. 
 I really think, however, that I have at last found in Messrs. 
 Harrison & Co., the well-known hookmakers, of Redditch, a 
 firm both sufficiently enterprising and painstaking to be willing 
 to carry out my ideas strictly, and, as I would fain hope, though 
 almost against hope, to adhere to the new patterns they are 
 now making under my name. 
 
 It may appear that I am attaching, perhaps, undue import- 
 ance to such minute details as to the bends, &c., of hooks, but 
 yet I think this view will not be entertained when it is borne in 
 mind that 'the whole art and paraphernalia of angling have for 
 their objects, first, to hook fish, and, secondly, to keep them 
 hooked.' The difference in the penetrating powers alone of 
 different bends of hooks is something enormous ; between the 
 extremes of goodness and badness it amounts to certainly not 
 less than a hundred per cent. 
 
 As I have practically demonstrated by experiments ex- 
 plained in former essays, the best of the ordinary standard 
 patterns for small hooks was undoubtedly the 'sneck' or I 
 should rather say, some of the shapes in which it was manufac-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 17 
 
 tured, as others were very defective. It has, however, one 
 radical defect looked at from a mechanical point of view, 
 namely, that the point side is crooked or turned sideways, the 
 ' penetration ' diminishing, of course, in proportion as the point 
 is turned from the direction of the applied force. This is the 
 theory. In practice, the results of my experiments fully bear 
 it out, and though it may occasionally happen, and I dare say 
 does, that the turned-out point of the ' sneck ' bend hooks will 
 scratch or prick a fish's mouth when the straight bend would 
 not do so, yet in every real essential of a killing hook I am 
 satisfied that the un-turned-out point is to be preferred for filling 
 the fly fisher's creel. 
 
 For salmon flies neither the genuine ' sneck ' bend, nor my 
 own variation just described, appears to be popular. One reason 
 of this is that in all hocks of the ' sneck ' bend a great strain 
 is put on the top angle at the end of the shank ; and it is 
 at this point accordingly that they have been found to fail in 
 practice. In fact I have known three salmon to be lost in one 
 hour owing in each case to breakages of the hook at the angle 
 in question. I believe that in my old pattern referred to the 
 danger was minimised by slightly thickening the hook at this 
 its weak point, but I cannot help thinking that another reason 
 for the non-adoption of it and other varieties of the ' sneck ' 
 bend for salmon flies was owing to the fact that many fishermen 
 consider that the fly looks somewhat 'prettier,' or more artistic, 
 when dressed upon the Limerick or Sproat bends. I have, 
 therefore, endeavoured, as far as possible, to adapt the general 
 outline of these bends to the mechanical requirements of the 
 case, and the outcome has been seen in the salmon hook, fig. 13. 
 
 Before taking leave of the subject of salmon hooks, one 
 word about the double hooks for salmon flies. These should 
 be set at an angle of about 40, and brazed together ; as when 
 'whipped' they are both clumsy, and, from want of rigidity, 
 lose half their effectiveness. I have no doubt whatever that 
 for salmon hooks, especially of the smaller sizes, the double 
 hook has many great advantages, and I hear that on some rivers, 
 
 i. c
 
 1 8 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the Tweed, for example, they are completely driving the single 
 hooks off the water. It is obvious, indeed, that they greatly 
 increase the chance both of hooking and of holding a fish, 
 and against the small additional weight, which may be a 
 slight inconvenience, perhaps, in casting, is to be set the fact 
 that the extra weight has the effect of making the fly swim 
 somewhat deeper, which is a generally desirable result. 
 
 In regard to holding powers of salmon hooks there have 
 been several ingenious inventions in the way of extra barbs. 
 One of the simplest of these is shown in the cut (fig. 17). 
 
 FIG. 17. FIG. 18. 
 
 DOUBLE-BARBED HOOK. 'SLICED' HOOK. 
 
 An analogous invention, though with a different object, is 
 that by Mr. R. B. Marston, of the ' sliced ' hook. The object 
 is, of course, to prevent the bait which has once been put on 
 from slipping down the shank. It might be useful, perhaps, in 
 fishing with some kinds of bait, and Mr. J C. Wilcox, the well- 
 known writer on sea fishing, prophesies much success for it in 
 that department. The manufacturers are Messrs. Millward 
 & Son, of Redditcb. 
 
 Passing from salmon to trout hooks we find that here also 
 great improvements have been made, both in principle and in 
 regard to the actual manufacture of the hooks themselves. 
 
 What promises to be by far the most important of these 
 novelties [I use the words in the relative sense, for the idea is 
 not new, but old] is the attaching of the fly to the casting line 
 itself by means of a metal loop or eye. Eyed hooks, whether 
 turned or needle-eyed, are, as I say. no novelty, having
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 19 
 
 been alluded to by Wheatley and other writers and actually 
 patented as far back as 1866 in several forms by Messrs. Warner 
 & Son. No great attention, however, appears to have been paid 
 to the subject of eyed trout hooks until recently, when the 
 question confined, so far as these discussions extended, to 
 turned-/// eyed eyes has been prominently brought before the 
 angling world in the columns of i .he 'Field ' and the 'Sporting 
 Gazette ' by Mr. H. S. Hall, whose article on chalk stream fishing 
 in this volume will, I am sure, be read with great interest by all 
 fly fishers. Mr. Hall has also elaborated and brought to great 
 perfection the system of detached bodied flies, made both of 
 horsehair and india-rubber ; and the diagrams of flies illustrative 
 of his article, in themselves more or less novel and original, are 
 dressed on his hooks, some by himself and the rest by Mr. 
 George Holland, 4 Cook Street, Failsworth, near Manchester, 
 who, under Mr. Hall's instructions, has carried this department 
 of fly tying to special excellence. 
 
 PF.NNELL OLD BEND. 
 
 ROUND BEND. 
 
 Facsimiles of Mr Hall's sizes from ooo to 8 - the highest 
 number usually required for trout fishing of my original
 
 20 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 pattern, numbers i to 10, as also corresponding numbers of 
 the ordinary Limerick and round bend, are annexed. 
 
 8 V 9 10 11 12 13 11 IS 
 
 HALL S EYED HJOKS. 
 
 It is unlucky, however, that hooks never ' come out well,' 
 as the expression is, in wood engraving, and even when, as in the 
 present instance, as well as in the case of my own patterns, the 
 utmost skill and care have been ungrudgingly applied, the results 
 are not in fact nearly equal to the originals either in finish or 
 bend. The utmost that can be done, especially with very small 
 hooks, is by a characteristic sketch to convey to the educated 
 and practised eye a tolerably accurate notion of what the hooks 
 themselves would be. Of course this difficulty is increased in 
 the case of hooks which, like Mr. Hall's patterns, are turned out 
 or deflected at the point. 
 
 Mr. Hall informs me that his patterns of turned-up eyed 
 trout hooks are now being manufactured by Messrs. Woodfield 
 \- Sons of Redditch. 
 
 The gut is knotted to the loop by Mr. Hall in one of several 
 ways, but he gives the preference to that already described 
 for knotting gut on to the metal loops of salmon hooks. The
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 21 
 
 instructions and diagram (enlarged) are here repeated for the 
 convenience of the reader : 
 
 FIG. 19. MR. HALL'S KNOT FCR TURNF.D-UP EYED TROUT HOOKS 
 
 (MAGNIFIED). 
 
 First take the hook in the left hand between the finger and thumb by the 
 hook end, the end of the shank pointing away, then tlie gut being first 
 thoroughly soaked pass a couple of inches of it upwards through the loop, A, 
 in the direction of the hook bend, B; then pass it under the shank of the hook 
 and again through the loop in a direction away from the hook. [The gut 
 end and the central link will now be lying parallel.] Make a ' single-hitch ' 
 knot with the gut end, c, round the central link, D, and pull the said knot 
 itself, E, perfectly tight ; then, by a sort of 'pushing-and-pullirg' movement 
 already described, and ' humouring ' the gut in the process, draw the knot, E, 
 as far down the central link as possible until, that is, it presses close under 
 and against the metal loop, A, and, when it is firmly fixed in this position, cut 
 the superfluous gut off close to the end. 
 
 The above knot, however, though undoubtedly excellent 
 when once tied, is in my judgment too complex in practice to 
 be available for the ordinary trout fly fisher ; and this was the 
 most serious objection I found to the general introduction of 
 the turned- up eye for small trout hooks, at the time when I 
 first took a part in the controversy. The sort of ' in-and-out ' 
 process required to knot the hook to the line by the attachment 
 in question the only one (N.B.) then made public that pro- 
 duced a fairly correct set of the fly is difficult enough when 
 carried out on a bare hook or in the angler's sanctum after 
 dinner ; but the difficulty is increased tenfold beside the trout 
 stream, when, perhaps, a gale is blowing, or the half-thawed 
 frost and a March morning are reminding the fisherman of the 
 old saying about all his fingers being thumbs. 
 
 I record this as my individual opinion. The experience of 
 others, who have, perhaps, had larger practice in attaching the
 
 22 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 flies, may be different, and as a matter of fact, I am aware 
 that many first-rate fly fishers who use Mr. Hall's eyed hooks 
 profess to experience no inconvenience whatever in connec- 
 tion with the above method of knotting-on of the gut. 
 
 With all deference, however, to the skilful and practised fly 
 fishers who can tie the gut on thus to the turned-up eyed hook, 
 I cannot but feel, that my own essays in the matter more 
 nearly represent, in all probability, the difficulties of the 
 ordinary run of trout fishers in dealing for the first time with 
 eyed hooks ; and, following out a suggestion made to me by 
 Mr. H. R. Francis, the accomplished author of ' The Fly Fisher 
 and his Library,' I set to work to get some hooks made with 
 actual needle eyes that is, eyes drilled straight through the 
 point of the shank as in the case of the needle by which the 
 inconvenience in question would be overcome. After a good 
 deal of trouble I succeeded in obtaining, through the assist- 
 ance of Messrs. Warner & Son, of Redditch, specimens of 
 bonafide needle-eyed hooks of the desired bend and pattern. 
 
 In these needle-eyed hooks which I may mention were 
 manufactured out of actual needles all the difficulties incident 
 to the complicated nature of the different processes of knot- 
 ting on the gut were, of course, entirely obviated ; the gut 
 being simply threaded straight through the eye of the hook 
 like a piece of cotton through the eye of a sewing needle, 
 and then being fastened with a double ' half hitch ' the same 
 fastening, in fact, described for needle- eyed grilse hooks, fig. 2, 
 in this chapter. 
 
 By this mode of fastening it appeared first, that the fly 
 would swim perfectly straight, and, therefore, at least as well 
 as with the turned-up eye ; secondly, that the knot and hook 
 eye combined were on the whole smaller; and, thirdly, that 
 the casting line could be attached to the fly with facility and 
 rapidity even under the most unfavourable conditions of wind 
 and weather. 
 
 The point of vital importance in the fastening is the double 
 hitch (D) over the central link. This double knot has sufficient
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 23 
 
 1 clasping ' power, when once pulled quite tight, to keep the fly 
 in its proper horizontal position. If, however, only a single 
 hitch knot were used, its clasping or holding tendency would 
 be ihadequate, and the knot would most likely slip round the 
 loop or eye, letting the fly hang or stand out at all sorts of 
 angles with the central link. This will often happen when the 
 gut is quite dry even with the double knot, but when once the 
 knot has been well wetted and pulled down by the finger-nails 
 close and tight against the hook-eye, I have never once found 
 it slip or change its position. The needle-eyes must, however, 
 be properly drilled, like those of needles, close to the end of 
 the hook-shank. I can quite imagine that if the eyes were 
 badly drilled, or drilled too far away from the end this result 
 would not be attained. The success of these and all other 
 forms of metal-eyed or looped hooks depends, in fact, very 
 much upon extreme care and nicety in the manufacture. 
 
 It may be supposed that the experiments requisite to 
 establish the foregoing facts, remodellings of defective hooks, 
 c., were no small taxes upon time and patience. At last, 
 however, all seemed to be satisfactorily accomplished. And, 
 having received from the makers the first consignment of my 
 needle-eyed hooks neatly labelled and docketed for ready 
 reference, I fancied my troubles were over, and that I had 
 at length arrived at approximate perfection, in the one item, 
 at least, of metal-eyed trout-hooks. Alas ! for the vanity of 
 human hopes, or I should, perhaps, say inventor's anticipa- 
 tions : I found that, as regards the four smallest sizes, ooo, oo, 
 o, and i, I had only substituted one ' knotting-on ' difficulty 
 for another ; the eyes of these sizes were so minute that even 
 the finest gut could not be persuaded, without much difficulty 
 (and often not at all), to pass through them. There was 
 nothing for it but to make the eyes of these small sizes in the 
 form of horizontal loops, so that they might still be threaded 
 on to the gut ' needle-wise,' and if not quite so small and neat 
 as the veritable needle-eyes, they would be yet quite small 
 enough for practical efficiency, and would equally overcome
 
 24 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the difficulty of the ' in-and-out' knot fastening. This, it must 
 be admitted, they did very effectually, and I could attach the 
 casting-line to my horizontal loops, even the tiniest sizes, with- 
 out the smallest difficulty or delay. But somehow my satisfac- 
 tion at this result was incomplete ; I could not help feeling that 
 a Jenny Spinner tied on a ooo hook had a disproportionately 
 long head. But, then, was not this only the neck after all? 
 And was there ever a fly without a neck ? Anatomically, if 
 not entomologically, the proposition was undeniable ; and yet, 
 somehow, I could not regard my long-headed diptera with an 
 eye of entire affection. . . . 
 
 At this juncture I happened to stroll into Mr. Farlow's shop, 
 when his representative called my attention to some very 
 delicate and artistic rubber-bodied flies of his dressing, tied on 
 Mr. Hall's turned-up eyed-hooks. I agreed with him cordially 
 as to their manifold attractiveness, yet felt that veracity com- 
 pelled me to add, ' But the difficulty in knotting on the gut to 
 those turned-up eyes, by the river bank, will, I fear, prevent 
 their ever coming into really general use.' 
 
 ' Well, sir,' he replied, ' I am not so sure of that. I can 
 show you a way of knotting on the gut that can be done in half 
 a minute, and just as well at the waterside as on this counter.' 
 
 I confess I took no pains to conceal my incredulity. He 
 soon convinced me, however, that he was right ; the knot 
 when attached to a fine turned eye, set at the correct angle, as 
 in my patterns of trout hooks, is simply perfect. His method 
 also of facilitating the tying of it was very effective ; he contrived, 
 by an ingenious though simple expedient, to get the feathers of 
 the fly out of the way of the gut whilst the knot was being made, 
 thus obviating one of the principal difficulties that present them- 
 selvesor rather presented themselves at that time in attach- 
 ing the casting-line to flies with metal loops. This he effected 
 by a sort of shield or ' protector ' made of an oval-shaped piece 
 of thin white leather, or common note-paper, in which, doubled 
 back, the fly was held ; and having a small hole in the centre. 
 Through this hole, before being attached to the gut, the hook-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 25 
 
 eye was pushed some little way sufficient to press back the 
 feathers and leave the eye unencumbered. 
 
 The mode of attachment of the gut by the jam knot when 
 using a ' protector ' was as follows : 
 
 The casting-line being well moistened, and the fly held in the 
 left-hand 'with the loop turned upwards, push about two inches of 
 the gut end upwards through the hook-eye ; pass it round under 
 the hook-shank, and slip the point underneath the central gut link 
 between the loop and the head of the fly. Then draw the central 
 link tight, and cut off the superfluous gut end to within a full \ of 
 an inch of the knot or a little more, according to the size of the fly. 
 Now pull the leather protector completely over the hook and body 
 of the fly backward, and so off. A paper protector can be removed 
 by simply tearing it across. 
 
 As a matter of fact I found that this 'jam knot,' as I 
 have christened it from the form of its construction, could, 
 after a little practice, be readily tied without the use of any 
 protector, by merely holding the feathers back, with the hook, 
 between the thumb and first finger of the left hand. 
 
 All necessity however for either 'practice' or 'protector' 
 in tying the knot has become a thing of the past, thanks to the 
 admirable invention of Mr. Alex. D. Campbell, who has dis- 
 covered an entirely new, and, so to speak, ' automatic,' mode 
 of effecting it, which is so perfectly simple and easy of manipu- 
 lation as at once to put all other methods ' out of court.' The 
 modus operandi will be best explained by a reference to the 
 illustrative diagrams, fig. 20, showing (i) the fly (enlarged) in 
 the position for tying the knot, which is seen half finished ; 
 (2) the bare hook (also enlarged) showing the jam knot finished, 
 all but the cutting off of the superfluous gut end; and (3) the 
 fly, (natural size), with the knot completed. 
 
 The following is the verbal formulary : 
 
 First. Take the fly by the head in the position shown, with the 
 eye turned upwards (i) ; pass 2 or. 3 inches of the end of the gut 
 casting-line, B, (previously well moistened) through the eye, towards 
 the point of the hook, and then, letting go the fly altogether, double 
 back the gut and make a single slip knot, c, round the centre link, D.
 
 26 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 Secondly. Draw the slip knot tight enough only to admit of its 
 just passing freely over the hook-eye (A, fig. i), and run it down to, 
 and over, the said eye, when, on gradually tightening (pulling) 
 the central link, the 'jam knot ' is automatically formed. 
 
 FIG. 20. 'JAM KNOT' ATTACHMENT FOR EYED TROUT-HOOKS. 
 
 Part 2 of the process is best accomplished by the finger and 
 thumb of the right hand manipulating the slip knot whilst the central 
 link is pulled gently by the three remaining fingers and the palm. 
 
 When the attachment is completed and the superfluous gut cut 
 off to within \ inch, or a little more, according to the size of the 
 fly, fineness of the gut, &c., it will be found a very good plan to 
 'nip 'the end down with the thumb-nail, in the direction of the 
 hook-bend- thus further securing the 'jam/ This operation may 
 just as well be repeated whenever the flies are examined, which 
 they should be from time to time in order to see that the gut 
 is not frayed anywhere, and that the attachment is secure. 
 
 Nothing can, I think, well be simpler or more effective 
 than the above fastening, 1 which is also, of course, smaller 
 than the ' in-and-out : method, inasmuch as there is no knot 
 
 1 A \vcll-kno\vn and successful fly-fisher writes to me : 
 'The "jam knot" is the simplest and probably the strongest fastening for 
 trout and grayling flies ever invented ; whilst at the same time cnving to the 
 hook-eye having only to be large enough to pass the gut once through it it is 
 also the smallest and the neatest. . . . 
 
 ' The combination of your Turned-Down Eyed hooks w///i the Jam Knot pro- 
 duces an absolutely perfect attachment, and finally solves the great Eyed-Hook 
 problem.'
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 27 
 
 of any kind outside the metal loop. / can readily tie it com- 
 plete in twenty seconds. In order, however, to make the fasten- 
 ing to the best advantage, it is necessary that the loop, or eye, 
 should be set at the correct slope or 'pitch,' which for the 
 hooks now under consideration and the Jam Knot attach- 
 ment is exactly half a right angle, and also that the loop 
 should spring sharp from a perfectly straight shank without any 
 preliminary bending or inclination. 
 
 The loop itself should also be as small as possible, both for 
 the sake of neatness, and to bring the gut in a true line with 
 the hook shank. A large or a thick loop does not seem to 
 hold equally well, or to float equally straight, and for this 
 reason I have had the loops of all the larger sizes of turn-down 
 eyed hooks both patterns made of tafiered steel. These 
 loops are enabled to be thus made exceedingly minute, which 
 is of the greatest importance in every way, because in the 
 'jam knot 'the gut has only to pass once through the loop 
 instead of twice, and therefore the loop eye can be, and should 
 be, made correspondingly more minute. In all sizes for trout 
 flies it ought to be just large enough to admit of a medium-sized 
 strand of undrawn trout gut, or a good piece of horsehair, such 
 as is used for roach fishing, being passed readily through it. 
 
 In experimenting with different systems of bends and eyes 
 and loops, I have been led to notice that in the case of all 
 small trout hooks with eyes turned up there is, after the fly has 
 been soaked some little while, a slight very slight deviation 
 in the set of the fly from the true horizontal, and this whatever 
 be the nature of the attachment employed. The final pressure 
 of the metal loop on the gut, or gut knot, being always down- 
 wards, a certain bias is imparted to the fly in the same direc- 
 tion, greater or less according as the angle of the metal eye is 
 correctly or incorrectly achieved. The result of this bias is 
 that the fly has of necessity a slight tendency to hang head 
 down. This is one trifling ' blemish,' if I may call it so, 
 which I rather think no care or nicety of adjustment in the 
 matter of the angle of the turn-up eye can ever entirely
 
 28 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 overcome. Another blemish in this case not quite so trifling 
 is that the eye, being above the level of the hook shank, the 
 gut, especially if very fine ' drawn gut,' does not form a line 
 absolutely true with the centre of the fly, but slightly above it ; 
 an imperfection which, as far as it goes, would have a tendency 
 to impair the penetrating and holding power of the hook, and 
 to make the stroke less certain. This principle Is, as before 
 observed, so well understood and established in the case of 
 salmon flies, that the dresser, if he knows his business, in- 
 variably laps the gut or loop on the under side of the hook 
 shank, with the intent to increase its killing capabilities. Why 
 should not the same principle be pressed into the service of 
 the fly fisher in the case of metal-looped hooks, for trout as 
 well as for salmon flies ? 
 
 FIG. 21. FLY TIED ON TL'R NED-DOWN' EYED HOOK, 
 'JAM KNOT' ATTACHMENT. 
 
 Acting upon this idea, I have tried some experiments with 
 the view of seeing how the theory would work in practice, with, 
 I must say, the result of satisfying me that hooks with eyes 
 turned down would be in all respects an improvement on the 
 turned-up eyes. I find that with turned-down eyes, or more 
 accurately loops, firstly, the fly floats perfectly horizontally, 
 even with the finest gut, and after long immersion ; and, 
 secondly, that the ' lay ' of the gut is shifted from the line 
 of the upper to that of the under side of the hook shank, thus 
 securing the same advantage that has been described in the 
 case of salmon flies. I find also that with the pattern of hooks 
 I have elaborated, and the loop turned down at something over 
 half a rig/it angle, both the appearance and set of the fly are 
 excellent (ride cut), and no amount of soaking or 'whipping'
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 29 
 
 makes any difference in its perfect 'horizontality.' In fact, the 
 last contact or pressure of the metal loop against the gut being 
 in an upward direction, it gives the gut precisely the support 
 requisite at this point ; it counteracts, that is, the natural 
 tendency of a comparatively heavy hook suspended by soft wet 
 gut to hang, however slightly, head dou>n. 
 
 The only objection I can imagine being raised against the 
 turned-down eye is that it diminishes, as it were, the ' gape ' or 
 width of the bend for hooking purposes. This argument is, 
 however, at once negatived by a very simple consideration 
 viz. the position of the legs (hackles) of the fly. These ' protect,' 
 so to speak, the hook eye, and head of the fly whether tied 
 on looped hooks or eyed hooks, or the ordinary plain hook 
 from any probable contact with the actual lips of the rising 
 trout, so that the turn-up or turn-down of the loop cannot 
 affect the actual hooking result in any way ; and this theory I 
 find to be most fully borne out in practice. 
 
 The method of attaching the gut to a turned-?^/ eye is 
 identical with that described (fig. 20), the position of the fly 
 being reversed held, that is, with the point side of the hook- 
 bend down instead of up, whilst tying the knot. 
 
 UUU 
 
 000 00 1 2 
 
 u 
 
 Uu 
 
 1 00 000 000 00 U 1 23 4 5 6 
 
 FIG. 22. ' PENNELL SXF.CK ' PATTERNS OF TROUT HOOKS. 
 
 The patterns of the hooks referred to in the preceding 
 observations, both with loops turned up and loops turned
 
 30 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 down, are shown in the diagram though I should repeat that 
 engravings never really do justice to hooks, or convey more 
 than a general idea of their characteristics. 
 
 The above patterns are also made ' plain ' i.e. without any 
 loops or eyes Tide last cut, for tying on gut in the ordinary 
 way. The bend was designed with primary reference to arti- 
 ficial flies, having a slight extra length of shank as compared to 
 the size of the hook bend a great improvement in the appear- 
 ance and in the proportion between the flies and the hooks. 
 They make a very attractive and dashing-looking fly ; and if 
 the principles of hook-making, already touched upon, are borne 
 in mind, it will be readily understood that their killing qualities 
 are equal to their artistic appearance. The point side of these 
 hooks is of course straight that is, there is no turning out, 
 or twisting of any kind about them all such twisted hooks 
 being a direct violation of the plain rules of mechanics, and 
 losing in real penetrating power what they gain (if gain it be?) 
 in scratching and pricking. 
 
 I really fail to see what objection the most fastidious can 
 raise to flies dressed on these hooks and fastened in this 
 manner, wjiilst the advantages in many most important par- 
 ticulars are self-evident. 
 
 The result of knotting on the gut is, as is well known, to 
 strengthen it at the point where it is most liable to fray and 
 become weakened. It is also the point at which the parting 
 arises at the flicking off of the fly, an occurrence unluckily 
 too frequent. With the gut knotted on to the hook whether 
 the eye be turned or needle shaped the result is the same : 
 namely, that this point becomes the strongest instead of the 
 weakest on the line, and that the flicking off of the fly is a 
 matter of comparatively rare occurrence. Another great ad- 
 vantage is the saving of time in changing flies (by avoiding the 
 soaking of the gut in the mouth beforehand, &c. &c.), and 
 more important than all the avoidance of the unsightly strand 
 of gut, possibly of different colour or different thickness to the 
 rest of the casting line, at the very point where absolute uni-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 31 
 
 fcrmity and extreme perfection, both in taper and tint, are 
 most desirable. 
 
 The following independent testimony lately published by a 
 well-known sportsman and first-rate fly fisher, writing under the 
 signature of 'Blue Upright,' more than bears out, in every 
 particular, my high estimate of the advantages of the turned- 
 down eyed trout hook, in favour of which as my own 
 'bantling' I might perhaps be supposed to be unduly 
 biassed : 
 
 ' Mr. PenneWs turned-down eyed trout hooks. 
 
 1 Having followed with great attention and interest the recent 
 articles in your columns on the subject of the Turned-down Eyes 
 for Trout Hooks, I had some flies dressed on Mr. Pennell's pattern, 
 sizes 00,0, i, and as I have been using them for the last week, 
 alternately with the ordinary flies lapped on to gut, so as to contrast 
 them fairly, perhaps some of your readers may like to know the 
 result of this practical trial, after reading a good deal which has 
 been merely theorising. 
 
 ' I may say, then, at once, that the result of the week's fishing, 
 during which my worst day was four brace and my best nine brace, 
 is, on every point, favourable to the flies tied on turned-down eyed 
 hooks. 
 
 ' I may summarise these points as follows : 
 I. The flies never " flick" off. 
 
 ' 2. They can be changed attached and detached in less than 
 half the time. 
 
 ' 3. They are stronger ; because whenever the gut gets at all 
 frayed at the head it can be at once shifted (re-knotted on), whereas 
 with flies lapped on to gut the weakening at the head commences very 
 soon, especially after catching a few fish, and any change involves 
 sacrificing the fly ; consequently the fly is, in many cases, used 
 long after it has become weak. But beyond this there is, I think, 
 an actual extra strength imparted by the form of knotting to the 
 eyed hooks Mr. Pennell's "jam knot ''as compared with the 
 ordinary lapping. This is conclusively shown by ihe fact that 
 whenever, owing to the flies getting fast in bushes, &c., a deliberate 
 ' break ' has become necessary, the fracture has never once 
 occurred at the actual point of junction or, in other words, at the 
 knot ; nor have I met with an instance of the knot slipping.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 ' 4. The eyed hooks appear to me to hook more fish in propor- 
 tion to rises, and to lose fewer fish after being hooked. This, how- 
 ever, may be owing to the special bend of the hooks themselves 
 rather than to the turned-down eye. But it would seem that the 
 position of the gut on a plane rather below the level of the hook 
 shank ought to increase its penetration. 
 
 ' This is, however, bordering on the region of theory, into which 
 I do not wish to enter. 
 
 'BLUE UPRIGHT. 
 
 1 May 30, 1885.' 
 
 17 16 15 
 
 13 12 11 10 
 
 17 16 15 11 13 12 11 10 8 7 6 5 
 
 FIG. 23. ' PENNELL-LIMERICK' FEND TROUT HOOKS. 
 
 In addition to the ' sncck bend ' trout-hooks already 
 described at page 29, the sizes of which do not run above 
 Nos. 6 or 7, I have designed another pattern called the 
 ' Pennell-Lirnerick ' bend- both 'plain' and with turned- 
 down eyes suited to lake-trout and white-trout flies, as 
 well as to the smallest midges and to the largest salmon flies.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 33 
 
 These, as also the other patterns of my bends here described, 
 both for salmon and trout flies, are manufactured by Messrs. 
 Harrison & Bartleet, of Redditch, near Birmingham, under 
 my instructions, and can be obtained also of Mr. Farlow, 
 191 Strand, London. 
 
 Amongst minor improvements in hook-making may be 
 mentioned Mr. Court's 'enamelled rust-proof hooks,' which 
 ought to prove a useful invention to the fly fisher. Hooks of 
 all sizes have also lately been made of bronze colour an inter- 
 mediate stain between the japanned and the bright steel ; and 
 I must say I think a very excellent medium. This is the 
 colour of Mr. Hall's turned-up eyed hooks, and I have adopted 
 it also produced (N.B.) by fire, not by any sort of lacquer for 
 my patterns, both of trout and salmon hooks. I cannot see why 
 it should not be used for all hooks without exception. Mr. 
 Court, of Redditch, is also, I believe, the inventor of hooks of 
 various colours red, green, blue, and yellow enamel [also rust 
 proof] intended to match the flies. This is, indeed, 'to snatch 
 a grace beyond the reach of art,' and as some of my readers 
 may like to try these coloured hooks, it should be mentioned 
 that they are manufactured by Messrs. Allcock & Co. of 
 Redditch. Gilt hooks have, of course, long been known, and 
 are credited with being an improvement for some particular 
 classes of bait fishing, though I am not aware that I have ever 
 known them used for dressing the artificial fly. 
 
 Next to the hook comes the Casting Line, involving matters 
 connected with the selection, knotting, twisting, staining, &c. 
 of gut ; but I may perhaps first say a few words as to the 
 manner of making gut, which I am enabled to do though the 
 facts are, I believe, somewhat in the nature of trade secrets 
 by the courtesy of Messrs. M. Carswell & Co. of Glasgow, 
 and Murchia, Spain the only manufacturers, as distinguished 
 from importers of gut, in Great Britain. 
 
 It is supposed by many that ' silkworm gut ' is made out of 
 the gut of the silkworm. This is, however, a mistake, though 
 
 I. D
 
 34 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 a very natural one. The substance out of which the gut is 
 formed is quite separate and distinct from any of the organs of 
 digestion, and consists of two thin capsules, or lobes, of a liquid 
 substance, about one inch long by a thirty-second of an inch 
 in diameter each, and lying longitudinally in the silkworm's 
 body. The liquid substance contained in these capsules is, in 
 fact, the silk before it has been spun by the silkworm. This 
 ' silk substance ' is taken from the worm at the period when it 
 is preparing to begin spinning, which, as is well known, it does 
 by coiling the silk round and round itself in what is known as 
 a ' cocoon,' or a sort of hollow sarcophagus, in which it passes 
 the chrysalis stage of its existence. Certain marks, known to 
 silkworm cultivators, appear on the caterpillar when it is ready 
 to begin spinning, so that such worms are readily distinguished 
 from the rest. The selected worms are then thrown into tubs 
 of vinegar and water, and left there for some hours by this 
 process both killing the caterpillars and congealing or partially 
 solidifying the 'silk liquid.' The next process is to extract the 
 lobes of silk from the worm by ' breaking it up,' as it is termed, 
 and this having been effected the lobes are one by one caught 
 lightly by the ends and pulled out as far as they will go. The 
 third process is to throw the lobes thus extended the gut, in 
 fact into heaps, where they are left to dry. When dried there 
 is a yellow skin or fleshy substance over each strand, and this 
 is cleaned or 'dissolved off with some sort of alkali. The 
 strands are now picked out according to their thickness and 
 tied up into bundles of hundreds, and afterwards of thousands, 
 when they arc ready for the market. This is the whole pro- 
 cess of gut manufacture, if it can be so called. The two little 
 curls frequently noticed on a strand of gut come of their own 
 accord, making their appearance naturally at the moment the 
 strain is taken off after the stretching. Gut, it will thus be 
 seen, is solidified silk. 
 
 The cleaning or ' dissolving off of the outer yellow skin of 
 gut, above described, is effected apparently by the use of some 
 sort of alkali, which has a whitening or bleaching result that,
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 35 
 
 according to Mr. R. B. Marston, makes the gut semi- opaque. 
 He observes : 
 
 Unstained gut is a most conspicuous object in the water, as its 
 glossy-surface reflects light so freely. If we could get unbleached 
 gut i.e. perfectly transparent it would, perhaps, still be liable to 
 this defect to some extent ; but ordinary unstained bleached gut 
 is semi-opaque, as may be easily proved by placing it over black 
 writing on white paper. Mr. S. Allcock informed me some time 
 ago that there was no difficulty in getting gut like glass, but that 
 the dealers would not buy it unless it was bleached a process 
 which impairs its strength and he sent me some strands from 
 which the thin yellow skin had merely been pealed off, instead of 
 being removed by chemicals. This gut was as transparent as the 
 purest glass. I should like to ask him if he cannot put some of 
 this really transparent unbleached gut on the market, and also 
 what prevents undrawn gut being manufactured as tine as drawn 
 gut ? 
 
 But to return to my text the selection of gut for fishing 
 purpose : 
 
 The best gut is the longest and roundest, and the most 
 transparent ; an observation which applies equally to salmon 
 and trout gut natural and drawn. For practical purposes 
 these desiderata must be considered in conjunction with, if not, 
 indeed, made subordinate to, the question of the fineness or 
 strength of the gut in proportion to the fishing for which it is 
 to be used. To get salmon gut which fulfils all the conditions 
 pointed out is becoming yearly a matter of greater difficult;* 
 and, I might almost say, of favour. A perfect hank of salmon 
 gut can only be obtained, as a rule, by picking the strands out 
 of a number of other hanks which, of course, makes these con- 
 siderably less valuable. Sixpence a strand I have known a 
 shilling a strand paid for picked salmon gut is not at all an 
 unusual or, indeed, unreasonable price, having regard to the 
 difficulty of obtaining gut of really superior quality, and the all- 
 important part it plays in a sport which, if not quite so expen- 
 sive as deer stalking or grouse driving, is certainly becoming 
 rapidly a luxury that only rich men can hope to enjoy. As 
 
 D 2
 
 36 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the rent of a salmon river, to say nothing of incidental expenses, 
 may probably be reckoned at seldom less than three figures, it 
 is really the soundest economy to begrudge no expense con- 
 nected with the tackle, rod, &c., upon which the sport obtained 
 for all this outlay depends. Moreover, as regards gut I believe 
 that the best, and, consequently, the most expensive, is, in the 
 long run, actually the most economical if proper care be taken 
 of it. A thoroughly well-made casting line of carefully picked 
 salmon gut will outlast three or four made of inferior strands, 
 and during all its ' lifetime ' will be a source of satisfaction. 
 The breaking dead weight strain of a strand of the stoutest 
 salmon gut, round, smooth, and perfect in every respect, ought 
 not to be less than from somewhere between fifteen and 
 eighteen pounds. 
 
 Why, in the case of salmon gut, as in that of all other com- 
 modities, the demand does not produce the supply, it is diffi- 
 cult to see. Caterpillars ought to be easily cultivated one 
 would say. Think of the number of strands which might be 
 produced by the inhabitants of a single mulberry tree ! 
 
 Millions of spinning worms 
 That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk. 
 
 I cannot but believe also, that by the application to gut- 
 making of the same energy and intelligence which is being 
 applied all over the world to other manufactures, a much 
 longer and generally more perfect 'staple ' might be produced. 
 From a quarter to a half of the actual gut of the silkworm 
 appears to be lost by the present process, as will be seen on 
 examining the waste ends of a hank of any sort of gut that has 
 not been picked and ' lengthed.' 
 
 For gut of extraordinary quality and strength, as much as 
 from 5/. to y/. per hundred strands wholesale price is now 
 stated to be frequently paid in Marseilles this gut being, it 
 appears, principally exported to Constantinople. Some sam 
 pies of the 1884 crop, tested by my friend Mr. R. B. Marston, 
 broke at a dead strain of seventeen pounds. A writer under
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 37 
 
 the signature of ' Creel,' mentions that some thirty years ago 
 there could be found in the market a superior class of salmon 
 gut now said to be unprocurable owing to the total extinction 
 of the silkworm that produced it. ' Since this time,' he says, 
 ' we have more than once been informed that a new breed of 
 silkworm has been raised and encouraged in the South ot 
 France, introduced from Japan, possessing all the features 
 of the former fine and strong gut which from its absence has 
 caused the lament of many a veteran salmon fisher.' 
 
 In the selection of gut, aim first, as Chitty says, in his 
 'Fly Fisher's Text-book,' 'at that which is perfectly round/ to 
 which end the best assistance the eye can receive is from the 
 thumb and forefinger, between which the gut should be rolled 
 quickly ; if it is not round but flat, the defect by this process 
 will be at once discovered. Next to roundness, colourlessness 
 and transparency are the two points of most importance ; and 
 last though as some fishermen will perhaps suggest, not least 
 comes the question of length. On this point, I will not 
 hazard a scale of measurement, lest I should bring about my 
 ears a swarm of infuriated vendors of gut, which, were it mine, 
 I should unhesitatingly commit to the flames, or to the keeping 
 of the first small boy I found stickleback fishing. I may, how- 
 ever, quote the standard laid down by Chitty, above named, 
 without getting myself into hot-water : 
 
 In length the part [of salmon gut] for use should run from 
 sixteen to eighteen inches at least. The thicker trout gut should 
 be of the diameter of ordinary sewing silk, whilst the thinner sort 
 may be almost the very finest you can procure, provided it be 
 ' round and sound,' and keeping in view all other requisites for 
 strength. Ten to sixteen inches is the usual length of each strand. 
 Salmon gut may be in substance as thick as you can find it, and 
 you will possess a treasure if, in one hank, many lengths are as 
 thick as a middling-sized pin or stoui knitting needle. 
 
 He adds : 
 
 Each piece or length should be also to the teeth hard, like wire, 
 colourless, and transparent as glass, which testifies strength, free
 
 38 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 from unravelled fibres, that are attended with an inclination to 
 split or peel ; knotted roughness, which shows almost actual 
 rottenness ; the spaces between the knots, when pulled lengthways 
 between the fingers, being soft and weak ; or flashing lights, when 
 seen in a slanting direction, indicating flatness, and consequent 
 weakness. It should possess stiffness, too, in bending, and with 
 this should be combined elasticity, so that after being doubled 
 upon itself (in the shape of a loop, for instance), if it assumes 
 anything like an angularity it will not do, for it surely possesses 
 unequal degrees of strength, even if it be not absolutely rotten. 
 
 ' Drawn gut,' as it is called, is simply gut that has been 
 artificially scraped or fined down by being ' drawn ' through a 
 hole of a certain gauge or measure. For this purpose a steel 
 plate is used having several holes or gauges diminishing gra- 
 dually in size, and the ' face edges ' of which are quite sharp. 
 The gut is put through the holes in succession beginning at 
 the largest, and ending with the smallest, when it has of course 
 become of the desired fineness. Messrs. Carswell inform me 
 that of late years they have introduced many great improve- 
 ments into the manufacture of drawn gut by which almost all 
 the transparent and durable qualities of the natural gut are 
 preserved or reproduced. The appearance of the gut after 
 undergoing this process is not, however, in my experience, so 
 clean and transparent as the undoctored material, and though 
 it looks beautifully fine and, indeed, is so it commonly frays 
 and wears out very rapidly when exposed to moisture or fric- 
 tion of any sort. Drawn gut is, however, extensively used for 
 many of the finer sorts of fishing, both with fly and bait. For 
 my own part I prefer to pay almost any price, so to speak, for 
 the natural gut whenever it can be obtained of the requisite 
 fineness. This, however, is not always. 
 
 Knotting. Many sorts of knots have been recommended at 
 different times and are used by different fishermen and tackle- 
 makers for knotting gut into casting lines. Decidedly the best, 
 however, in my judgment, as well as the simplest, and one 
 which is equally applicable to the finest and the strongest gut, 
 is what is known as the single fisherman's knot (sometimes
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 39 
 
 called ' water knot '), varied in the case of salmon gut in the 
 way that I will describe. 
 
 I think the method of tying this knot in the case of trout 
 gut is so thoroughly well known as hardly to require an expla- 
 nation ; still in view of these pages falling into the hands of 
 an entire novice in angling matters, a diagram of the process is 
 appended. 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 FIG. r. SINGLE FISHERMAN'S KNOT. 
 
 The two ends of gut, A, A, are laid parallel to each other 
 being held in that position between the first finger and thumb 
 of the left hand at the point and in the position in which they 
 are to be joined. A half-hitch knot, B, B, 13 then made by the 
 right hand with the end of each strand alternately round the 
 strand of the other, and each separately drawn tight. In the 
 case of trout lines and other casting lines for light fishing the 
 two half-hitch knots are then drawn closely together and the 
 ends cut off. If a drop-fly is used for trout or grayling fishing 
 it is a very good plan to pass the end of the gut link of the fly 
 between the two strands of the joining gut before drawing the 
 knot close. This will make the drop-fly stand out at right 
 angles to the main casting line, a result which it is very desir- 
 able to obtain. A single knot tied at the required distance in 
 the link of the fly, and the gut nipped off close, will make it 
 impossible for the fly to slip out of its place. This, as I say, 
 makes a very neat knot for drop-flies on the whole, perhaps, 
 the neatest. 
 
 Another simple way, and one that will be found to answer 
 every purpose when flies are being changed at the river-side, is 
 simply to lay the drop- fly along the casting line, fly upwards-, 
 and make a double half-hitch knot with the end of the fly link 
 round the central casting line. On this knot being pulled tight, 
 and slipped down as far as the next knot of the casting line, it 
 will be found to answer exceedingly well in practice, although
 
 40 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the point of junction is one which will always have to be care- 
 fully looked at from time to time, as the friction of the drop-fly 
 knot is apt to fray away the link to which it is attached. For 
 salmon fishing I never myself use a second fly, unless by any 
 chance the river or lake I am fishing be also tenanted by white 
 trout, and then, of course, the fly is a comparatively small one. 
 
 Nothing can well be more clumsy than the knots usually 
 employed by the tackle-makers in joining the strands of a 
 salmon casting line, and their inefficiency in the matter of 
 strength is on a par with their unsightliness. One could hardly 
 have a better illustration of the extreme slowness of tackle- 
 makers to acquire any knowledge, even when it is thrust under 
 their noses, as it were, than the fact that a knot immeasurably 
 better on the score of strength, far neater in the matter of 
 sightliness, tied with less trouble, and free from any conceivable 
 drawback, should have been published nearly twenty years ago, 
 and that the old-fashioned, comparatively worthless, knot, 
 should still be that which they almost universally adopt ! In 
 the ' Book of the Pike,' 1865, 1 gave diagrams and explanations 
 of the knot referred to, which, though my own invention, I 
 have ventured to characterise in the above eulogistic terms, for 
 the reason that their accuracy or otherwise is capable of being 
 put to a simple and conclusive proof. This knot has been 
 since published in the ' Modern Practical Angler,' which has 
 gone through four or five editions at least, and must, therefore, 
 have passed under the eyes of the tackle-makers, a part of 
 whose business it is to sell fishing books ; and yet, as I say, I 
 cannot point to a single tackle-maker who has had the common 
 sense to adopt my system of knot. 
 
 The principle of the knot is as follows : The gut having 
 been thoroughly soaked beforehand in tepid water which is, 
 of course, a sine qua non in all gut knottings lay the two strand- 
 side by side and proceed exactly in the same manner as that 
 above described for tying the single fisherman's knot, with the 
 exception of the final drawing together of the two separate 
 half-hitches. Instead of drawing these two knots together and
 
 TACKLE AXD FISHING GEAR. 41 
 
 lapping down the ends on the outside, as is the manner of the 
 tackle-makers, draw the knots, a a, only to within about three- 
 sixteenths or one-eighth of an inch of each other (as shown in 
 the engraving, fig. 2) and lap between them with light waxed 
 
 a a 
 
 b 
 
 FIG. 2. THE 'BUFFER KNOT' FOR SALMON GUT. 
 
 silk, />, or, which is the plan I generally adopt myself, with rery 
 fine thoroughly soaked silkworm gut. This lapping relieves the 
 knot itself of half its duty, and on any sudden jerk, such as 
 striking, acts as a sort of ' buffer ' to receive and ' distribute,' 
 as it were, the strain. Tied in the old-fashioned way I find 
 that on applying a ' steady strain,' a salmon gut casting line 
 breaks almost invariably at the knot. Tied in the manner I 
 suggest it will break at any other point in preference, no matter 
 how great the strain may be. 
 
 Major John P. Traherne, whose almost unequalled experi- 
 ence as a salmon fisher entitles his opinion to the utmost weight, 
 has lately written as follows, on the subject of knots for salmon 
 casting lines, to the pages of a sporting journal : 
 
 Xot long ago I fondly imagined I had invented a plan for 
 uniting the links of a casting line without knots, and was on my 
 way to the 'Fishing Gazette ' office to unfold my secret. My 
 friend Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell happened to accompany me on 
 a different business, and on my letting him know what mine was 
 turned round and said, ' My dear fellow, I am very sorry for you, 
 but I brought that out years ago in the " Modern Practical Angler,"' 
 and as we were passing Farlow's shop at the time he took me in 
 and soon convinced me that he was right, and that his principle 
 and mine are the same, although differently carried out. Therefore, 
 although I can lay no claim to be the inventor of the ' buffer knot,' 
 I can honestly say that I had never seen or heard of it before.
 
 42 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 It is impossible to invent a better method of fastening gut together 
 than that which makes the fastening the strongest instead of the 
 weakest part of the casting line, and it is surprising to me that this 
 method has not been adopted.- [The italics are mine.] 
 
 Though c I say it that should not say it,' Major Traherne's 
 frank testimony in favour of the absolute superiority of this 
 knot over all others for gut salmon casting lines (or for gut 
 traces in spinning) does not go one whit beyond the fact ; and 
 if salmon fishers, buying and reading this book, acquire nothing 
 in return but the knowledge of this one apparently trifling 
 piece of information, their time and money would have been 
 right well invested. 
 
 The difference between my knot and the variation of it 
 described by Major Traherne is very trifling such as it is, 
 however, I am of opinion that as regards neatness and sim- 
 plicity of manipulation my original knot is distinctly prefer- 
 able, and I have lately had letters from Major Traherne saying 
 that he has come to the same conclusion. 
 
 In the case of casting lines for any fish smaller than four 
 or five pounds weight no lapping of any sort is required in any 
 part of the casting line. As lapping is ordinarily applied to 
 such lines by tackle-makers no additional strength whatsoever 
 is imparted, whilst the effect is to make that which is already 
 an eyesore, though luckily a transparent one, into a still greater 
 disfigurement, and one which, being opaque and at regular 
 intervals of a foot or so, presents a most alarming appearance 
 to the fish. 
 
 It has been pointed out that the single fisherman's knot 
 varied as I have described in the case of salmon lines is all 
 that is required for any description of gut knotting. I should, 
 perhaps, however, make an exception to this statement in the 
 case of drawn gut, and natural gut of unusual fineness. In 
 these cases the extreme ' limpness ' of the strands makes the 
 single half-hitch very liable to slip, or draw out, if the ends are 
 cut at all close, as they should be on the score of neatness. 
 It is, therefore, better in such cases to make the knot with two
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 43 
 
 double, instead of two single, half-hitches ; the end, that is, with 
 which each half-knot is tied is passed twice instead of once 
 round the central link and through the loop in the manner 
 shown in the engraving. The increase in the size of the knot with 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 very fine gut is so small as not to be worth considering, whilst 
 the increase of strength obtained is of decided importance. 
 
 In quitting the subject of gut knotting I will strongly 
 recommend all anglers, whether fly or float fishers, to positively 
 refuse to be supplied by the tackle-makers with any casting 
 lines or traces in which the knots are lapped, except in the 
 case of the salmon lines in the manner above described. 
 
 Twisting. For the lower parts of casting lines of all kinds 
 single gut is the only material that I ever think cf employing, 
 and I find it amply strong enough, when obtained of the best 
 quality, for every practical purpose. As regards the upper 
 part of the casting line ; however say two or three feet it 
 will be found convenient, especially in the case of salmon lines, 
 to interpose some thicker medium between the reel line and 
 the single gut bottom, and, for this purpose, gut, twisted in the 
 way I will describe, is in every respect the best. The ordinary 
 twisted gut, as sold in the tackle shops that is, in lengths of 
 about one foot each, and joined with a huge unsightly knot 
 were always such an eyesore to me that I was induced to take 
 some little trouble in providing myself with a more workman- 
 like substitute. 
 
 My plan is as follows : 
 
 I take two tapered casting lines of the thickness and length 
 required and knot them together at the two thickest ends. I 
 then bend the lines, a few inches away from this junction, over 
 a hook fixed into the table, window sash, or what not, but so 
 that when the two ends of the double cast thus formed are laid
 
 44 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 parallel with each other the knots of one should fall on a 
 different spot to the knots of the other. This is to prevent any 
 undue thickening or awkwardness of twisting at any particular 
 point. The two lines, or rather what has now become one line, 
 being adjusted on the hook or peg in the manner described, 
 proceed to twist them together with the finger and thumb of 
 the right hand the left hand being employed alternately in 
 holding and securing the twist up to the point reached, and in 
 keeping clear and well separated from each other, at the angle 
 of something like 45, the two separate halves of the link, 
 which will exhibit a decided inclination to make a twist on 
 their own account. The line should be well moistened before 
 being twisted, and if done in the manner I have described and 
 with a certain amount of intelligence, that any man who is 
 accustomed to exercise his fingers in tackle dressing ought to 
 find it easy to acquire, the result will be an evenly twisted and 
 well-tapered gut top, which, unless prematurely carried away, 
 should last for ' generations.' 
 
 This twisted line, being interposed between the running line 
 and the single gut bottom, materially increases, as I say, the 
 facility for casting in the case of salmon lines. 
 
 Plaited gut lines are sold at the tackle shops which are free 
 from some of the defects I have pointed out in regard to their 
 casting lines of twisted gut, but they are not so strong as a line 
 twisted in the way I have described, and, except when very 
 thick indeed, are scarcely reliable for heavy work. 
 
 Staining. All sorts of stains are recorded by different 
 authors and adopted by different fishermen according to in- 
 dividual taste and fancy. I used personally to fancy what is 
 known as the red water stain for rivers where the water took a 
 vlarkish or porter-coloured tint after afresh, and for 'white' 
 waters a light bluish or cloud colour. I am by no means clear, 
 however, that in the case of the fly fisher there is any sufficient 
 warrantry for this nicety of refinement, if, indeed, it be a 
 refinement at all in the proper sense of the word. When we 
 see a porter-coloured water we forget that we are looking down
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 45 
 
 from above, whilst the fish we wish to catch is, in all proba- 
 bility, looking up from below, and that our line being ' flotant ' 
 is but a few inches below the surface of the water. ' The result 
 is that when he comes up to take the fly the stratum of water 
 interposed between the gut and the sky is really, when viewed 
 by the human eye at any rate, almost colourless. It is the 
 depth of water which produces the depth of colour. The 
 same thing again applies to the clear streams which after a 
 flood become merely slightly thickened with mud and never 
 take the red or bog water stain under any circumstances. 
 
 In order as far as might be to satisfy my own mind as 
 to what practically was the best stain, I arranged an experiment in 
 which the actual conditions of the floating line were as nearly 
 as possible reproduced substituting my own eye for that of 
 the fish. I got a glass tank with a glass bottom, and I found 
 that with about three inches of water in it the difference between 
 water stained with tea or coffee to about the same extent as the 
 red water of a river, or slightly clouded to represent the waters 
 of a chalk stream, was, for practical purposes, nil, and I 
 came to the conclusion, after trying various experiments on 
 these lines, that the stain which was most like the colour of the 
 sky was in every case the least visible ; also, that the very 
 lightest stain was better than a dark one, and that in the case of 
 perfectly sound clear gut no stain at all seemed practically to be 
 required, as the negative colour, or rather approximate colour- 
 lessness, of the gut seemed to harmonise, on the whole, very 
 well with most kinds of sky tint. 
 
 When, however, the gut is not entirely round and clear, or 
 is at all ' stringy,' it is very apt to have a sort of gloss, or, when 
 the sun is shining upon it, glittering effect in the water, which 
 is highly undesirable. In such a case some neutral-tinted 
 stain, which will have the effect of removing the gloss in 
 question, would probably be very advantageous. I know no 
 better stain for this purpose, or for a sort of greyish green that 
 it produces, than the following, for which I was originally 
 indebted to Mr. W. C. Stewart, the accomplished fisherman
 
 j6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 and well-known author of a charming book on 'Fly Fishing and 
 Worm Fishing for Trout in the Clear Streams of Scotland.' 
 
 The first step in the process is to impart to the gut a lightish 
 tint of the common 'red-water stain.' For this purpose take a 
 teacupful of black tea, and boil it with a quart of water for 
 twenty minutes : afterwards strain it, and boil down the liquor 
 till it comes to a pint : keeping the gut steeped in the mixture 
 until it has acquired the necessary tint [Mr. Stewart says ' put 
 the gut in whilst boiling and let it remain till cold']. This 
 process will sometimes take only half an hour or even less, and 
 sometimes several hours, according to the strength and stain- 
 ing power of the tea : when sufficiently stained, rinse the gut 
 well in cold water. When dry, take a handful of logwood chips 
 (obtainable at most druggists'), and boil them in a quart of water 
 till the latter is reduced to about a pint. Then take it off the 
 fire, and put into it a small piece of copperas (sulphate of 
 copper) about the size of a hazel nut, powdered, stir the mix- 
 ture, and when the copperas is dissolved, which it will be in a 
 few minutes, dip the gut into the mixture until it has got the 
 dirty greyish-green tinge described. Very often a few instants' 
 immersion will be sufficient, and in order to ascertain the exact 
 amount of the stain, as well as to avoid overstating, it is best 
 always to keep a basin of water close at hand to rinse the gut 
 in, the moment it is taken out of the dye. 
 
 For the common ' red-water stain ' tea leaves used as above 
 described will answer every purpose ; or coffee that has been 
 previously charred in a frying pan and ground, will answer 
 instead of tea. 
 
 To produce a slate stain mix boiling water and ink, and 
 soak the gut in it rinsing it thoroughly when it has attained 
 the desired colour. This, indeed, is a precaution that should 
 never be omitted in staining gut, which is otherwise apt to lose 
 its transparency. When too dark a stain has been given it 
 may readily be reduced in intensity by soaking the gut in clean 
 boiling water. Another ink stain that sounds as if it ought to 
 be good, is given on the authority of Mr. R. B. Marston :
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 47 
 
 Anglers should always, when going- away fishing, provide them- 
 selves with a small bottle of Stephens' blue black ink. You can 
 easily get any tint you like, from a pale blue to almost black, by 
 soaking the gut in this ink for a few minutes, or for several, 
 according to the depth of stain you want. Rinse the gut in clean 
 water when you take it out of the ink, and then there is no fear 
 that the strength of the gut will be affected, as is most certainly the 
 case with many of the dyes used. 
 
 A gentleman I once met at Loch Leven told me that he 
 had a friend, a first-rate fisherman, who never used to stain 
 gut ; but effectually took off the glitter by simply drawing it 
 once through a piece of fine emery paper. 
 
 For dressing flies, where gut is used in the bodies, Judson's 
 aniline dyes, kept by most chemists, will produce any sort of 
 stain required. The directions are given on the bottles, but I 
 recommend the use of only one-half the proportion of water. 
 Some of the stains produced by the aniline dyes, however, 
 destroy the texture of the gut. 
 
 Hair, which I cannot recommend for any sort of fly fishing, 
 and which when used should be taken from the tail of a stallion, 
 is seldom stained, being generally preferred of the natural 
 brownish tint. If, however, it is required to stain it for the 
 purpose of fly tying or otherwise, the animal greasiness must 
 be first removed by slightly boiling the hair in a 'mordant' 
 obtained from an ounce of alum dissolved in a pint of water. 
 This is also a good preparatory mordant for feathers before 
 they are dyed. 
 
 Passing from the gut to the reel, or running line, I find so 
 wide a field open before me that I despair of being able to do 
 justice to the numberless different descriptions of lines, dressed 
 and undressed, silk, hemp, hair, and what not, which compete 
 for the fly fisher's favour. 
 
 When I served my apprenticeship to the craft almost every- 
 body used a line composed of a mixture of silk and hair, and 
 this has still some votaries left, amongst whom, however, I am
 
 48 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 decidedly not one. It had, in fact, only one good quality, 
 lightness ; perhaps I should say half a good quality, because 
 the lightness which is of advantage in the water is a great dis- 
 advantage in casting against the wind. For the rest, this silk- 
 and-hair line possesses pretty nearly every drawback that can 
 well be combined. The moment it is not tightly stretched, in 
 other words, that it has a chance of kinking, or crinkling up, it 
 promptly does so ; the protuberant points of hair impart a dis- 
 inclination, almost amounting sometimes to a positive refusal, 
 to allow itself to pass through the rod rings, whilst, even under 
 the most careful treatment, it gets rotten, or so much weakened 
 as to be untrustworthy, after the shortest term of service. So 
 much for ' silk and hair.' 
 
 Hair by itself may be dismissed in a very few words. As 
 contrasted with the silk mixture, it possesses its virtues in a 
 greater and its faults in a minor degree. It is still more flotant 
 in the water, where also it is much less visible, and it never gets 
 rotten. But as a set-off the difficulty of casting against the 
 wind and the friction in the rod rings are, of course, exaggerated. 
 On the whole, although I have used reel lines entirely made of 
 brown horsehair for trout fishing in calm and bright weather 
 with considerable satisfaction, I decidedly prefer a dressed 
 i.e. waterproofed line, whether silk or hemp, which is suitable 
 for windy as well as calm weather, and which with proper care 
 will last quite long enough for all practical purposes. 
 
 For salmon fishing, of course, lines made of hair, or of silk 
 and hair, would be put out of court on one ground alone, 
 namely, a want of sufficient strength. 
 
 With regard to the question of hemp or silk, I must say 
 that when the ' Manchester Twine Cotton Spinning Company ' 
 first started they sent me some lines, both dressed and un- 
 dressed, which were exceedingly perfect, and which I believe, 
 after fourteen years' occasional service, to be still as strong as 
 ever in fact, so strong that on trying one of them just now 
 with both hands a friend of mine failed to break it. This line, 
 however, is what is termed 'cable-laid ' twisted, that is, in the
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 49 
 
 same manner as a ship's cablethe principle of which is that 
 whilst the cable itself is twisted from right to left, the separate 
 ropes of which it is composed are twisted from left to right. 
 The, result of this is that the two twists counteract each other 
 in their mutual inclination to kink, and when wetted, the cable, 
 instead of swelling, hardens and contracts. Of the plaited 
 hemp lines issued by the same Company I have nothing good 
 to say, neither did any of the dressings of them that I have seen 
 properly effect their object, and if they did so temporarily, my 
 experience is that they would not stand. 
 
 In the case of the particular line to which I refer, no 
 semblance of dressing of any sort now remains, or did remain 
 after the first few months, or, perhaps, weeks, of real 'service 
 in the field,' on any part of the line which had come into actual 
 use. The strength, however, was and is, I think, bulk for 
 bulk, unequalled by any lines that I have met with made of 
 silk. The latter, however, possess the great advantage of taking 
 the dressing, or waterproofing, perfectly, and admitting after- 
 wards of a smoothness and polish which facilitate very greatly 
 the running out and the reeling in of the line. 
 
 These dressed silk lines also, if not absolutely so strong as 
 those made of hemp aforesaid (which I would not assert), can 
 be made quite strong enough for all practical purposes. I say 
 advisedly ' can be made,' because I have found the most unex- 
 pected differences in the strength of different so-called dressed 
 lines of the same thickness, and where they have been said to 
 be of the same manufacture. The best rough and ready method 
 of testing is to take a foot or two of the line between the hands 
 and ascertain, by breaking or trying to break it, what is its 
 actual strength. 
 
 It appears, then, that on a computation of advantages and 
 disadvantages our support should be given to dressed silk lines 
 for fly fishing; and as these are made of every thickness, from 
 that of an ordinary piece of stout sewing cotton almost to that 
 of a bell rope, everyone can, without difficulty, suit his par- 
 ticular objects and tastes. 
 
 I. E
 
 50 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Then comes the question : Shall the dressed silk line be 
 level' that is, of equal substance throughout or 'tapered,' 
 which means in ordinary parlance, getting finer towards the end 
 at which the casting line is to be attached ? The latter is some- 
 times what is called ' double tapered,' that is, the line is tapered 
 at both ends or it may be only a 'single taper,' when, of 
 course, the taper is made at one end only. As between level 
 and tapered lines, each has its advantages and its disadvantages, 
 but, on the whole, I think nine fly fishers out of ten prefer, in 
 practice, a line more or less tapered towards the casting end. 
 
 So far as the actual casting is concerned, apart from ' fine 
 fishing,' these details are of little importance on quiet days, but 
 in rough stormy weather, when the wind is blowing half a gale, 
 perhaps right in the fly fisher's teeth, the case is radically 
 altered, and the man whose line is properly balanced and heavy 
 enough to cut through the air like a bit of wire will be able to 
 go on casting with comparative efficiency, while his neighbour, 
 less perfectly equipped, will find his flies blown back in his face 
 every other cast. 
 
 I have had some lines manufactured with the design of 
 obtaining still greater casting power under such circumstances, 
 and I think the experiment has been sufficiently successful to 
 justify me in recommending fly fishers, and salmon fishers espe- 
 cially, to give it a trial. The principle is to ' swell,' or double 
 taper, each end of the casting line at a point so near the end 
 that the whole of the ' swell ' or double taper shall usually be 
 betiveen the point of the rod and the fly when a cast is being 
 made. This sort of swelled taper, or whip-shaped line, is, of 
 course, made at both ends of the reel line, so that when one 
 end gets worn out the line can be reversed and the other used. 
 In practical experiments carried out with this and other lines, 
 with different rods, both trout and salmon, and under different 
 circumstances, I found that there was no appreciable difference 
 in calm weather, but that when casting across, or, still more, 
 against, a sharp wind, the 'swelled' line went out decidedly 
 straighter and more easily.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 51 
 
 I do not know if I am entitled to consider myself as the 
 author of this invention. The idea suggested itself to me when 
 chatting on the subject of reel lines with an excellent practical 
 salmon fisher, whom I once met in Scotland. He made use 
 of the word ' swelled line,' and I thought he meant such a line 
 as that I have now been describing, but I rather think, from 
 the remainder of our conversation, that it was the ordinary 
 double-tapered line a long line, that is, swelled in the middle 
 which he had in his mind, and described himself as using. 
 At any rate I could not find that the London tackle-makers 
 had ever heard of such a principle or had had any such lines 
 in stock. Mr. Farlow, who made my lines, is, I believe, pre- 
 pared to execute orders for similar ones. 
 
 The importance to the salmon fisher of a line which will 
 cut its way through a fierce March squall has been so well recog- 
 nised that in order to give greater ' cutting ' power line-makers 
 have even gone to the extent of manufacturing reel lines with 
 wire centres. They do not answer well, however, in practice, 
 and my friend Mr. Senior informed me that some he had tried 
 'went to pieces,' almost immediately. 
 
 The colour of the casting line is a matter rather of indivi- 
 dual fancy than probably any great moment, the more so as the 
 effects of different colours as presented to the eye of the fish 
 between oneself and the sky is very imperfectly understood. 
 
 I may perhaps here mention a little ' dodge ' which I have 
 found convenient in winding a new reel line on to the reel 
 winding it, I mean, off the hard, neat ' coil ' in which it is 
 received from the manufacturer. After cutting the ' ligatures,' 
 I insert inside in the coil of line a stiff newspaper rolled up 
 which being elastic stretches and keeps the coil properly ex- 
 panded through the centre of the newspaper winder I pass 
 a rod joint or smooth walking-stick. This, of course, allows 
 the line and newspaper winder to revolve freely. The two 
 ends of the stick being now held by somebody's two hands, 
 the line will 'reel off ' with complete ease and regularity as 
 well, in fact, as from the tackle-maker's own winder. 
 
 E 2
 
 5 2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 This naturally applies to any kind of line, dressed or un- 
 dressed. 
 
 The art of dressing a line, whether for trolling or fly fishing, 
 is in itself a speciality, and one which few amateurs will pro- 
 bably find it worth taking the trouble to practise for them- 
 selves, but in case they should desire to become their own line 
 
 BRAIDED SILK LINES DRESSED. 
 
 dressers, they are advised to try the receipt given by Major 
 Traherne, as the result of his experience on the best mode of 
 dressing silk lines for fly fishing, in his article on fishing for 
 salmon with the fly. 
 
 Reels, The Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 was prolific in new 
 reels, many of which it must be confessed were not only highly 
 ingenious as inventions, but really excellent in their adaptation 
 to different sorts of fishing. 
 
 Of these new reels I propose briefly to describe the six 
 principal, with their uses. Of these four have been patented, 
 and I will give their inventors preference, merely observing 
 that, with the exception of the reel exhibited by Messrs. Watson, 
 the whole of the reels referred to are applicable rather to salmon 
 or trolling lines and other heavy fishing than to single-handed 
 trout rods. As Mr. Malloch has two patents I will begin with 
 his 
 
 Malloch's ' Sun and Planet ' reel a powerful reel, of the 
 ordinary shape in regard to the make and external appearance ; 
 the right-hand plate being of metal and the opposite side of
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 53 
 
 ebonite. The reel itself is very handsome and comparatively 
 light, leaving absolutely nothing to be desired in the way of 
 finish. The point, however, in which the reel differs from all 
 others, (except Mr. Anderson's reel) is that the revolving plate 
 and handle remain stationary when a fish is taking out line, 
 and, consequently, the fisherman's hand is never required to 
 be removed from the handle, as is the case with other reels 
 when playing a fish. Nor is the action of the reel liable to be 
 stopped by the coming in contact of the handle with any part 
 of the dress of the fisherman or other external obstruction. 
 This would, no doubt, prove a great advantage in all lake 
 trolling, and other fishing when the rod and reel are left resting 
 on the bottom of the boat, as any hitch in the ' paying out ' of 
 the line under these circumstances is apt to end disastrously. 
 Amongst the other merits claimed for this reel by its inventor 
 are the following : 
 
 By a slight pressure of the finger and thumb on the handle 
 while the line is being taken out, the run of the fish may be checked 
 as much or as little as the angler desires. The reel cannot 
 ' overrun.' When the line slackens it may be wound up in half 
 the time required for the ordinary reel a great advantage in 
 trolling with long lines, or when the fish runs towards the angler. 
 
 I do not see, however, how the line can be wound up ' in 
 half the time,' inasmuch as in my reel the ' multiplication ' 
 appears to be only an increase of one turn extra of the axle for 
 every four of the handle. This is probably, however, quite as 
 much as is desirable, having regard to the loss of power in- 
 volved in multiplying reels when winding-in heavy fish. The 
 weight of a reel, three inches and three-quarters in diameter, 
 is one pound one ounce. 
 
 Mr. Malloch's second patent 'casting reel' of which a 
 diagram (fig. i) is attached, in the two different positions in 
 which the reel is used is not intended to be applicable in any 
 special way to fly fishing. It might, however, be used in some 
 cases advantageously for worm fishing and prawn fishing for 
 salmon, as well as any sort of trolling in which casting from
 
 54 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 FIG. I. 
 
 MALLOCH'S CASTING REEL. 
 
 the hand [or, as it would be in this case, from the reel] is prac- 
 tised. The principle is that when casting, the reel is twisted 
 
 by the hand at right angles to the 
 rod, in the position shown in the 
 right-hand figure, when, in conse- 
 quence of the convex shape of the 
 right-hand plate, the line runs off it 
 without any revolution of the reel, 
 and with great freedom with such 
 freedom, in fact, that I believe the 
 patentee won a prize at the last 
 anglers' tournament in London by 
 making a cast with it of seventy 
 odd yards. In order to do this, 
 however, the line used must be 
 of the finest possible description, 
 
 whether dressed or undressed ; the undressed, pure silk Not- 
 tingham line being the best. 
 
 When it is intended to wind-in the line or fish, the reel is 
 turned with the right hand back again into the position shown 
 in the left-hand figure, when it acts like any other check reel. 
 Its particular applicability, however, is to what is known as the 
 Nottingham style of fishing, of which a more detailed account 
 will be found under that head in Volume II. The weight of 
 this reel one pound five ounces for a four-inch diameter is 
 so considerable as to be to that extent a drawback. There is 
 also another imperfection incidental to the principle of its 
 action ; vi/. that for every coil that is thrown off, when it is in the 
 position shown in the right-hand cut that is, without the axis 
 of the reel revolving a twist is given to the line cast : in other 
 words, in a cast, say, of forty yards, there would be, allowing 
 six inches of line to each coil, two hundred and forty abnormal 
 ' twists' imparted to the line between the reel and the bait ! 
 
 Another ingenious invention, intended to be used both for 
 ' Nottingham ' and other kinds of fishing, is Mr. Slater's patent 
 'Perfect Combination Reel,' as he has called it (fig. 2), made
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 55 
 
 entirely out of ebonised mahogany, and, therefore, very light : 
 a four inches and a half reel weighing only ten ounces. By 
 shifting the small nut on the left-hand side plate, this reel can 
 be made either ' plain' or 'check,' the former being intended 
 to favour the casting of the bait ' from the reel ' in the Notting- 
 ham style, already alluded to. In construction the reel is also 
 approximate to the Nottingham reel, consisting of a barrel, or 
 winder, freely revolving on a steel pivot or centre pin, which is 
 fast to the frame. Attached to the non-revolving or fixed 
 (left-hand) plate is a brass frame or 'cage,' supporting the hori- 
 zontal bars, between which, as in ordinary reels, the line passes. 
 This frame or cage is ' recessed ' into a groove in the revolving 
 
 FIG. 2. SLATER'S PERFECT COMBINATION REEL. 
 
 barrel. The left-hand, or back plate, and the frame or cage, 
 therefore, remain stationary, while the barrel or winder revolves 
 independently of them. A catch is provided in the front or 
 revolving side plate, or barrel, by which the latter can be readily 
 taken off the pivot for oiling and cleaning. It is in this sepa- 
 rated condition that the two portions of the reel are shown in 
 the engraving. The ' Slater reel ' is, in fact, a Nottingham reel 
 with bars, and it is principally in relation to the Nottingham style 
 that its advantages except in its extreme lightness are appa- 
 rent. The revolution of the side plate and axis is so arranged 
 as to present the same perfect freedom of movement claimed for 
 the old-fashioned open Nottingham reel, whilst at the same 
 time obviating the inconvenience of the line constantly hitch-
 
 56 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 ing round the back and other parts of the winch. The object of 
 the revolution of the whole of the right-hand side plate or 
 barrel outside rim included is, of course, to enable the 
 check to be placed upon the running-out of the reel by the 
 caster's hand, without which means of regulating the length of 
 the throw Nottingham fishing would be out of the question in 
 practice. One great merit of this reel is undoubtedly its 
 extreme lightness. 
 
 Mr. Anderson, of Princes Street, Edinburgh, and Dunkeld, 
 exhibited a very ingenious reel the ' Excelsior ' the principle 
 of which is in many respects similar to that of Mr. Malloch's 
 patent ' Sun and Planet ' reel, although the mechanism by 
 which the result is obtained is somewhat different. The 
 principle is that when the line is drawn out by a fish or by the 
 hand the side plate does not revolve nothing revolves, in fact, 
 except the ' winder ' and the two internal plates the moment, 
 however, that the handle is grasped firmly by the fingers it 
 operates in every respect like an ordinary check reel. The 
 specimen that I have is a very prettily finished bronzed reel 
 suited for trolling or lake fishing with a double-handed rod. 
 The diameter of this reel is three inches and, with about sixty 
 yards of medium-sized dressed silk line, it weighs thirteen ounces. 
 This size, however, is not large enough for salmon fishing. 
 
 An ingenious invention for getting rid of the revolving side 
 plate is shown in the engraving (fig. 3), which is the facsimile of 
 a reel that I have used with satisfaction for fly fishing for trout 
 and other light work where weight is a matter of primary 
 importance. The object of countersinking, so to speak, the 
 handle of this reel is to prevent its projecting, as in the old- 
 fashioned plateless crank-handled reels ; which was a source of 
 constant annoyance owing to the line getting caught round it. 
 The handle was also very liable to be damaged or bent on the 
 smallest provocation. The advantage which the old-fashioned 
 reel possessed was its lightness. The same advantage may be 
 claimed for Messrs. Watson's reel, whilst the drawbacks of the 
 old system are obviated. This reel, which is supposed to be
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 57 
 
 the ordinary 'check,' might be in some respects improved upon 
 in matter of finish ; the rim also should be thickened so as to 
 prevent its being indented on meeting with falls or rough usage. 
 A two and a quarter inch reel of this pattern, including thirty 
 to forty yards of the very finest dressed silk line [not thicker 
 than thread] is six ounces. The reel would hold probably twice 
 as much. It is better suited for light than for heavy work, or, 
 in other words, for trout or float fishing, than for salmon or 
 pike fishing. 
 
 FIG. 3. WATSON S REEL. 
 
 Last, ' but not least,' we have Mr. Farlow's ' patent lever,' 
 which up to the present time has only been applied to salmon 
 and trolling reels. Diagrams of the reel and the internal 
 arrangement of the patent mechanism, reduced to one-half the 
 actual size, are annexed. 
 
 The object of the patent is, by an adjustable screw, marked 
 A in the engraving, to enable the strength of the ' check ' to be 
 regulated exactly as the fisherman may wish, or at pleasure 
 removed altogether. This desideratum, the practical con-
 
 58 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 venience of which will be readily recognised, is entirely ful- 
 filled in Mr. Farlow's handsome and substantial reel. The 
 
 ,<lixe D 
 
 FIG. 4. FARLOW'S LEVER REEL. 
 
 plate, marked B (fig. 4), covers the end of the axis and enables 
 the machinery to be lubricated. The latter is of the simplest 
 
 FIG. 5. FARLOW'S I.LVER REEL MI-XHANISM REGULATING 'CHI-X;K.' 
 
 description. E c; F (fig. 5) is a piece of convex springy steel, 
 interposed between the left-hand exterior and interior side
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 59 
 
 plates of the reel. It is fixed by a screw to the outer plate at G. 
 When the screw, F (fig. 5) corresponding to A in fig. 4 is 
 tightened, or screwed up, the effect is to press this steel plate 
 against the interior or revolving plate of the reel at E, the ten- 
 sion, or pressure, being thus decreased or increased at pleasure. 
 
 Amongst these admirable inventions both the salmon and 
 trout fisher will have, I think, no difficulty in selecting a reel 
 entirely suited to his taste, observing that the question of 
 weight is one deserving of great consideration, especially by 
 fly fishers who are not burdened with superfluous muscular 
 development of the back and arms. If the lower portion of 
 the reel line, which is not used in casting, and which under- 
 goes but comparatively little wear and tear, is made to consist 
 of either moderately fine untapered dressed silk line, or still 
 better, of a line of hemp such as I have already described, the 
 weight of the salmon reel may be considerably reduced without 
 any loss whatever either of efficiency or ' compass.' 
 
 Allowing thirty yards of stout tapered line either of the 
 ordinary taper, or of the swelled or double taper which I 
 suggest for casting purposes, sixty or seventy yards of hemp line 
 strong enough to hold anything that swims can be got comfort- 
 ably upon a three and three-quarter or four-inch reel, and this 
 length (ninety yards) will usually be found sufficient for all prac- 
 tical purposes. 1 The two lines should, of course, be very care- 
 fully and neatly lapped together with fine waxed silk at the 
 place of junction, so as to obviate any danger of the line get- 
 ting stuck in the rings at that point when running out with a 
 fish. If small stiff steel rings, such as I use myself and advo- 
 cate for every description of rod? are adopted, the chance, what- 
 ever it may be, of any ' hitch ' at the critical moment will be 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 1 I like 130 to 150 yards on the reel for salmon fishing 75 yards of each sort 
 of line. In big rivers I have had a good deal of the stcond half run out by a 
 heavy fish. The having two kinds of line indicates, when the second begins 
 running, at what distance the fish is from you, which in very broken water is 
 sometimes difficult to ascertain. ED. 
 
 2 I cordially agree in the advantage of standing rings. ED.
 
 60 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 A best four and a quarter inch diameter London made, 
 stained brass reel, with eighty or a hundred yards of stout 
 dressed salmon line or, in fact, as much as it will hold 
 weighs two pounds one ounce. This is the sort of reel which 
 usually finds favour with salmon fishers, but to my mind it is 
 unnecessarily large and weighty. 
 
 The weight of the reel, however, should be always adapted 
 to the length and ' balance ' of the rod. For a ladies' rod, in 
 cases where the price of a reel is of no consequence, wonder- 
 fully light reels about half the ordinary weight and made 
 entirely of aluminium can be obtained. I have seen one, 
 two and a half inches in diameter, in the shop of Mr. Little, 
 in the Haymarket, that would have made a charming reel for 
 a light trout rod, and the weight of which was under three 
 ounces. The price of this reel was four guineas. Mr. Little 
 also showed me a beautiful light salmon or grilse reel of his, 
 made of ebonite and German silver, and weighing twelve ounces. 
 
 I once had a set of three reels, which I must call ' ideal,' 
 presented to me by an amateur in reel-making. The material 
 was gun-metal, and the lightness and perfection of mechanical 
 'finish 'left absolutely nothing to be desired. Unfortunately 
 I was not the only one to appreciate their beauties, and whilst 
 paying a round of official visits to the fisheries on the West 
 Coast of Ireland, some enthusiastic Patlander relieved me of 
 further trouble as regards their custody. I did not find out 
 the theft until too late to retrieve the situation. 
 
 I remember well, however, that one cause of the extreme 
 lightness of these gun-metal reels was that there was no extra 
 thickening of the side of the reel to contain the ' check ' ma- 
 chinery. By dint of skilful workmanship this machinery 
 which worked admirably was fitted into the side plate, without 
 any noticeable increase of bulk. 
 
 To return : in the observations which I have offered on 
 the subject of reels generally I have assumed that all practical 
 fishermen will use a reel which is either always, or can be
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 61 
 
 made when desired into a ' check.' The old-fashioned ' plain 
 reel,' as it is called, possessed certainly the merit of being plain 
 and, to a certain extent, simple, in the sense of not being 
 likely to get out of order ; and there its merits end. When 
 there is no check to interfere with the rapid rotatory motion of 
 the wheel set going by a heavy fish, there is nothing in the 
 mechanism to prevent the line what is called ' overrunning,' the 
 result of which is a constant danger of a sudden ' hitch,' or 
 stoppage, occurring at the critical moment. 
 
 Multiplying reels, at any rate of the ordinary type, are, 
 in my opinion, equally objectionable upon another ground, 
 namely, that, when it is desired to 'wind-in' a fish, the old 
 mechanical axiom of ' that which is gained in speed is lost in 
 power ' is apt to come into operation with disastrous results. 
 No man can fairly wind-in a heavy fish with such a reel, and 
 now that reels with narrow and deep, instead of broad and 
 shallow, grooves are almost universally manufactured, there is 
 no practical advantage gained by the rapidity of action in this 
 respect. 
 
 In all the reels, however, even of the newest patterns, 
 there are two slight imperfections which somewhat mar the 
 regular winding-in of the line. The first is that the axle is, 1 
 may say universally, made with a small projecting shoulder, 
 which though pretty to the eye as a ' finish,' causes the coils 
 after the first few turns to wind irregularly. The same result 
 is produced by the knot necessary to be tied in the line to 
 fasten it to the reel, and which usually sticks out right in the 
 middle. To remedy these two slight defects, which were 
 pointed out to me by a practical amateur reel-maker, whose 
 name I do not know, all that is necessary is to abolish the 
 ' shoulder projection ' referred to, and to bore one side of the 
 'line hole' in the axle sufficiently capacious to countersink 
 the knot. 
 
 A third imperfection, I may here remark, is the unprotected 
 circumference or posterior curve of the ordinary reels. This 
 leads to the frequent catching or hitching of the line where by
 
 $2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 any chance it happens to be hanging slightly loose below the 
 bottom ring, a position which I find it pretty constantly occu 
 pies in practice. To obviate this inconvenience I have my 
 reels fitted with a spring, clasped over the hindermost bar of 
 the reel in the manner shown in the diagram (fig. 4, p. 58). This 
 spring, c, is let into, and screwed down upon the base of the 
 foot plate at the point marked D. I can strongly recommend 
 this addition as a great practical convenience. It can, of course, 
 be applied to any ordinary form of reel already in use that 
 is, it is applicable to old as well as new reels. 
 
 The reel and line having been selected, the next thing is 
 the mode of attaching it to the rod. 
 
 For this purpose many plans, more or less ingenious, have 
 at different times been adopted. Some reels are or used to 
 be fitted with a circular clasp underneath, which, being tight- 
 ened by a screw, is expected to hold the reel in its place, and 
 with an old-fashioned shaped straight butt will in certain 
 cases fulfil the expectation. With butts such as are now the 
 fashion, however, sloping rapidly away from the handle, these 
 fastenings, which were at no time very popular, have naturally 
 become obsolete. Then there is another class of fastenings, such 
 as that shown in the engraving (fig. i), in which the reel fix- 
 ture is adjusted by a catch of some sort. These ' fastenings to 
 measure,' however, all possess the disadvantage of being inappli- 
 cable to any reels except those specially constructed to fit them. 
 The ordinary double banded reel fastening was better decidedly 
 than any of these, inasmuch as, unless the fault of the reel 
 was its being too big in the foot plate, they could, by means of 
 a strip of leather or paper underneath, be made at a pinch do 
 duty with a reel of any dimensions. 
 
 I have no hesitation in saying, however, that all the above 
 descriptions of reel fastening are now put completely, and I 
 believe, permanently, ' out of Court ' by one of the cleverest in- 
 ventions of all those which were submitted to the jurors of the 
 late Fisheries Exhibition. This is a plan invented by Messrs.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 63 
 
 Hardy Brothers, of Alnwick. It is simple, inexpensive, abso- 
 lutely secure, and capable of being adapted to every kind of 
 
 FIG. I. 
 
 FIG. 2. HARDY'S REGISTERED 
 WEDGE REEL FASTENING. 
 
 rod. Moreover short of applying a heavy salmon reel to a 
 light trouting rod this fastening (fig. 2) adapts itself to reels
 
 64 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of all shapes and sizes. The hinder end of the foot plate of 
 the reel is pushed under a fixed band or clasp having a gradually 
 widening orifice upwards, and of course a narrowing one down- 
 wards in other words, it is wedged in penetrating deeply 
 or only a little way according to its size and thickness, but 
 in any case being held or jammed perfectly fast in its place. 
 The upper band, or clasp, is then slid down over the upper 
 end of the reel foot plate, which thus becomes inmovably 
 fixed. A diagram of this reel fastening is appended, in the 
 form in which it was originally exhibited. At my suggestion, 
 however, the patentees have now arranged the bottom clasp so 
 as to completely embrace the circumference of the butt, thus 
 both adding to its completeness in the matter of strength, 
 and at the same time improving its general sightliness. 
 
 I am not, as a rule, a believer in ' finality ' in regard to 
 mechanical inventions, but I must say that as the above fasten- 
 ing fulfils every requirement which the most exigeant can demand, 
 I am really inclined to think that for once, in this particular 
 at any rate, fishing tackle has really arrived at perfection. 
 
 With regard to fly rods I shall say but little. Qt/ot homines 
 tot sententice. Some fly fishers like hickory, others prefer green- 
 heart, or lancewood. Some like a rod made all of one wood, 
 others give the preference to a rod with the butt of one sort of 
 wood and the top joints of another. One good fly fisher, at 
 least, I have known who never used anything but a bamboo 
 rod, made ' swishy ' as to the middle joints, and a great many of 
 the modern school, especially those with whom price is not a 
 matter of importance, have given in their adhesion to the 
 spliced-cane rods, which are supposed to owe their origin to 
 our enterprising cousins on the other side of the ' Herring 
 Pond.' 
 
 In the ' form ' of the rod again, as in regard to the wood 
 of which it may be constructed, it is rare to find two fishermen 
 of the same opinion. Many still hold to the old-fashioned 
 straight-butted rod, which tapered away with almost mathemati-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 65 
 
 cal precision from the reel to the point, alleging, amongst 
 other advantages claimed, that with this shaped rod a spare 
 top can always be carried in case of accident without the in- 
 convenience of a separate top case. Of late years, however, 
 many practical fly fishers indeed, I think I may say the ma- 
 jority favour some modification or other of the form of the 
 rod which owed its birth, or, at any rate, its christening, to the 
 habitues of Castle Connell preferring the swishy play obtained 
 by fining or tapering away the butt rapidly from above the 
 reel. . . . 
 
 On all these subjects, were I to go into them in detail, I 
 might easily double the length of this chapter, without carrying 
 conviction, or probably amusement, to anybody but myself. I, 
 therefore, refrain from doing more than touching thus lightly 
 on the mere superficial aspect of the question, leaving every 
 man to remain, as, indeed, he ought to be, and would be for 
 anything I could write to the contrary, his own counsel, judge, 
 and jury. 
 
 With regard, however, to the now fashionable split-cane 
 rods, a few words on the method of their construction, and on 
 their two principal varieties, may possibly not be uninteresting 
 to those who are not already initiated into the mysteries of this 
 interesting branch of rod-making. 
 
 In the 'Art of Fly-Making,' published by Mr. Blacker about 
 thirty years ago, second edition, occurs, I believe, the first 
 notice of split cane rods. ' The beautiful rent and glued-up 
 bamboo-cane fly rods,' Mr. Blacker says, ' which I turn out 
 to the greatest perfection, are very valuable, as they are both 
 light and powerful, and throw the line with great facility. The 
 cane for these rods must be of the very best description, 
 or they will not last any time. They will last for years, how- 
 ever, if really well made, and,' he very properly adds, ' taken 
 care of The wood employed in their manufacture is the 
 'male bamboo,' procured from India; great care and experience 
 being required in selecting only such canes as are of the finest 
 quality and have been cut at the proper season. Fig. i shows 
 
 I. F
 
 66 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 a section of the cane of one of these bamboos used in the con- 
 struction of the larger joints, and it will be noticed that the 
 fibres, shown by the little spot marks, are much denser at the 
 outside than towards the centre, which when the canes are 
 gieen, is merely pulp. It is only, therefore, this outside part, 
 or rind, that is used in rod-making, and during the process of 
 manufacture the skin must be most carefully preserved from 
 injury, whilst the balancing, &c., of the rod has to be effected 
 before the various strips are cemented together. This is a 
 
 matter of great delicacy and diffi- 
 culty, as will be understood when it 
 is borne in mind how troublesome 
 it is to properly balance a rod con- 
 structed of even the ordinary solid 
 woods where the plane can be used 
 after the joints are fixed. Either 
 from want of knowledge or proper 
 machinery, many so-called cane 
 rods are put together so that they 
 have to be subsequently filed or 
 
 planed to get the requisite spring, thus removing the most 
 essential part of the cane. These inferior rods are then 
 painted, or burnt over again to imitate the natural colour of the 
 original skin, from which, however, they are easily distinguished 
 by experts. . The dotted lines outside the V i n the engraving (fig. 
 i) show the shape of the strips as first split out the interior 
 solid line that of the finished strips when ready for joint ing after 
 having been 'machined.' The cement used in the process of 
 gluing together is said to be impervious to damp : it is, how- 
 ever, I believe, strictly a trade secret. 
 
 Probably one of the reasons why it has been supposed by 
 fly fishers that these rods will not stand the heavy work brought 
 to bear upon them in salmon fishing is the use of inferior cement 
 in the process, and the glue subsequently oozing out of the 
 joints in wet weather, thus tending to make them come loose 
 afterwards. In Mr. Kelson's report on the collection of salmon
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 67 
 
 rods in the Fisheries Exhibition (' Field,' October 27, 1883), 
 he observes that ' this is always the case sooner or later with 
 these hand-made rods for salmon ; but if eleven years' experi- 
 ence with them be admitted sufficient, I may say that the rods 
 made with the machinery used by Messrs. Hardy, who obtained 
 the first prize for these split-cane rods at the Fisheries Exhibi- 
 tion, for cutting the cane perfectly true, obviate the difficulty 
 satisfactorily.' 
 
 The ordinary butts of split-cane rods, as well as the upper 
 joints, are hexagonal, and are simply made of six V-shaped 
 strips, glued together in the manner described. In the highest 
 class of rods, however, the butt is built double, as shown in the 
 engraving (fig. 2), both the centre and external wall being con- 
 
 FIG. 2. FIG. 3. 
 
 structed of separate layers of the hardest part of the cane. The 
 centre is made first in the usual way, and after it has dried the 
 second, or external, layer or wall is built up round it. Messrs. 
 Hardy inform me that although the labour and expense involved 
 in this double construction are, of course, infinitely greater, the 
 strength gained by the process is enhanced to such an important 
 degree that they make all their split-cane salmon rods in this 
 fashion as to the thicker parts. Fig. 3 shows the structure of 
 all the lighter and upper joints of the rod. 
 
 Complaints have often been made to me that the ordinary 
 split-cane rod is deficient in casting power as against a wind, 
 and I must say that my experience tends to confirm the truth 
 of the statement. In order to meet this objection, however, 
 Messrs. Hardy and a few other manufacturers have endeavoured
 
 68 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 to make the split-cane rods with a steel centre to each joint, so 
 as to increase their 'stiff springiness,' so to speak. The little 
 dark mark in the middle of fig. 4 exhibits this steel centre or 
 core. The spring is first tapered and then tempered in the 
 same manner that the main spring of a watch 
 would be. After this it is coated with a water- 
 proof and finally built up into the centre of 
 the rod. 
 
 I have a grilse or light salmon rod made 
 FIG. 4. n this principle by Messrs. Hardy with which 
 
 I find I can get plenty of power, whether the 
 wind is high or low, and from whatever direction it blows. 
 In the case of a strong head wind especially, I am disposed 
 to think I can make better casting with this rod than with 
 any I ever used, and it is withal a very handy and fairly 
 light weapon : light enough for any description of ordinary 
 grilse or salmon fishing. I find that on a calm day I can cast, 
 with heavy salmon line, over thirty measured yards on the level 
 grass, and this, in my opinion, represents as much as is often 
 wanted to be done in practice ; in fact, most casts with the 
 salmon fly will, if measured, be found, I am satisfied, nearer 
 twenty than thirty yards. 1 Of course, I am aware that there are 
 some rivers and, perhaps, some casts here and there on most 
 salmon rivers, in which a longer rod would enable the fisherman 
 to reach some favourable point otherwise inaccessible, but when 
 this cannot be done by wading I am content to put up with the 
 loss of an occasional good cast in exchange for the constant 
 comfort and convenience which I find in a rod of the propor- 
 tions indicated. 
 
 It is all very well to talk lightly of casting forty yards, and 
 so forth, with a twenty-foot Castle Connell, but the man who 
 wishes to do it, and to go on doing it all day, must be of 
 stronger mould or greater height than the ordinary run of 
 mortals. In my opinion a twenty-foot rod requires a seven- 
 
 1 I fully agree. An ordinary fly fisher seldom casts more than twenty yards 
 properly, ED.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 69 
 
 foot fisherman to wield it with comfort, and I am quite satis- 
 fied that for all ordinary purposes the salmon fisher would get 
 more comfort and more sport, too, with a rod such as that I 
 have described than with a longer and more fatiguing and 
 unwieldy weapon. . . . 
 
 It should be borne in mind as a mechanical axiom in this 
 matter of the length of rod, that exactly in proportion as you 
 gain in casting power by the increased leverage, so (the motive 
 force being equal) do you lose in the propelling power by which 
 only the leverage can be utilised the practical deduction from 
 which proposition is that every man has a length of rod exactly 
 proportioned to his physical strength a rod out of which, that 
 is, he can get the maximum of casting force compatible with 
 sustained muscular effort and that it should be his object to 
 ascertain what that length is. Bearing in mind the mechanical 
 argument, I am disposed to think that a shorter and more 
 powerful rod might in many cases be substituted with advan- 
 tage for a longer and lighter weapon. 
 
 However, as I have said, this is a matter of individual taste, 
 and must be left to the appreciation of individual salmon fishers. 
 Till we have our fly rods made entirely of steel an improve- 
 ment which I take it is only a question of time, as it is sure to 
 come sooner or later the steel-centred split-cane rod above 
 described is probably as perfect a weapon as any fly fisher need 
 desire. I might mention that I have had a shorter top made 
 for my rod which turns it into an excellent rod for pike fishing 
 or spinning for salmon. 
 
 Finding from a series of experiments that a rod with a thick 
 top joint had a great advantage over a finely pointed and 
 tapered one in casting a heavy salmon line, I had a three- 
 jointed greenheart red built for me by Farlow, 'to special 
 order,' as a grilse or light salmon rod. As I think it may be 
 pronounced on trial a success, I give the measurements for the 
 benefit of such of my brother fishermen as may, like myself, 
 prefer a short rod in salmon and grilse fishing. The following 
 are the dimensions :
 
 70 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Length when put together 13 ft. loj in. 
 
 Weight with ferrules and upright rings, but without india-rubber 
 
 knob on butt i Ib. 9 oz. 
 
 [The india-rubber knob weighs 3 oz. more, but it is of great practical 
 comfort and convenience, and no salmon rod should be without one.] 
 
 in. i6ths 
 
 Circumference of butt at reel 3 2 
 
 ,, at middle 25 
 
 ,, below ferrula i 10 
 
 of large joint at bottom 19 
 
 ,, belosv ferrule i 3 
 
 of top joint at bottom 12 
 
 ,, 2 in. from top ring 8i 
 
 of extra stout top joint 2 in. from top ring ... 10 
 
 This rod has about the same cast as the split-cane 'rod, 
 except in casting against or across a head wind, when the steel- 
 centre rod decidedly asserts its superiority. I can, however, 
 strongly recommend a rod of this pattern to anyone who does 
 not feel inclined to invest in the more expensive luxury of the 
 split cane with steel centre. I did not think in the trials that 
 there was any very decided difference in casting power between 
 the ' extra stout ' top and the ' stout ' top of which the measure- 
 ment stands first in the above table. For really heavy work, 
 however, I prefer it as being stronger. 
 
 The split cane with steel core makes a beautiful light 
 trouting rod. The length of mine is ten feet seven inches 
 when put together, and the weight ten ounces. It has three 
 joints and ferrules. I can cast about twenty-two yards with it 
 on a still day on level ground ; and the combination and 'cor- 
 rection ' of stiffness and swishiness leave, to my mind, absolutely 
 nothing to be desired. 
 
 The following are the weights of ordinary split-cane rods, 
 ounces for feet : 
 
 From 10 to 12 ft. . . TO to 12 oz. 
 
 13 ft, 14 oz. 
 
 14 ft 18 oz. 
 
 15 ft 25 oz. 
 
 17 ft 38 oz. 
 
 18 ft 42 oz. 
 
 19 ft 48 oz. 
 
 20 ft 54 oz. 
 
 16 ft 26 oz. 
 
 N.B. The steel centres add from 2 to 3 oz. to those weights.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 71 
 
 I see no advantage in a single-handed rod much over this 
 length, or say, at the outside, eleven feet and a half, as it gene- 
 rally results, in my experience, in both hands being sooner 01 
 later called into requisition. If the size of the water demands 
 a larger rod, then I should advise a double-handed rod at once. 
 Such a rod need not exceed fourteen feet, or fifteen feet and a 
 half at the outside, nor weigh more than one pound and a half. 
 The longest and heaviest of my own double-handed rods 
 greenheart, with a very much swelled butt, three joints and fer- 
 rulesis an ounce under that weight, and measures fourteen 
 feet three inches. It was built by Messrs. Anderson, of Edin- 
 burgh, and is in every respect admirable, as well for lake trout 
 fishing, as for heavy stream work. 
 
 Ladies' rods can hardly be too light for real pleasure, as 
 not only their wrists are weaker and their muscles softer than 
 ours, but they have seldom acquired the knowledge of using 
 what physical powers they do possess to the best advantage. 
 This is half the battle, as anyone knows who has tried to lift 
 a trunk that some diminutive porter, perhaps, has just been 
 carrying about in a light and airy fashion as if it were a mere 
 feather-weight. Eight feet and a half, or so, is ample for a 
 lady's single-handed fly rod, and such a rod need not exceed 
 eight ounces in weight. These are the measurements of a 
 rod belonging to a lady of my acquaintance ; which is as 
 serviceable and handy a little ' tandem lasher ' as a trout can 
 wish to be coaxed with. It was made by Mr. Jas. Ogden, 
 of Cheltenham, who makes these ladies' rods one of his 
 specialities. . . . 
 
 In thus describing my four favourite fly rods, I have indi- 
 cated in the most practical manner I can the description of rod 
 I have found in practice to afford, on the whole, the best com- 
 bination of qualities for the different descriptions of fly fishing. 
 The rods suitable for lake trolling, worm fishing, salmon spin- 
 ning, c., &c. will be referred to under the separate chapters 
 dealing with those subjects. 
 
 A table is appended of the comparative weights of rod woods,
 
 72 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 computed from the statistics of the Cooper Institute Labora- 
 tory in America, by Henry P. Wells : 
 
 Distilled water was the standard for determining the specific 
 gravity. The determinations were made with great care, and are 
 believed to be reliable, for the specimens tested, to within at least 
 the third decimal place. Different samples of the same species 
 differ somewhat from one another in weight. The woods which 
 were the subject of this experiment were carefully selected for the 
 express purpose of fly-rod making, and were, as far as was possible, 
 the very best of their kind. It is, therefore, believed that the 
 following determinations more correctly represent the comparative 
 weights of such material as is used for this purpose, than would 
 any samples selected at random in the wood market, or any table 
 computed therefrom. 
 
 The split bamboo was of excellent quality, of my own prepara- 
 tion. The six-strip hexagonal piece was taken from an old and 
 well-tried middle joint. The angles of this were slightly rounded. 
 The four-strip piece was put together with the rind inside for the 
 purpose of comparison. 
 
 The cedar was taken from a very choice piece from Florida. 
 
 The different materials are arranged in the table in the order of 
 their weights, the heaviest first. To facilitate comparison on the 
 part of such as may be unfamiliar with the use of specific gravities, 
 the weight of a cubic foot of each is also given, in pounds and 
 hundredths of a pound. 
 
 Specific Weight of one 
 Material gravity cubic foot 
 
 Snakewood . . . . . . .1*3718 85*74 
 
 Bethabara 1*2140 75 '98 
 
 Greenheart . . ... 1*0908 63'i8 
 
 Lancewood ....... i'O335 64*59 
 
 Split bamboo, 6-strip, hexagonal, rind outside 0*9915 61*96 
 
 Split bamboo, 4-strip, rind inside . . . 0*9678 60*49 
 
 Ironwood (hornbeam) ..... o'8i84 5 I-I 5 
 
 Hickory 0*7963 49*78 
 
 Ash 0*7786 48*66 
 
 Mnhoe ........ 0*6607 41 "29 
 
 Cedar 0*6396 39'98 
 
 Before taking leave, however, of the subject of rods and 
 rod fastenings, I should be omitting a most important item if I 
 failed to call the reader's attention to the various improved 
 methods of uniting and fixing the rod joints.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 73 
 
 Until the Fisheries Exhibition either called forth, or called 
 into public notice, these inventions, joint fastenings may be 
 said, so far as any general adoption of them is concerned, to be 
 comprised in three descriptions only. 
 The first, the ordinary ferrule joint, in 
 which one joint slips into the other 
 and it may be added, out of it again with 
 considerable regularity at inauspicious 
 moments ; secondly, the spliced joint ; 
 and, thirdly, the screw fastening, pecu- 
 liar, so far as I am aware, to the rods 
 turned out by some Irish makers. 
 
 I have one of the last named still 
 in my possession made for me by 
 Martin Kelly, of Dublin, I am afraid 
 to say how many but certainly fifteen 
 or twenty years ago, which has seen 
 some service in its day and is still fit to 
 take the field. I therefore speak of 
 this fastening with respect. It had its 
 drawbacks, however. Perhaps owing 
 to the necessity of the case, or perhaps 
 to the incomplete application of me- 
 chanical knowledge, or a little of both, 
 the ferrules which were attached to the 
 tipper joint and slipped down from 
 above in the manner shown in fig. i, 
 and subsequently screwed into the posi- 
 tion shown in fig. 2, had an awkward 
 habit of breaking at the point where 
 they were attached by a screw or rivet 
 to the upper joint. Consequently, I 
 need not say that since I have become 
 its owner that single-handed three-joint 
 trout rod of about eleven feet, has paid several enforced visits 
 to Dublin for purposes of reparation. 
 
 FIG. I. FIG. 2. 
 
 IRISH JOINT.
 
 74 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 This ' Irish joint,' as I will call it, had three good points 
 the opening of the jointure being from below the rod, drippings 
 would not easily find their way into the joint ; the ferrule, 
 which is large enough to fit the larger joint, being attached 
 instead to the smaller, there is no cutting away of the latter at 
 what is always the weak point in the rod joint ; and, lastly, by 
 the joint being eventually fastened in its socket with a screw 
 the precipitate partings between the different joints, above 
 alluded to, were, of course, entirely obviated. The fault of the 
 fastening is the weakness of the ferrule, inherent or accidental, 
 and the fact that owing to its having to be slipped over, and 
 twisted easily round on, the larger joint, there is always some 
 slight sensation of ' movement,' or play, of the ferrule at this 
 point. 
 
 A decided advance on the Irish system above described, 
 though working, to some extent, upon similar grooves, is the 
 waterproof registered rod fastening (see diagram) brought out by 
 Messrs. Watson & Sons, of High Holborn. Fig. 4 shows 
 jointure before attachment, and fig. 3 the joint when fixed in 
 position. The ferrule, as in the case of the Irish rod, is 
 attached to the smaller joint, the attachment, however, being 
 made by accuracy of fitting and not by any screws or rivets. 
 The weak point, if any, in this ingenious fastening would 
 appear to be at the ferrule of the lower joir.t. Messrs. Watson, 
 however, assure me that it is found in practice to make an 
 exceedingly strong rod. In common with the Irish rod it has 
 the advantage of keeping the water drippings to a great extent 
 out of the joint. 
 
 Another rod fastening possessing this latter advantage in 
 combination with some other very excellent points, is the in- 
 vention, whether patented or not I am not quite sure, of 
 Messrs. R. Anderson & Sons, of Edinburgh and Dunkeld. The 
 upper ferrule is double (ride fig. 5 in engraving), having a sort 
 of external sheath, into which the upper inch or so of the lower 
 ferrule slips, and is twisted to its place by the hand. It fits 
 closely, and I can well believe Mr. Anderson's assurance that
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 75 
 
 it will not slip or change its position in any way during a day's 
 fishing. Fig. 6 shows the joint when united. This joint ought 
 
 FIGS. 3, 4. 
 
 WATSON'S WATERPROOF JOINT. 
 
 FIGS. 5, 6. 
 ANDERSON'S 'SIMPLEX' JOINT. 
 
 to be exceedingly strong, as, whilst the lower ferrule is attached 
 to the thicker joint which practically never breaks the upper
 
 76 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 joint, carrying also its own ferrule, is not in any appreciable 
 degree fined or thinned away at the point of junction. In fact, 
 as will be seen from the engraving, the upper half of the brazed 
 plug representing, in fact, the lower end of the upper joint 
 is quite as thick as the joint itself is above the fastening. 
 
 The only possible inconvenience that I see in this fastening 
 is that, should either the lower or the upper ferrules get dinted, 
 or damaged in any way, the joint will, of course, absolutely fail 
 to close. But in order to make such a contingency impossible 
 all that is necessary is that the fastenings should have plugs for 
 both halves of the joint. When once jointed together and in 
 position I think the fastening would be less likely to be dinted 
 or bulged than any other, being treble indeed, practically 
 solid at the point of danger. 
 
 Mr. Farlow has exhibited a joint on entirely different prin- 
 ciples, namely, that of a movable screw-band attached to the 
 top of the lower ferrule (vide diagram, fig. 8) which, when the 
 joints are in position, is screwed upwards, gripping the screw 
 above the brazed plug. The joint when finally adjusted appears 
 as shown in fig. 7. 
 
 This joint has, like all the other fastenings described, the 
 merit of being waterproof. 
 
 Lastly we have Messrs. Hardy Brothers' 'patent lock-fast' 
 joint, which is also waterproof and thoroughly sound and ser- 
 viceable. The method of fastening the attachment is shown in 
 fig. 9 of the engraving, where the two portions of the joint are 
 seen separate, whilst fig. 10 shows the joint when locked and in 
 position. 
 
 The spiral wire on the outside ferrule gives some additional 
 strength where most required, and Messrs. Hardy's system of 
 brazing an additional short ferrule, the same size as the outside 
 ferrule, on the top of the inside one, is a decided advantage as 
 it strengthens the joint just at the point where so many break- 
 ages occur, and is superior to the plan sometimes adopted of 
 putting the inside ferrule on flush with the wood. 
 
 Amongst these several rod fastenings the fly fisher can
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 77 
 
 easily choose for himself. Any one of them will be found in 
 practice immeasurably more convenient than either the old- 
 
 FIGS. 7, 8. 
 
 FARLOW'S JOINT. 
 
 FIGS. 9, IO. 
 
 HARDY'S ' LOCK-FAST ' JOINT. 
 
 fashioned unfixed double ferrule or the spliced joint. The 
 latter gives a good deal of trouble and is delicate and apt to
 
 78 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 come to grief, and the former both invites ' stickings-fast,' 
 owing to the admission of the rod drippings, and is also con- 
 stantly slipping and coming apart, as before observed, at in- 
 opportune moments. Personally I shall never again have a 
 rod made with either of them. 
 
 If, by the way, the rod joint should become stuck in the 
 manner alluded to, the best and, indeed, the only means that 
 I know of for separating it, is to turn it slowly in the flame of 
 a candle at the ' sticking point,' when the swelling of the ferrule 
 produced by the heat will generally enable a separation to be 
 effected without damage to anything beyond the rod varnish. 
 A little grease rubbed on to the ends of the joints before starting 
 will, especially if the joint be not ' double brazed ' i.e. covered 
 with brass as to the lowest part of the plug often anticipate 
 ' lesions ' of this kind, and prevention is better than cure. 
 
 Quitting now the subject of rods, reels, and lines that 
 is, the apparatus destined for hooking and playing a fish the 
 next and by no means unimportant question, is the means of 
 landing him. 
 
 For all fish of the trout and salmon species up to two or 
 three pounds in weight a net will be found the most convenient 
 and serviceable implement for this purpose the province of 
 the gaff coming in only in the case of larger and heavier fish. 
 I will not here enter into the vexed questions of net or gaff on 
 salmon rivers, although there is no doubt that nets can be 
 made large enough and strong enough to ' bag ' the largest 
 salmon that ever took a fly, and to do all the work of the gaff, 
 and do it effectually, whilst at the same time probably saving 
 the lives of many gravid or unclean fish which ought to be 
 returned to the water. Saving also, when the fisherman is a 
 conscientious observer of the salmon laws, a considerable 
 amount of time and temper. 
 
 Putting this question aside, however, the use of the landing 
 net, as I have observed, is practically confined to fish under 
 about three pounds weight, the gaff, on the score of portability,
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 79 
 
 possessing a decided advantage in the case of heavier weights. 
 Turning, therefore, to the subject of nets adapted for the 
 purpose indicated, we find that the stimulus given to angling 
 inventions by the Fisheries Exhibition has not left us without 
 some distinct advance in this direction also. 
 
 The portability of nets, as well as of gaffs, is of primary 
 importance to the trout fisher, who constantly does his work 
 without an attendant. This is one sort of portability. Another 
 is the portability of the net, not as considered with reference 
 to the fly fisher's shoulder or pocket, but in regard to his rod 
 case or portmanteau. A net that does not 'compress' or fold 
 up in some form or other is a most unmanageable and incon- 
 venient addition to a traveller's impedimenta, and numerous 
 inventions have accordingly been made to supply this demand. 
 Hoop- shaped nets, both of steel and whalebone, which stretch 
 out at full length and thus form, when not in use, an appendage 
 which can be readily strapped on to, or carried in the rod case, 
 are amongst the ingenious dodges which the inventive talent of 
 tackle-makers or their patrons have called into existence. A 
 less modern invention consisted of a steel hoop in three joints, 
 which, when out of work, could be folded up with the net 
 around it into a shape and compass not much unlike that of 
 the fish itself. This net, however, has the disadvantage of 
 being heavy, and unsuited to the second great requirement in 
 the matter of portability namely, that the fly fisher or worm 
 fisher should be able to carry his own net, and that in a form 
 and in a position where it would be most out of the way when 
 not required, and most ready at hand when wanted. 
 
 This position is undoubtedly under the left arm or shoulder 
 of the fisherman. Here it would or should hang clear of all 
 embarrassments caused by the creel or fish carrier, and ready, 
 of course, to be taken hold of by the right hand of the fisher- 
 man, when, at the proper moment, his rod is transferred to the 
 left. 
 
 Without occupying space by discussing the merits and 
 demerits of various nets, handles, and net carriers which do not
 
 8o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 fulfil these requirements, let me proceed at once to describe a 
 combination which does so. I call it a ' combination ' because 
 the net is the invention of Messrs. Hardy Brothers, and the 
 handle and carrier of Messrs. Williams, Great Queen Street, 
 Lincoln's Inn, but I hope by the time this is in print one or 
 both of these firms will be in a position to supply the two in 
 combination, as I am not aware that either is patented. 
 
 To begin with the net. 
 
 This, as will be seen by the engraving (fig. i), consists of 
 two side pieces, made of flexible wood, and when stretched to 
 
 FIG. I. 
 
 their proper dimensions, and so held by the brass socket into 
 which the right-hand side slips, are kept at the regulated distance 
 by a piece of cord stretched between the two upper points. 
 The net itself, as all nets should be both in order to keep 
 them from getting rotten, saturated with water, or entangling 
 the tackle is made of fine oiled, that is, 'dressed' silk. It will 
 be readily seen that true shape of this net favours its being 
 carried in the position I have indicated, namely, under the fly
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 81 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 fisher's left arm for which purpose, however, it is necessary 
 that it should be limited in size, the limit being about a 
 foot in width between 
 the projecting arms. 
 But this allows am- 
 ple space for netting 
 a fish up to, say, a 
 couple of pounds in 
 weight. 
 
 The handle, with 
 the net attached to 
 it in the form in 
 which it hangs at the 
 fisher's left side, and 
 also the cord that 
 suspends it over his 
 right shoulder, are 
 shown in the engra- 
 ving (fig. 2), where 
 also the dimensions 
 of the different parts 
 of the ' combination 
 net,' as I have called 
 it, are given. In this 
 figure A represents 
 
 the net ; n, the connecting line at the top ; 
 c, the net socket, screwing into a ferrule 
 at the top of the net handle ; D is a loose 
 movable metal band held by the pro- 
 jecting rim, F, on the net handle, into and 
 out of which it slips easily ; and G is the 
 exterior or lower half of the net handle, 
 connected telescope- wise with the upper 
 joint. 
 
 When the net is intended to be used 
 the fisherman grasps it at E, and pulls it at once out of its 
 
 I. G
 
 82 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 socket D, in which it hangs suspended only by balance. By 
 a sharp forward and then backward jerk of the net, which 
 he now holds in his right hand, the length of the handle is 
 doubled, and the total length of the net extended to four feet 
 ten inches, of which three feet ten inches are represented by 
 the handle and one foot by the net (vide fig. 3). 
 
 This, having regard to the various requirements already 
 indicated, is the most perfect indeed, the only perfect net, 
 that I am acquainted with ; but the sole credit which I can 
 claim to myself in the matter, is acting the part of mediator 
 and bringing the two opposite ends of the invention into pro- 
 portion and juxtaposition. 
 
 The advantage of a net of this sort, especially when wading 
 in the middle of a stream, either when fly fishing or worm 
 fishing, can hardly be over-estimated ; and for every sort of 
 fishing where a net is required it will, I feel quite satisfied, be 
 found to give as complete satisfaction to other anglers as it 
 has done to myself. The weight of the net and handle is 
 fourteen ounces. If it should show the least sign of being 
 top-heavy when in position under the shoulder, the addition 
 of a small piece of lead at the bottom of the handle will adjust 
 the equilibrium. 
 
 In fishing for grilse, or sea trout, or pike, when fish do not 
 run over five pounds, and, indeed, even if of larger size, a gaff 
 may be substituted for the net, and the same handle and car- 
 rier will answer equally well for this purpose also. In cases 
 of heavy fish a more powei ful and solid gaff handle is desir- 
 able. This, of course, presents no difficulty when, as is usually 
 the case, the salmon fisher is accompanied by an attendant 
 who carries both the weapons and spoils of war. But should 
 it happen that ' Donald ' is ' too late ' and that the salmon 
 fisher has to depend on himself for gaffing his fish, a large gaff 
 with a handle only a few inches long, and a knob at the end 
 that he can slip into his coat pocket, will be found most con- 
 venient. Some time is, of course, required in killing a fish 
 under such conditions, as he must be brought within arm's
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. }> 3 
 
 length of the fisherman who has only got his left hand with 
 which to ' show him the butt,' as the expression is ; but that it 
 is a perfectly practicable performance I can testify, having done 
 it pver and over again myself, sometimes in the case of very 
 heavy fish. Indeed, even when I have had an attendant carry- 
 ing the ordinary long-handled gaff, I have frequently preferred 
 gaffing the fish with it myself rather than run the risk of the 
 clumsy treatment which it is too likely to receive at his un- 
 skilful or unpractised hands. 
 
 It is curious how difficult it is to become a really first-rate 
 gaffer. Indeed it seems to be an accomplishment as a rule 
 entirely beyond the reach of the uneducated, or half-educated, 
 man. I fail at this moment to recall more than two or three 
 instances notable ones, I admit of a gillie or keeper being 
 really an adept in the art, and not once, but constantly I have, 
 I fear, disgusted my professional ' fisherman '-attendant by 
 either gaffing my fish myself with the right hand, whilst the rod 
 was held with the left, or summoning to my assistance the 
 trusty friend and companion of many a red-letter day's salmon 
 and pike fishing to whose steady nerve and skilful hand I owe 
 not one but scores of fish that would never otherwise have 
 been brought to bank. . . . 
 
 On a very rocky bit of the upper part of the Usk where we 
 Mr. Edwin Darvall and myself have killed some hundreds, if 
 not indeed thousands, of sal//ionid<z, the gaffing business was 
 the despair of my friend's faithful henchman, Timothy as it 
 is written of him : 
 
 The wily Tim with dextrous gaff 
 Tries hard to cut the line in half; 
 
 and I am afraid he has many a time thirsted for my blood 
 when his master has insisted upon my depriving him of his 
 ' wand of office ' at the critical juncture. On one occasion the 
 wily Tim not only succeeded in thus cutting the line whilst 
 failing to gaff the fish, but also, by what Artemus Ward would 
 call a ' dextrous movement,' managed to bring the gaff point 
 
 G 2
 
 84 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 into contact with the flank of his master's favourite bull-dog. 
 Between the imminent peril to his legs on the one side and to 
 his head on the other, the faithful Tim's chances of getting off 
 with a whole skin were at that moment not worth a pin's pur- 
 chase ; but Fate came to his assistance the gaff turned in the 
 handle, thus releasing its astonished and howling victim, and 
 his master's gathering wrath found vent in a peal of irrepressi- 
 ble laughter. ' Pongo,' however, who I was delighted to meet 
 a few days ago as broad and as ' bull-doggy ' as ever, will bear 
 the gaff mark till his dying day. 
 
 Gaffing in really rapid torrents is a matter of considerable 
 physical as well as artistic difficulty, and the choice is frequently 
 between Scylla on the one hand and Charybdis on the other. It 
 is often necessary to gaff ' when you can,' to snatch a pass- 
 ing stroke, that is, in the middle of an intervening shallow, or 
 to take a mean advantage of the glimpse of a back fin as it is 
 carried past in a whirl of foam by its still struggling, though 
 retreating owner. In trying these impromptu conclusions, 
 however, the victory is not always with the gaff. Repeatedly, 
 I have seen and I may say felt ! the bearer of the gaff 
 dragged head over heels into the stream by the vigorous efforts 
 of a salmon which he was endeavouring to gaff before it was, 
 to use angling vernacular, half-killed. Many similar cata- 
 strophes I have seen averted only by an ignominious let-go of 
 the gaff, and it has more than once happened to me personally 
 to be saved from a ducking by the gaff handle or hook or both 
 giving way. 
 
 I well remember a tussle of this sort when fishing the Usk, 
 two or three years ago, below Pantysgallog Bridge. I had 
 hooked a heavy fish under the fall at this spot a series of 
 'rushes' over sharp gradients and he at once headed straight 
 up-stream for the heaviest of them, half-foam half- water. Here 
 he ' sulked,' and nothing I could do would move him. The 
 keeper was invisible, out I managed to get hold of the gaff from 
 the bank where it lay, and then by some slight exercise of 
 agility secured a foothold on a flattish rock right over where
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 85 
 
 my friend was taking it easy. Throwing back the rod over my 
 left shoulder, and tightening the strain on the fish as much as 
 possible, I contrived with the right hand by sheer muscle to 
 force the gaff down to the bottom, right under where he was 
 lying a depth perhaps of two and a half or three feet. A lucky 
 stroke upwards did the rest at the first attempt. I shall never 
 forget the rush that fish gave. For an instant or two it was 
 'pull devil, pull baker.' But, with the weight of water on him, 
 four hands instead of one might have failed to haul him out 
 In the present case, it was perfectly evident that he on the con- 
 trary would haul me in. I felt I could not hold on another 
 moment, and yet could not bring myself to let go ; when 
 suddenly the gaff twisted, I imagine, in the socket, cutting the 
 line as it came away, and leaving me to struggle my way back 
 to terra firma as best I could. 
 
 A long, deep, still pool, some two or three hundred yards 
 long, stretched away below the fall, and down the bank of this 
 I wended my way towards the next cast, in a sufficiently un- 
 amiable frame of mind. Suddenly my eye was caught by some- 
 thing that looked like a huge bar of gold wavering slowly with 
 the current about mid-stream. I guessed in a moment that it 
 was my late antagonist who, poor fellow, had gotten his death 
 as well as his liberty. With an impromptu grappling tackle I 
 succeeded after a few attempts in hooking and bringing him to 
 bank. He was not quite dead, however, but still made a feeble 
 fight, and was game to the last ; like Hotspur 
 
 ... in bloody stale 
 Rend'ring faint quittance, wearied and out-breath'd. 
 
 Another, somewhat ludicrous, incident of this sort occurs to 
 my memory, although the successful party in the encounter 
 was, I believe, on this occasion a pike. I say I 'believe,' 
 because the whole of his body except his tail fin was deeply 
 embedded in weeds from which it would have been impos- 
 sible to extricate him by any legitimate method. 
 
 It was on the Hampshire Avon at Summerley, the beautiful
 
 86 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 seat of Lord Normanton, to whose courtesy I have been 
 indebted for many a charming day's pike fishing, that the in- 
 cident in question occurred. My trusty friend and alter ego, Mr. 
 Darvall, and myself, with Lord Normanton's fisherman, Tizard, 
 were paddling our way slowly down stream in one of the small 
 Avon punts, when we suddenly caught sight of this TAIL, 
 'broad as the baldrick of an earl/ gently undulating in an 
 opening in the water lilies. The fish was evidently a huge 
 one ; the chance of tempting him to be caught secundum artem 
 was nil ; Tizard earnestly assured me his master was most 
 anxious to have a large pike for the table and so I yielded 
 to the tempter. . . . The boat glides noiselessly down to the un- 
 conscious esox, and now the gaff is steadily but surely stretched 
 over the spot where leviathan's shoulder is likely to be, giving 
 him an imaginary length of about four feet. . . . Whisk ! 
 There was a rapid ' stroke,' a plunge, and with a rush sufficient 
 to have upset a whale boat the stricken monster dashed for the 
 bottom of the river, at that point at least twenty feet deep. 
 
 It was an exciting moment. I found myself being pulled 
 incontinently over the boat's side, which was taking in water 
 freely, and clutched at the nearest available support, which 
 happened to be the seat of the keeper's corduroy nether gar- 
 ments. It came bodily away in my grasp. ... At this juncture 
 nothing, as I believe, could have saved the boat from capsizing, 
 if the gaff, yielding to the excessive strain, had not first twisted 
 in the socket and then straightened out thus, of course, 
 releasing the enemy, who, though deep struck, may, I would 
 fain hope, have yet survived the indefensible attack made upon 
 him, contra bonos mores, and lived on to attain a still greater 
 age and a yet vaster breadth of tail. 
 
 Tizard, the keeper, was the only one who did not laugh 
 heartily ; but on a hint that we should contribute to his next 
 tailor's bill his countenance resumed its wonted serenity. 
 Some of us on the occasion had certainly, however, a narrow 
 escape of being drowned . . . and the verdict of all good pike 
 f.shers would doubtless have been ' and serve them right.'
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 87 
 
 While I am on the subject of my poaching experiences let 
 me make a clean breast of it and relate how, when a young 
 man, reading at a tutor's on the banks of the Thames, my finer 
 perceptions were on one occasion blunted, and my better 
 feelings done violence to, by the sight of a splendid specimen 
 of Esox lucius in one of the stew ponds of Mr. Williams, of 
 Temple, the then member for Great Marlow. That morning I 
 had seen him (the pike) lying basking, and in the afternoon (I 
 can hardly tell to this day how it could have happened) I found 
 myself, for some unexplained reason, standing by the side of the 
 aforesaid stew pond, and wondering whether anyone would see 
 through the surrounding withy beds, topped by a notice board 
 threatening legal pains and penalties against trespassers ? What 
 is still more inexplicable, I carried in my hand an extra long sort 
 of walking stick or, shall I say it at once? hop pole and in my 
 pocket a coil of what certainly bore an external resemblance to 
 copper wire. A couple of feet of this wire had somehow got 
 on to the end of the hop pole, whence it dangled in such a 
 manner as almost to deceive the eye into the notion that it 
 was not altogether unlike the abomination commonly known 
 amongst certain persons of impaired moral perception as a 
 noose or ' sniggle.' . . . Hop pole in hand, I bent carefully over 
 the water and reconnoitred the position of my friend Esox i 
 merely in order, of course, the better to admire his majestic pro- 
 portions, as he supported his huge body on his ventral pinna, 
 and ' feathered ' the water with his pectoral and caudal fins. 
 
 ' A delicate monster, truly,' I observed, ' quite an ichthyo- 
 logical study.' And simultaneously an uninitiated spectator 
 might have imagined that the appearance of the noose afore- 
 said passed gently but quickly over his head and shoulders. . . . 
 There was a curious sudden commotion in the water ; and at 
 the same moment a rustling in the withies behind and then 
 a well-known voice (being, in fact, that of Mr. Williams' head 
 water bailiff and fisherman) was heard, in accents the sarcastic 
 tones of which I shall never forget, observing : ' Well, Mr. 
 Pennell, this 'ere be a pretty go 1 '
 
 88 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 'Confound you,' said I, furious with conflicting emotions, 
 'you've made me lose him a twenty-pounder if he was an 
 ounce ! ' . . . 
 
 ' Well, what is to be done, sir ? ' was the next remark. 
 
 By this time my wrath had cooled down a little and I in- 
 stinctively felt in my waistcoat pocket. It was empty. 
 
 ' Unluckily, Edwards,' I said, ' I have left my purse behind.' 
 1 Oh ! never mind, sir,' was the reply, ' everyone knows youi 
 credit's good at the Bell ! ' 
 
 Peccavi \ ' How sad and mad and bad it was '!...! should 
 like to quote if only to 'keep myself in countenance' the 
 confessions of Mr. Thomas Westwood (poet, and author of 
 ' Bibliotheca Piscatoria '), which he makes in one of his charming 
 angling idyls, the ' Lay of the Lea.' Not that I would 
 
 Drag his frailties from their dread abode, 
 
 but merely that, as he is an old friend of mine, I should like to 
 do my best to give his confessions the publicity that I know he 
 would desire for them ! 
 
 Bobbing 'neath the bushes, 
 
 Crouched among the rushes, 
 On the rights of Crown and State I'm, alas ! encroaching. 
 
 What of that ? I know 
 
 My creel will soon o'erflow, 
 If a certain Cerberus do not spoil my poaching. 
 
 The ' certain Cerberus ' being, in fact, the Government 
 water bailiff employed to look after the well-known Enfield 
 Powder Mills. Still I must say Mr. Westwood's crime was of a 
 far less heinous complexion than mine. He only fished, fairly, 
 where well ' where he didn't ought to ' whilst I ... but let 
 me drop the veil over these sad examples of human depravity, 
 and come back to gaffing. 
 
 The ' queerest fish ' that it ever happened to me to gaff, I 
 was going to say, but I remember that on this occasion it 
 chanced to be to net was a wild duck. Spinning one day
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 89 
 
 for pike on Loch Lochy I saw the duck an overgrown c flapper ' 
 swimming not thirty yards from the boat. The idea occurred 
 to me to try and cast over him, and after a few attempts 
 I had the pleasure of seeing the bait settle gracefully across 
 his neck. A ' gentle stroak,' as Nobbes calls it, and the next 
 moment he dived, and, 'playing' like a veritable fish, never came 
 to the top again till I had him at the side of the boat and 
 passed the landing net under him. An hour afterwards he was 
 roasting before a drift-wood fire on a spit of arbutus ; and 
 washed down with a glass of genuine ' Long John ' he made a 
 most excellent lunch. ' These to his memory ! ' . . . 
 
 It is wonderful what an appetite the air of a Highland 
 Loch gives a thing most excellent when one has the where- 
 withal to satisfy it ; but I often think it must be ' hard lines ' 
 on the Gaelic tramps and gipsies if there are any so far 
 north of the country of ' Meg Merrilies ' (Galloway). I once 
 had myself the experience of a supperless tramp with a friend in 
 these 'high latitudes,' and the recollection has by no means 
 that 'enchantment' which 'distance' we had covered some 
 thirty miles of ground more or less ought proverbially to lend. 
 When it is getting dark and a man has distinctly lost his 
 way in a country where there are no roads, and no visible 
 population, it is the wisest plan to yield as gracefully as may be 
 to the ' inevitable ;' and if he cannot, like Mark Tapley, be 'jolly 
 under circumstances,' at least to do the best he can for his 
 bodily comfort, without waiting till he has taken the last mile 
 out of himself, and left his physique too much exhausted to 
 contend on fair terms with damp grass and night dews. 
 
 Acting on this view, we utilised our ' last mile ' in ' pro- 
 specting ' and eventually made ourselves a fairly comfortable 
 shakedown of heather under the shelter of an overhanging 
 rock sub tegmine fern-i. But now we began to feel the air- 
 effect upon our appetites, and to remember that we had been 
 on the go since breakfast and had eaten nothing. We were in 
 fact starving ! A raw turnip would have been a godsend, and
 
 90 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 a dish of potatoes a wild delirium. But there was nothing for 
 it, so we put on whatever extra in the way of garments we had 
 in our knapsacks and turned in fasting. What my friend's 
 dreams were about I cannot say, but mine ran on lakes teem- 
 ing with fat luscious trout which came up to be caught of their 
 own accord, and then, to save trouble, jumped spontaneously 
 into the frying pan. Assuredly these visions must have been 
 prophetic ; for though we fondly imagined we had camped on a 
 plateau of bare and unbroken moorland, when morning dawned 
 the scene had been transformed as by magic, 
 
 ' And on a sudden, lo ! the level lake, 
 And the long glories' of the rising sun 1 
 
 The sight of water and water doubtless containing trout 
 gave, as Ingoldsby says, 'a new turn to the whole affair.' 
 I fortunately had my fly rod with me, so I left my friend to 
 make a fire as best he could and 
 
 . . . stepping down 
 
 By zigzag paths, and juts of pointed rock 
 Came on the shining levels of the lake. 
 
 Without stopping, like the bold Sir Bedivere, till ' both my 
 eyes were dazzled,' I soon put together my rod and adjusted a 
 cast of flies. Never before did I fish with such energy ; never 
 did I watch for a rise with such breathless attention ! The 
 first fish I hooked was a mere ' troutling ' little bigger than a 
 gudgeon who would at other times have been incontinently 
 returned to the water ; but circumstances being as they were I 
 played and landed him and deposited him on the bank with as 
 much care as if he had been a five-pounder. He was two 
 mouthfuls at any rate. A friendly breeze, however, shortly 
 afterwards sprang up, and with the ' long ripple washing in the 
 reeds ' a satisfactory repast was soon provided. . . . 
 
 Later on we discovered a farmhouse hard by the lake 
 shore, and finding that the trout fishing in the Laggan and 
 neighbouring Spean-water was excellent we arranged to put 
 up for a week with its hospitable inmates, and enjoyed really
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 91 
 
 first-rate sport, more than once being literally unable to carry 
 home our spoils. I revisited the spot some years later, but 
 whether I had incautiously betrayed the whereabouts of our 
 'happy hunting grounds,' and they had been invaded by 
 tourists, or whether the trout thought they had done enough 
 for me on my first visit, I cannot say, but the fishing was indif- 
 ferent, not to say decidedly poor. 
 
 FIG. I. 
 INCORRECT FORM OF GAFF. 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 CORRECT FORM OF GAFF. 
 
 But where am I wandering to ? I started at gaffing salmon, 
 and I find myself now describing the catching and eating of 
 half a dozen troutlings, whose united ounces would not have 
 outweighed a Devonshire peel. . . . Let me for the sake of 
 consistency finish where I began, and end this part of my notes 
 on Tackle with a few practical hints on the subject of Gaffs and 
 How to Gaff a Fish. To the novice, at any rate, they may 
 not be altogether useless. And first as to Gaffs :
 
 92 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 All sorts of mechanical deformities are manufactured, and 
 sold in the tackle shops, as 'gaffs,' of which a good example is 
 seen in the turned-out point of fig. i a facsimile of a gaff 
 bought of a well-known London tackle-maker. Fig. 2 shows 
 the correct shape, arrived at by the application of the same 
 simple principles of mechanics already discussed in regard to 
 ordinary fish hooks. 
 
 The skilful use of the gaff, besides demanding special quali- 
 ties, can only be acquired in perfection by actual practice, and 
 circumstances ' beyond one's control ' are constantly occurring 
 which of necessity make their own laws, and the best-considered 
 system inapplicable. The following are, however, a few axioms 
 that can be safely formulated as general guides. 
 
 1. Never thrust your gaff forward until you are prepared to 
 strike, and never make any half-attempts. These feints gene- 
 rally scare the fish and not unfrequently cut the line. 
 
 2. Under ordinary circumstances do not attempt to gaff a 
 fish that is more than a foot below the surface, or until he is 
 pretty fairly spent. The best position is when he is ' broad- 
 side on.' 
 
 3. The proper place to gaff is between the head and the 
 back fin. 
 
 4. The critical moment having arrived, rapidly, but at the 
 same time steadily, extend your gaff over and beyond the back of 
 the fish, bringing it gently down upon it, as it were. Then a short 
 sharp jerk from the wrist and elbow will drive in the gaff with- 
 out prematurely frightening the fish or endangering the tackle. 
 
 After landing the fish, whether by net or gaff, the next 
 point is to carry him. 
 
 If the catch be a good one, especially of salmon, it is practi- 
 cally out of the question for the fisherman to carry them him- 
 self from place to place and fish at the same time. ' Necessitas 
 non habet legs,' as a friend of mine once dog-latinised it, and 
 these conditions are, of course, also a law unto themselves. In 
 trout fishing, however, or where the spoils are not likely to be 
 weighty, the fly fisher, and still more the worm fisher, will pro-
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 93 
 
 bably very often have to carry his fish himself. For this pur- 
 pose bags and baskets ' many and great ' are sold at the tackle 
 shops, but that they are most of them defective in some points 
 in which they might have been perfected, goes without saying. 
 In fact, as regards the bags (which for ordinary purposes I 
 always use myself), I have found them mostly to suffer the dis- 
 ability of coming to pieces if not the first time they had a 
 good catch to carry, at any rate, after say a few days or weeks 
 of wear and tear. 
 
 This is partly owing to the manner of their construction, 
 and partly to the material. In regard to the latter, the impor- 
 tant thing to be aimed at is that the material of which they 
 are made should be thoroughly strong, and at the same time 
 suffici:ntly waterproof to prevent dripping, or the saturation of 
 the wearer's clothes. But this is the difficulty. Waterproof 
 composed of actual india-rubber has not only an objectionable 
 smell itself, but appears to impart it to the fish as to every- 
 thing else with which it comes in contact. I have accordingly 
 had a fish bag made by Mr. Farlow of a material that, both in 
 texture and a reasonable degree of ' waterproofedness,' fulfils the 
 conditions indicated. The material is a close woven, light- 
 brown-coloured canvas, of which also I usually have my leg- 
 gings made for field shooting, and its durability and wet-resist- 
 ing qualities first suggested the idea of its employment for 
 fishing bags. It has no smell of any kind. 
 
 The engraving (fig. i) shows the bag or carrier in its closed- 
 up condition A being the strap, or rather 'webbing' (for 
 leather becomes both sodden and chilly when wetted) by 
 which it is suspended over the shoulder ; B is a light waterproof 
 (fastened by its own straps), which I find it a great conve- 
 nience to carry with me when fishing or shooting, attached 
 either to bag, basket, or cartridge carrier ; and c is an extra- 
 stout ' webbing,' so adjusted that when fastened in the posi- 
 tion shown in the engraving, the whole of the portion of the 
 bag which contains the fish is completely surrounded and sup- 
 ported by it. Fig. 2 is the bag with the extended ends open,
 
 94 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 as they would be in the event of large fish having to be 
 carried. The dotted lines in this figure show the position of an 
 extra carrier, placed at the back of the bag, in which luncheon, 
 
 tackle, &c. or, on an emergency, fish can be conveniently 
 stowed. 
 
 Of course, when closed, in the form oi the ordinary bag, the
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 9$ 
 
 extending ends, A A, are turned inwards instead of outwards, 
 ?.nd are there held in their places by two strips of side webbing, 
 as shown in fig. i. The idea of this bag is not an original 
 one. Who was the first inventor thereof I do not know. 
 For the details of construction and waterproof arrangement I 
 might, however, possibly claim some credit, excepting that I 
 have already found my reward in the numberless wet-jackets 
 from which it has saved me. 
 
 A very good-sized bag for the trout fisher is one foot four 
 inches in length by n or 12 inches in depth ; the extreme length 
 of the bag, with the side flaps extended, being about two feet 
 nine inches, which is large enough to carry a fifteen-pound 
 salmon or pike at a pinch. For salmon and pike fishing, how- 
 ever, a considerably larger size will be found more convenient. 
 The shoulder strap, or rather webbing, in the smaller size, 
 should be at least two inches wide, and in larger sizes two 
 and a half or three inches. The weight of the smaller sized 
 bag is one pound six ounces (or with the waterproof coat com- 
 plete 2 Ib. 12 oz.), and that of a basket, such as fig. 4, 3 Ibs. 
 
 In deciding upon the question of bag or basket I personally 
 prefer the latter in every respect but one, and that is that when 
 you have caught nothing the latter conceals, whilst the former 
 exposes only too palpably, the nakedness of the land. To 
 gentlemen who are sensitive on this point I can only suggest a 
 plan adopted by an ingenious, I am afraid I cannot say inge- 
 nuous, friend, who on such occasions has been known to fill 
 the ' aching void ' by an adequate supply of lumps of turf or 
 brickbats ! 
 
 Some fishermen consider that the ' appearance ' of the fish 
 is better preserved in a creel or basket, than in a bag in which 
 they are liable to be occasionally squashed or squeezed out of 
 shape. To such connoisseurs I commend one or other of the 
 following creels, also the outcome of the ' Fisheries,' or at leas'c 
 first then brought to my notice. 
 
 Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrams of what is known as ' Hardy's 
 Carry-all Creel.' It is made, as will be observed, in two pieces
 
 9 6 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 or compartments, the object being to carry the fish in the 
 lower, and the luncheon, tackle box, c., in the upper part, it 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 is a very complete and handsome creel, and in many respects 
 great improvement over anything before brought out.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 97 
 
 Fig. 5 is a creel intended to embody the same idea and 
 brought out by Mr. Charles Farlow, of 191 Strand. In this 
 creel the space for stowing away the tackle &c. is made by a 
 double back, the lunch case, book, and flask being fitted into 
 the spare compartment in the position shown in the engraving. 
 In this latter creel an innovation has been made in the way of 
 the carrying apparatus. There are two separate bands or sup- 
 ports of webbing, the one perpendicular, so to speak, and the 
 other lateral. The perpendicular support passes over the left 
 shoulder and the lateral one round the waist of the fisherman. 
 
 This leaves, of course, his right shoulder and arm perfectly 
 free for work, and, as far as I can judge without practical 
 experience, would answer exceedingly well for fishermen with 
 tolerably square shoulders. Whether there would not be an 
 inclination to slip off in the case of a less symmetrically pro- 
 portioned figure I have my doubts. 
 
 This special method of carrying, however, is not a necessary 
 part of the invention ; which in itself is, I must say, admirable. 
 
 Following up the subject of the fly fisher's equipment, 
 let me strongly advocate the use of waterproof leggings or 
 trousers whenever wading is really necessary. When it is not 
 
 I. H
 
 98 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 indispensable several self-evident advantages are presented by 
 fishing from terra firma. By getting wet and remaining so are 
 engendered many of the after ills that flesh is heir to, in the 
 shape of rheumatisms, neuralgias, varicose veins and what not, 
 vhich when ' wild youth's past,' are apt to remind the veteran 
 of his early indiscretions. I occasionally suffer martyrdom 
 myself from lumbago the result of ' fairy follies ' in the boot- 
 less wading line before I had sown my wild oats, and used to 
 1 ;ok forward to standing (?) in the water from 8 o'clock in the 
 morning till about the same hour of night as ' half the fun.' To 
 have unfrolicked such fun I would now give a good round sum 
 say to the Temperance League, as my share of the ' water rate ' 
 better give it to them than to the druggists ! . . . 
 
 But I shall touch upon this theme in the next volume, and 
 will therefore only repeat here my caveat Don't make a practice 
 of going into the water without waders. 
 
 In the matter of waterproof boots, etc., there is such an em- 
 larras de choix, that I can hardly suggest anything on the 
 subject likely to be of practical use. It matters little in my 
 opinion, whether the waders be of india-rubber or leather, so 
 that they keep the legs dry and have plenty of nails. 1 
 
 It is astonishing what ' heights and depths ' one can scale or 
 cross in safety with a salmon at the end of the line, which it would 
 be sheer madness to attempt in cooler blood. I recollect once 
 when fishing the Roughty, near Kenmare, getting my fish fast 
 round a stone under the opposite bank. The river at the point 
 was about forty yards wide; deep; and the water discoloured by 
 a fast rising flood; nevertheless by dint of jumping, and striding 
 
 1 A recent writer in the sporting press, under the signature of 'Watchet,' 
 re-commends the following ingenious plan for insuring a good supply of na : ls 
 without any risk of their leaving holes in the actual sole, which would have the 
 e.Toot of making the boots un-\vatcrproof. He has nails ' put into a rather th:n 
 gutta-percha sole, and the ends of the nails which protrude through the sole 
 flattened down (easily done by hammering on an iron \v< ight). This sole, 
 armed with nails, is then fastened with gutta-percha to the sole of the wading 
 hoot. The points of the nails being bent and flattened down, they hold well 
 in the lo\*er sole, and cannot injure the upper one by penetrating it, as they 
 Would if left protruding.'
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 99 
 
 like the Rhodes Colossus from point to point of rock, submerged 
 or projecting, I managed to get across to the other side ; fed 
 rerocare gradum 1 . . . After killing my fish, a very fine fifteen- 
 pounder with the tide lice on him, I was fain to walk a good 
 three miles round before I could find a fordable place. 
 
 Talking of the Roughty reminds me of a gallant and enthu- 
 siastic salmon fisher 'quartered' in the neighbourhood at the 
 same time that I was. The Major was remarkable for his steady 
 absorption of 'poteen,' which he invariably carried, when fishing, 
 in his pocket in a soda water bottle. On one occasion whilst 
 following fast after a fish that was tearing down stream he 
 successfully 'negotiated' a post and rails successfully, that is, 
 as far as the fence was concerned ; but his activity cost him 
 dear, for the sacred soda-water bottle, flapping about in his 
 coat-tail pocket, jerked up as he jumped, striking him in the 
 mouth and knocking two of his front teeth clean out. The 
 gallant Major's language on the occasion I shall not soon 
 forget ! . . . But the Roughty was a real sporting river, and 
 many a break-neck scamper I have had along its channel pity 
 it was so netted and poached. 
 
 I could fill pages, as no doubt most salmon fishers could, 
 with anecdotes of escapes or catastrophes in the wading and 
 ducking line : personal explorations plummet-wise of widths 
 ' obvious ' but depths ' uncertain ' trifling errors in hydrostatics 
 on the force of currents unsuccessful 'negotiations' of the 
 'water jump,' c. &c. For such emergencies wading trousers 
 are decidedly preferable on many grounds to boots or leggings. 
 They are also, I believe, far less dangerous, as, in case of having 
 to swim for it, instead of getting instantly filled with water, the 
 latter takes a ' measurable ' time to make good its entry. An 
 impression used to prevail that in case of sudden immersion 
 the trousers would buoy up the legs at the expense of the head 
 the latter performing the office of a sort of plummet, and of 
 course, barring accidents, involving a certainty of drowning to 
 the wearer. Actual experiment has, however, completely ex- 
 ploded this fallacy. Mr. John Lloyd, junior, who published a 
 
 II 2
 
 ioo SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 letter on this subject in the 'Field' of September 7, 1867, thus 
 describes his experiences : 
 
 FISHING TROUSERS. I always wear these in preference to 
 stockings, but have been somewhat alarmed of late by my friends 
 suggesting that if I were suddenly to slip off a rock into deep 
 water with them on, I must be infallibly drowned ; that it did not 
 matter how good a swimmer one might be, there was no hope of 
 safety. The confined air in the trousers would cause one's legs to 
 stick up almost out of the water, while the head would be kept 
 down. The thought of such a catastrophe was most unpleasant, 
 so I resolved to try the experiment, having a boat at hand in case 
 of need. I therefore put on the trousers, reeving the string at top 
 as usual round my waist, and dived head foremost into deep 
 water. The result agreeably surprised me, for I found that my 
 legs were gently buoyed up in a horizontal position near the 
 surface of the water, while my head was well above it, and I could 
 use my arms freely in swimming. 
 
 I swam with the greatest ease for about fifty yards, and it was 
 not for some minutes, and until the water had found its way be- 
 tween the reeving string and my body into the trousers, that I felt 
 any inconvenience from having them on. My legs then began to 
 get heavy, and more depressed in the water, but not so as to 
 prevent my swimming easily. 
 
 I am convinced, therefore, that there is no danger in using 
 fishing trousers ; on the contrary, if reeved pretty closely at the 
 top, they will act for the first five minutes positively as life 
 buoys. It is not until after they fill with water that they become 
 dangerous. To prevent this, therefore, as long as possible, it is in 
 all cases most advisable to reeve the trousers tightly round the 
 body, you can thus confine the air and exclude the water. 
 
 The same may be said of fishing stockings and wading boots; 
 a reeving string round the thigh would in these have the same 
 beneficial effect. 
 
 To this the late editor appended the following note : 
 
 [We are especially obliged to Mr. Lloyd for having taken the 
 trouble practically to disprove such a very disagreeable belief as 
 has heretofore existed in this matter, as his published experience 
 cannot fail to be most valuable. It is to be hoped, however, now 
 that the thought of danger from this cause is dispelled to some 
 extent, anglers will not } on the other hand, become as reckless as
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 101 
 
 they have hitherto been careful. One thing by the way, did Mr. 
 Lloyd swim up stream or down ? The filling of the trousers would 
 be very sensibly affected by this, we should imagine. ED.] 
 
 The above experiment was in still water. 
 
 It therefore seems that waterproof trousers add greatly to 
 the safety of wading. If, however, it is desired to ' make assur- 
 ance doubly sure,' it appears wading trousers can be manu- 
 factured with an air-inflated edge a sort of swimming belt in 
 fact which enables the wearer to face all contingencies of the 
 drowning category with perfect equanimity. Messrs. Cording, 
 the well-known waterproofers, of 125 Regent Street, referring 
 to the letter from Mr. Lloyd, wrote : 
 
 We beg to suggest that all chance of drowning can be avoided 
 by having an inflated edge round the top, which will also prevent 
 them filling, as if a person gets out of his depth he still keeps in a 
 perpendicular position, and one could cross a deep stream in 
 safety, and without the water going over the tops. If properly 
 made the inflated part would not be at all in the way, and would 
 add but very little to the weight. We made some for the Viceroy. 
 of Egypt on the same plan, which were much approved of. 
 
 Messrs. Cording have never lost sight of this idea, and 
 are now manufacturing to order wading trousers with safety 
 apparatus attached to the top ' Life Belt Wading Trousers ' 
 they call them for which they obtained a medal at the Fisheries 
 Exhibition. The ' life belt ' part of the affair consists of a tube 
 about six inches wide when lying flat, which comes under the 
 shoulder, being attached to and forming part and parcel of the 
 waders. This tube or belt is inflated when in use. 
 
 One further hint : the higher the trousers come up the better ; 
 but trousers that only reach to the waist are very little better 
 for practical purposes than high boots. Of boots, perhaps the 
 best, on the whole, are those lined with leather, and having water- 
 proof on the outside. These are the least trouble of any in 
 putting on and off. 
 
 If leather boots are preferred the best dressing I know to 
 keep them both supple and waterproof, is the ' Threpoderme/
 
 102 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 or penetrating oil, shown at the late Exhibition, which I 
 have since used with excellent results for all sorts of leathei 
 and porpoise-hide fishing and shooting boots. It has the merit 
 of being perfectly easy to apply, and of being practically free 
 from smell, also it never ' cakes ' on the outside of the boots. 
 The Threpoderme is far from an expensive dressing, and can 
 be got at any of the Co-operative Stores. 
 
 Boots of brown canvas to wear over wading stockings and 
 trousers were also exhibited by Messrs. Cording at South Ken- 
 sington. The speciality of these is that they have holes, just 
 above the sole, by which water is allowed to escape, and gravel 
 &c. kept out. Also being of soft material above the soles, they 
 can be worn over the wading trousers without a sock between. 
 
 Whenever waders are used, thick warm woollen stockings, 
 and leggings also if possible, should be worn inside. Excellent 
 woollen garments of all sorts are now manufactured and sold by 
 the celebrated Dr. Jaeger's Sanitary Clothing Company who 
 also exhibited at South Kensington at the offices, Prince's 
 Street, close to Oxford Circus. I cannot imagine why some 
 more simple and convenient style of dress has not long ago 
 been adopted by 'lady fishers,' as well as by anglers of the 
 sterner sex. Many ladies who now would never dream of 
 approaching the river bank (nearer than the towing path) for 
 fear of spoiling their dresses or wetting their shoes, would if 
 suitably ' apparelled ' find as keen an interest and enjoyment in 
 the sport as we do, and might even become enthusiastic votaries 
 of the gentle art. How charming it would be when we sally 
 forth after breakfast to lake or stream, to have the companion- 
 ship of some ' sweet girl graduate,' who, with hair either golden 
 or otherwise, would by her graceful companionship double the 
 pleasures of success. There would be no slovenly casting, no 
 callings to halt for pipes or liquor when fish were on the rise 
 then. 
 
 Fight on, brave knights ! Bright eyes behold your deeds, 
 
 written of the ' free and easy passage of arms ' of Ashby de la
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 103 
 
 Zouche, finds its modern parallel in the hunting field, the polo 
 ground, and the rifle tournament, in fact, wherever youth and 
 ambition meet in the presence of beauty to try who is the best 
 man. From this category no one who has watched the keen 
 interest with which the spoils of the day's chase are discussed 
 at the dinner table and the number and magnitude of each 
 capture appraised and determined, can except the ' knights of the 
 angle.' There are indeed already not a few angling champions 
 of the gentler sex who now enter the lists, especially as fly 
 fishers, and amongst whom the fair daughters of a well-known 
 noble Duke have acquired enviable fame. 
 
 We are not all, however, so lucky as to have a salmon 
 river at our door, and I have often thought, watching some 
 modern Dame Juliana punt fishing under the dip of a Thames 
 chestnut tree in August, or later in the autumn sending her 
 spinning bait skimming into the foam below Hurley weir, how 
 much of pleasure, now lost to most of us, is gained by the man 
 whose wife takes heartily to fishing or hunting or whatever other 
 field sport he is devoted to. In this way she becomes not only 
 his helpmate at home, but his 'chum' and true comrade when 
 on his rambles by flood and field, or, rifle in hand, mounting 
 the ' imminent deadly breach ' which is shortly to witness the 
 campaign against chamois or red deer. 
 
 Not that shooting is a sport by any means so naturally 
 fitted to women as fishing. Their figure makes the handling 
 of the gunstock always rather awkward, and the recoil is some- 
 times apt unless very light charges are used to be dan- 
 gerous. But to fishing there is no drawback, unless, indeed, 
 it be the petticoats with which some thick-ankled leader of 
 fashion in bygone times has managed to cramp and disfigure 
 one of the prettiest parts of the human form. No skirts will 
 vex the tameless ankles of our women of the future. Already 
 there is a marked and healthy improvement visible in the 
 length of the dress, and women need no longer draggle about 
 behind them a ridiculous and often muddy train, which if it
 
 io4 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 does not do duty for a road- sweeper cannot certainly be shown 
 to subserve any other useful purpose. 
 
 The influence of dress has been recognised by many philo- 
 sophers as exercising a powerful effect in moulding the national 
 character, and I am quite satisfied that if English men and 
 women, and those living in town as well as in the country, were 
 to adopt a dress allowing greater freedom and play to the 
 limbs and muscles, and (so far as men are concerned) would 
 discard, once and for all, chimneypot hats, frock coats, leg bags 
 I use the term literally, not in a slangy sense and the other 
 paraphernalia of the bandbox, there would be a marked 
 advance in the manliness and ' robustness ' of the race. 
 
 Women who shoot or fish should never hesitate to wear a 
 dress suitable for the purpose ; long skirts are not only con- 
 stantly in the way, but often prove a source of real danger to 
 the wearer. The same remark holds still more true in regard 
 to long riding habits, and if the readers of these lines had seen 
 as many accidents, and hair-breadth escapes from accidents, in 
 the hunting field, as I have, owing to long skirts, they would 
 join in the outcry which ought, in the name of common sense, 
 to be raised against them. However, I am glad to see that 
 there is some improvement of late years in this respect also. 
 
 In arranging a lady's fishing dress, next to the short skirts 
 thick boots more or less waterproof are the most impor- 
 tant item, having regard both to protection and comfort ; but 
 this is precisely the point on which the male adviser finds the 
 greatest difficulty in procuring a favourable hearing for his 
 views. Simply on the score of ' prettiness ' it cannot be said 
 that a stout double-soled shooting or fishing boot is as killing 
 as a Queen Anne slipper, Louis Quatorze shoe, or a pair of 
 dainty boitines, expressly designed to set off and emphasise 
 the delicate arch of the instep, whilst displaying the foot and 
 nnkle in a position which, if not quite natural, is at least ex- 
 ceedingly picturesque. 
 
 The flower she touched on, dipp'd and rose, 
 And turned to look again.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 105 
 
 But, my dear lady readers if I should be so favoured as to 
 have any do not let it be forgotten that there is ' a beauty of 
 fitness,' and that where really rough work has to be done 'ease 
 before elegance,' and, it might be added, ' health before both,' 
 is a golden maxim. 
 
 The following hints for dress, which have been kindly given 
 me by a lady who has had large practical experience with both 
 rod and gun, may possibly be found of service : 
 
 Short skirt of linsey wolsey made as simple as possible in 
 fact, a kind of ' housemaid's dress.' Norfolk jacket made of all 
 wool material. A comfortable toque (the close-fitting toque does 
 not catch the wind). It is best to have the costume of one colour, 
 say a nice heather mixture or whitish grey. I advise 'linsey' for 
 the skirt, as it is everlasting in wear, and the 'all wool for the 
 Norfolk jacket, being warmer and more healthy. 
 
 Now for the most important item boots. They should fit 
 perfectly, and be made of porpoise hide, with honest broad soles 
 and plenty of room for the toes, and flat heels in their proper 
 place, not under the arch of the instep. The boots should lace in the 
 same way that men's shooting boots do, and be made to come well 
 up 'the leg (so that gaiters can be dispensed with). Length of 
 skirt an inch or so above the ankle. 
 
 This dress is suitable for either fishing or shooting. If worn 
 for the latter over a 'clayey' country, a few inches of light water- 
 proof on the bottom of the skirt are advisable. Some ladies wear 
 gaiters, but I think if the boots are made high enough they are 
 not necessary. ' All wool ' under-garments should be worn, from 
 stockings upwards. 
 
 The comfort to the fishenvoman, as well as to the fisher- 
 manand, indeed, to all sportsmen of boots which are 
 both thoroughly easy and at the same time completely water- 
 proof, is so obvious that I make no apology for offering a few 
 hints on the subject, the more so that during experiments 
 extending over some decades I have myself suffered ' many 
 things at the hands of many bootmakers.' Any bungler in 
 the trade can, of course, make at least a passably waterproof 
 boot if he allows himself unlimited latitude in the matter of 
 weight and clumsiness, or ' stiffness.' The art is to make a
 
 io5 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 boot waterproof, and at the same time light, and as soft to the 
 foot as a kid glove. 
 
 For 'waterproofing' all cloth and woollen materials I do 
 not say making them actually waterproof, but sufficiently so to 
 keep the under-garments practically dry I can recommend 
 the following receipt, given me by R. Atkinson, Esq., of Temple 
 Sowerby : 
 
 Dissolve sugar of lead and alum in rain water, one ounce of 
 each to a quart of water. When settled down, draw off the clear 
 (this is most easily done with a syphon), saturate the "woollen 
 article in it (I generally leave it in twenty-four hours), and dry in 
 the open air. From" my own experience I have found a coat thus 
 treated to be quite waterproof. For a few days there is an un- 
 pleasant smell, but it soon wears off. I infinitely prefer such 
 protection from rain to any macintosh or other india-rubber manu- 
 facture. 
 
 FISHING ETCETERAS. 
 
 I might under this heading fill a chapter, if not a volume ; 
 as taking the term in its broadest sense, fishing ' etceteras ' might 
 be made to embrace the entire contents of a tackle shop, less 
 the half-dozen prominent items of the fisherman's equipment 
 which I have already noticed. But I must leave these minutiro 
 to take care of themselves, as space warns to bring this chapter 
 to a close. 
 
 In doing so, however, I would briefly refer to three minor 
 items which may be of use to the fly fisher. 
 
 The first is a fishing knife an almost indispensable addi- 
 tion to a satisfactory outfit for the river-side. The diagram 
 above represents the most convenient form of knife that I know 
 of; containing in a small compass the engraving is of the 
 actual size scissors, knife, and ' disgorger blade ' three im- 
 plements which are liable to be called into requisition at every 
 turn. This knife is manufactured and sold by Watson & Sons, 
 308 High Holborn, and the price is either 6s. or 6s. 6d., 
 I forget which.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 107 
 
 The second ' etcetera ' is a rather bulky one, being in fact a 
 fishing boat ! As such boats made of inflatable india-rubber 
 can now be obtained at several waterproof manufactories, and 
 at a reasonable price, and as the comfort of one of them on 
 many fishing expeditions, especially in lake districts, is simply 
 not to be exaggerated, I think fishermen who can afford the 
 luxury will be wise to make a portable boat one of their items 
 
 A KNIFE FOR FLY FISIIt-KS. 
 
 of travelling equipment. They are made to hold 'any number 
 of people, and even a boat of the smallest size is steady enough 
 for all the purposes of the fly fisher. 
 
 The boat figured in the engraving on page 108, which 
 obtained a prize at the late Fisheries Exhibition, is made by 
 Messrs. Cording, waterproof manufacturers, Regent Street.
 
 io8 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The Berthon l folding boat is also exceedingly well adapted 
 to fishing purposes. The Marquis of Exeter has tried several 
 different patterns of these boats, and speaks very highly of 
 them. I forget the exact weight ; but one shown at the 
 Fisheries Exhibition, seven feet by three feet, to carry two 
 persons, could be easily lifted by a small boy. 
 
 C. W. Meiter & Co., of Gracechurch Street, also obtained 
 a prize for their folding boats, of which the smallest size draws 
 only two inches of water and is claimed to be 'unsinkable.' 
 It is about 10 per cent, more expensive than the Berthon boat. 
 
 The last item is an appliance for clearing flies from boughs, 
 sunken roots, logs, &c., the invention of the Rev. Eardley C. 
 
 CORDING S COLLAPSING FISHING LOAT. 
 
 Holt, of Upper East Sheen, a thoroughly practical fisherman, 
 and a profound student of angling literature. 
 
 The illustration on page 109 shows the apparatus reduced to 
 half the normal size. A is a fork or prong for pushing, or, as it 
 were, ' disgorging ' the fly from whatever has got hold of it ; H 
 is a strong sharp cutter, for severing an antagonistic bough 
 that is beyond reach with the hand, and c is the joint on which 
 B works, the dotted lines showing its position when not required 
 for use. The whole screws into the socket of the net or gaff 
 handle. 
 
 1 Rerthon Roat Company, 50 Holborn Viaduct, E.C. The price of the 
 boat described is 8/. complete.
 
 TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 
 
 109 
 
 So now I have said my say about rods and rod woods, reels, 
 reel lines, hooks, knots, and angling paraphernalia generally; and 
 I repeat that I am not so sanguine as to suppose that anything 
 I have adduced will convert a single veteran to deviate a hair's 
 breadth from his own approved patterns and theories, to add a 
 few eyed hooks to his fly case, or to shorten the length of 
 
 MR. EARDLEY HOLT'S CLEARING KNIFE. 
 
 salmon rod a single inch. . . . And this is just as it should be. 
 Uniformity would be monotonous, and I am all for 'liberty 
 of conscience ' especially in matters piscatorial. These pages 
 may, however, possibly meet the eye of the tyro just about to 
 start on his first angling campaign, and if any hints I may have 
 thrown out should help him to equip himself effectively I shall 
 be pleased.
 
 no SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH 
 SALMONID^E. 
 
 A KNOWLEDGE even if only a very moderate one of the 
 natural history and habits of fish is generally admitted to be 
 an important element of success in angling. The history of 
 the salmon and trout species is especially interesting, in some 
 of its aspects even important, as bearing on the national supply 
 of fish food, and I therefore make no apology for prefacing, by 
 a sketch of their habits from the Angler-Naturalist's stand- 
 point, the chapters descriptive of the practical art of catching 
 them. 
 
 In this essay I have adopted the division or grouping of the 
 different species of British Salmonida in two great classes : the 
 silver, or migratory, and the yellow, or non-migratory ; the first 
 division consisting of those fish which migrate periodically to 
 or from the sea, viz. the true salmon, the bull trout, and the 
 sea trout ; and the second division of those the habits of which 
 usually or constantly confine them to the fresh water, \\hither 
 lake or river, viz. the common, or yellow trout, the great lake 
 trout, and the grayling. 
 
 [In this second division must of course also be included the 
 varieties of the charr and of the coregonus, or fresh-water 
 herring ; but the habits and history of the latter are of less 
 interest to the fisherman than to the ichthyologist, as they are 
 confined to special localities and so far as I am aware never, or 
 'hardly ever,' take either bait or fly.]
 
 NA TURAL HISTOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONIDM. 1 1 1 
 
 This grouping commends itself not only by its simplicity 
 and convenience of classification, but also by such broadly 
 marked distinctions in regard to habits, localities, c., as must 
 override distinctions founded upon mere technical differences. 
 
 Of the silver or migratory division of Salmonidce, the first 
 m place, in virtue both of its pre-eminent qualities as a 
 food fish and its precedence in the estimation of fishermen, 
 is the 
 
 SALMON (Salmo salar\ 
 
 Forty or fifty years ago comparatively little was known of 
 the natural history of the salmon. Of theory there was a 
 superabundance ; in fact it was rare to come across a salmon 
 fisher, to say nothing of a salmon 'legislator/ who had not 
 some pet hobby of his own on the subject, ready to be trotted 
 out on the parliamentary or any other plain at the smallest 
 provocation. 
 
 Descending, however, from theory and speculation to 
 actual knowledge, the united lore of those most interested 
 in the salmon fisheries amounted to little beyond the bare 
 truism that the fish ascended the rivers to spawn during the 
 spring and summer spa\vned and descended again to the 
 sea within the following two or three months. This, I say, was 
 the state of our salmon knowledge some forty or fifty years 
 ago. 
 
 The last two decades, however, witnessed a very marked 
 and important advance. 
 
 The researches of ichthyologists and the experiments which 
 have been conducted on a large scale by enterprising and 
 scientific men have thrown a flood of light upon the subject, 
 converting doubts into certainties, theories into practice, and 
 generally advancing our knowledge to a point which has been 
 productive of most important reforms in the management of 
 our exhausted salmon fisheries, and in the establishment of 
 new ones. 
 
 Amongst those to whose exertions in the practical, per-
 
 H2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 haps, rather than in a scientific, point of view, we are indebted 
 for much of our advancement in this field of knowledge and the 
 attendant legislation which has effected so great an improve- 
 ment in our fisheries, may be mentioned the late Mr. Ffennell, 
 Commissioner for Irish, and afterwards Inspector of English, 
 Fisheries, and the late Mr. Frank Buckland, who for his services 
 in the cause of salmon reform, was also appointed one of H.M.'s 
 Fishery Inspectors. Many others worked successfully in the 
 same direction and deserve well of those interested in salmon 
 and salmon fishing. Of my own share in bringing about the 
 present improved state of affairs I need say little. My efforts, 
 successful or otherwise, have been more than acknowledged 
 by the press, and I may, perhaps, be pardoned if at the present 
 time, when a great reform has been actually effected, I recall 
 them with a certain sense of satisfaction. Not many years 
 ago, indeed, it was remarked in an article in the ' Saturday 
 Review ' that ' Mr. Pennell, Mr. Buckland, and one or two 
 'others have worked hard in the cause of salmon reform in 
 'spite of territorial apathy, and if ever again we have this fish 
 ' as cheap as it was in the days of the mythical " apprentices " 
 'it will be mainly owing to their exertions.' 
 
 It was expressly with a view of strengthening the hands of 
 the Government in the salmon fishery reforms then pending 
 that I projected and edited for some years the ' Fisherman's 
 Magazine and Review' (afterwards absorbed in 'Land and 
 Water '), and I believe I was one of the first who ever codified, 
 so to speak, the law of salmon history. To the following con- 
 densed summary, published in the ' Times,' I do not know that 
 more recent researches have made any additions necessary. 
 
 PROVED FACTS IN THE HISTORY OF SALMON. 
 
 1. Salmon and grilse invariably spawn in fresh water if 
 possible both the eggs, and the young fry whilst in the parr 
 state being destroyed by contact with salt water. 
 
 2. The eggs are usually deposited on gravelly shallows
 
 NA TURAL HISTOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 1 1 3 
 
 where they hatch in from eighty to one hundred and forty 
 days, according to the temperature of the water. Eggs 
 remaining unhatched beyond the latter period will seldom 
 hatch at all. 
 
 3. The eggs deposited by the female will not hatch under 
 any circumstances unless vivified, after exclusion, by the milt 
 of the male ; and at least up to the period of migration 
 there is no difference whatever in fry bred between salmon 
 only, between grilse only, between salmon and grilse between 
 salmon and parr, or between grilse and parr. 
 
 [Nofe. The female parr cannot spawn ; but the male parr possesses, 
 and constantly exercises, the power of vivifying salmon and grilse 
 eggs.] 
 
 4. The fry remain one, two, and, in some cases, three 
 years in the rivers as parr before going down to the sea about 
 half taking their departure at one year, nearly all the others at 
 two years, and the remainder (which are exceptional) at three 
 years old. 
 
 5. All young salmon fry are marked with bluish bars on 
 their sides until shortly before their migration, up to which 
 period they are parrs ; they then invariably assume a more or 
 less complete coating of silvery scales and become smolts 
 the bars, or parr marks, however, being still clearly discernible 
 on rubbing off the new scales. 
 
 6. The young of all the species of our salmon and trout, 
 migratory and non-migratory, have at some period of their exist- 
 ence these bluish bars ; and consequently such marks are not 
 by themselves proofs that fry bearing them are the young of the 
 true salmon (Sal/no salar). 
 
 7. Unless the young fish put on their smolt dress in May 
 or early in June and thereupon go down to the sea, they 
 remain as parrs another year ; and without smolt scales they 
 will not migrate, and cannot exist in salt water. 
 
 8. The length of the parr at six weeks old, is about an inch 
 and a half or two inches ; and the usual weight of the smolt 
 before reaching the tidal wave from one to two ounces. 
 
 i. I
 
 U4 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 9. In at least many cases, smolts thus migrating to the sea 
 in May and June return as grilse, sometimes within five, 
 generally within ten weeks, the increase in weight during that 
 period varying from two to ten pounds, the average being from 
 four to six pounds ; and these grilse spawn about November or 
 December go back to the sea and (in many cases) reascend 
 the rivers the next spring as salmon, with a further increase of 
 from four to twelve pounds. Thus, a fish hatched in April 
 1854, and marked when migrating in May 1855, was caught 
 as a salmon of twenty-two pounds weight in March 1856. 
 
 10. It appears certain, however, that smolts do not always 
 return during the same year as grilse, but frequently remain 
 nine or ten months in the sea, returning in the following spring 
 as small-sized salmon. 
 
 [Note. It will thus be seen that the fry of salmon are called parrs until 
 they put on their migratory dress, when they become smolts and 
 go down to the salt water ; grilse if they return from the sea during 
 the first year of their migration ; and at all other periods salmon.} 
 
 11. It has also been clearly proved that, in general, salmon 
 and grilse find their way back to spawn to the rivers in which 
 they were bred sometimes to the identical spots spawn 
 about November or December and go down again to the sea 
 as ' spent fish,' or ' kelts,' in February or March returning, in 
 at least many cases, during the following four or five months as 
 ' clean fish,' and with an increase in weight of from seven to 
 ten pounds. 
 
 [Note. Shortly before spawning, and whilst returning to the sea as 
 kelts, or spent fish, salmon are unfit for food, and their capture is 
 then illegal. ' Foul fish ' before spawning are, if males, termed red 
 fish, from the orange-coloured stripes with which their cheeks are 
 marked and the golden orange tint of the body ; the females are 
 darker in colour, and are called black fish. After spawning the 
 males are calltd kippers, and the females shedders or baggits.] 
 
 This, in a condensed form, is the present state of our 
 positive knowledge as regards the leading facts in the history 
 of salmon. 
 
 The irregular return of salmon from the sea, referred to in
 
 NA TURAL HIS TOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 1 1 5 
 
 paragraph 10, which, I believe, I was the first to call attention 
 to, will be found to explain many apparent anomalies and ir- 
 regularities in the habits of salmon in different rivers as observed 
 and chronicled by local fishermen and others ; and the time 
 may come when under a more minute and complex system of 
 salmon legislation it will be found to have an important bearing 
 upon the regulation of our fisheries. 
 
 Tn tracing the history of the salmon we will begin with the 
 adult fish on their ascent from the sea, whether as salmon or 
 grilse. At varying periods during spring and summer months 
 a proportion at least of salmon in the bays and estuaries of the 
 coast make their way up the rivers for the purpose of spawning 
 their general colouring at this period being a brilliant silvery 
 white, merging into a bluish black with a few dark spots on the 
 upper part of the body and head. 
 
 When first ascending from the sea, salmon are termed 
 ' fresh-run ' fish, and are then in the most perfect condition 
 both for the rod and the table. 
 
 A fresh-run salmon may not only be generally known by 
 the bright silvery hue on the belly and sides, but also, when 
 just up from the sea, by a species of parasite, or sea louse, 
 which may be frequently found attached to the fish. These, 
 however, are killed by a few hours' contact with fresh water, 
 but the salmon exhibit for some time after the marks or scars 
 left by the parasite. 
 
 The periods of ascent and spawning of salmon differ in 
 different rivers are earlier or later, that is, in point of time. 
 Streams issuing from large lakes, in which the water has pre- 
 viously undergone a sort of filtering process, and has become 
 warmer, owing to the greater mass and higher temperature of 
 its source, are often what would be described in angling par- 
 lance as ' early rivers ; ' whilst, on the contrary, streams which 
 are liable to be swollen by the melting of snows, or cold rains, 
 or which are otherwise bleak and exposed, are frequently 
 later in season, and yield their principal supply when the great
 
 ii6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 lake rivers are beginning to fail. Of these operating causes 
 two of the Sutherland streams afford good examples. One, 
 the Oikel, springs from a small exposed alpine pool some half 
 mile in breadth ; the other, the Shin (a branch of the Oikel), 
 takes its rise in the deep sweeping waters of Loch Shin and its 
 tributary lakes. The Shin joins the Oikel about five miles 
 from the sea. Early in the spring, all the salmon entering this 
 common mouth diverge at the junction, pass up the Shin, and 
 thus return, it would appear, to their own warmer stream ; 
 whilst very few keep the main course of the Oikel until a much 
 later period. 
 
 Nor does it appear that these operative causes and their 
 resultant effects are confined to Scotland. An analogous 
 instance, indirectly traceable to the same cause, has been 
 pointed out by Dr. Heysham, in his ' Catalogue of Cumber- 
 land Animals,' as observable in several of the rivers of that 
 county : The salmon, during winter and spring, evidently 
 prefer the Eden to either the Esk, Caldew, or Peteril, although 
 the Eden and the Esk pour their waters into the same estuary, 
 and, in fact, are only separated at their mouths by a small 
 promontory. There is hardly an instance, Dr. Heysham 
 asserts, of a salmon entering the Esk until the middle of April 
 or beginning of May a circumstance always referred by local 
 fishermen to the difference in temperature between the two 
 streams. The waters of the Eden, they allege, are consider- 
 ably warmer than those of the Esk, which, from the shallow 
 and rocky character of the bed of the Esk, appears not im- 
 probable. 
 
 Be this as it may, it is an indubitable fact that snow water 
 prevents salmon from running up even the milder stream of 
 the Eden. 
 
 The Caldew and the Peteril, again, pour their waters into 
 the Eden, the one at, and the other a little above Carlisle ; 
 yet up neither of these rivers do salmon ever run, unless at the 
 spawning season, and then but in small numbers. 
 
 The rule, however, which would appear to be inferred from
 
 NA TURAL HISTOR Y OF BRITISH SALMON ID JE. 117 
 
 the instances quoted is far from being invariable ; and as it 
 has been found that the time of salmon ascending and spawn- 
 ing frequently differs in neighbouring rivers of the same district 
 in some cases even where their sources and channels are 
 apparently of a similar nature it is very possible that we have 
 yet to arrive at the whole truth respecting the causes of these 
 variations. 
 
 With regard to the sort of resting places or holding grounds 
 which salmon most frequent, they appear, as often as not, to be 
 guided by sheer caprice. There are some pools which, to the 
 angling eye, or, at any rate, the uneducated angling eye, are 
 apparently perfection, and which yet seem never to hold a 
 fish from year's end to year's end, or if they do hold a fish 
 they are fish which cannot be induced to take the fly or bait. 
 Indeed, there are particular stones in particular rivers behind 
 which for some inscrutable reason, salmon will almost invari- 
 ably be found. I know just such an one in the Conway, and 
 there is another, if I recollect rightly, in the Tweed. It does 
 not signify how often the salmon sheltering behind these stones 
 is caught I have known three thus taken in one day his 
 place appears to be filled again almost immediately. 
 
 Still, notwithstanding this capriciousness of salmon in the 
 choice of water, there are some general rules which may serve 
 as approximate guides to the salmon fly-fisher when unassisted 
 by local knowledge. Where the bed of the river is of bare or 
 naked rock, unbroken by ledges or 'shelters' of any sort, 
 salmon or, at any rate, rising salmon will rarely be found. 
 Ail sorts of shelters and rocky excrescences are, no doubt, in 
 themselves favourable for salmon, both as affording shelter 
 from the stream and a point of outlook from which fly and other 
 bait may be advantageously perceived ; but, as Mr. Stoddart 
 also points out in his ' Angler's Rambles,' the ledges of rock 
 and large stones to which salmon instinct inclines ' will in- 
 variably be found, when the salmon are settled down, to lie 
 in conjunction with or in the vicinity of a firm gravelly 
 "alveus"' Elsewhere, Mr. Stoddart illustrates this fact by the
 
 ii8 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Garry, the course of which from Faskally upwards through the 
 pass of Killicrankie is ' mildly rapid and its bed strewn over 
 with rocks and boulders of every dimension. . . . One not fully 
 versed in all the outs and ins of salmon fishing, proficient 
 as he might be in the use of the rod, becomes so deceived as 
 to construe the interspersed breaks and shallows, the flush of 
 water passing through the tired eddies, the jutting shelves 
 which gleam underneath the whole build, in fact, of the 
 channel into a series of admirable resting places for the 
 fish. . . . But the truth simply is that in resting humour no 
 fish are ever there. Such are not the spots where the instinct 
 of salmon induces them to halt at and show appetite. Proceed 
 farther up. Climb from its torrent termination to the head of 
 the pass, to the point in the course of the Garry where the 
 distribution of the rock becomes alternated also with stretches 
 of alluvial deposit in fact, with spawning ground and in the 
 pools favoured by such a combination you will find that not 
 only are salmon to be met with, but that they are to be met 
 with in a position which prompts and enables them to come 
 readily towards the offered lure of the angler.' 
 
 As observed, however, the caprices of salmon with regard 
 to the particular parts they favour or reject, and even as to the 
 position occupied by each individual fish, where there are 
 several in the same pool, are most curious. Possibly the latter 
 arrangement may be dependent upon some ' first come, first 
 served ' principle a sort of piscine recognition of the rule of 
 beati possessores. Where salmon are very numerous indeed, 
 as for example in the Gahvay River, I have seen whole shools 
 which for some reason appear intent on ' keeping themselves 
 to themselves,' and from whose ranks straggling was evidently 
 interdicted. These different shoals were almost always of dif- 
 ferent sizes. An interesting example of this was noticed by my 
 friend, Sir Charles Mordaunt, in the case of a pool in a well- 
 known Scotch river. In a letter to me he says : 'Once, when 
 the water was too low for fishing, a friend and I had the oppor- 
 tunity of very closely observing the salmon as they lay in "ranks"
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMON! D^E. 119 
 
 near the tail of the pool. Crawling to the bank's edge, and 
 cautiously putting our heads over, we could see everything 
 that went on below. In the front rank there were five large 
 fish only, one apparently of about 30 Ibs., the others running 
 perhaps from 20 Ibs. to 25 Ibs. In the second rank were fifteen 
 ranging from 15 Ibs. to 20 Ibs. ; in the third twenty-three from 
 10 Ibs. to 15 Ibs., and in the rear rank the Grilse, some thirty- 
 two in number. All the fish were motionless except for the 
 slight action of the tail fin necessary to keep them up to the 
 stream. We then sent the keeper round to stir them gently by 
 throwing a stone in behind the Grilse, which caused the whole 
 body to move up into deep water ; but after waiting about an 
 hour we saw them begin to return to their former quarters, 
 where by degrees they took up their original formation in per- 
 fectly " dressed " ranks, and without a fish missing. 
 
 ' When the water was barely high enough for fishing, I could 
 still command a sight of the bottom of the pool, although not 
 a perfectly clear one. As the fly passed over him, a salmon 
 before rising invariably turned on his side. . . .' 
 
 To return to the subject of salmon migration. Allowing for 
 the exceptions previously pointed out, the order in which fish 
 ascend rivers is generally somewhat as follows : The strong, 
 early runners come first. These are succeeded by the grilse, 
 and by the small ' spring salmon ' which have probably never 
 ascended at all as grilse, but have remained in the sea since 
 the smolt state a period of from eight to ten months, as 
 noticed in ' Proved Facts,' No. 10. The tails of these spring 
 salmon are not so forked as those of grilse. A few of them 
 generally appear with the early-running fish. 
 
 As the season advances, the larger fish and those heavy 
 with spawn begin to work their way upwards from the mouths 
 of the rivers and estuaries towards the higher reaches ; and 
 such fish continue ascending from the sea until the close of 
 the autumn, or, if the river be an ' early ' one, of the summer. 
 Even as late as November and December, and the January
 
 120 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 and February following, a few fish continue to run which 
 have been usually considered as 'barren' without capability 
 of spawning ; but this notion was proved by the late Mr. 
 W. F. Ffennell to be erroneous. Upon dissection he found 
 that the females had ova in them perfectly developed, although 
 not larger than mustard seed, whilst in the males a thin thread 
 of milt was always discernible. 
 
 These fish, of which many ascend the Tay in November 
 and the three following months, remain nearly a year in the 
 fresh waters before spawning, and although their colours gra- 
 dually become darker in consequence, they are to all intents 
 and purposes ' clean fish,' and are exceedingly good eating. 
 
 The term ' clean fish ' is used as the antithesis of ' foul fish ' 
 a term applied to all salmon which have either not recovered 
 from the effects of spawning, or in which the roe or milt has 
 arrived at a great degree of maturity. 
 
 The so-called barren salmon appearing at a time when most 
 fish are spawning, or are just recovering from the process, illus- 
 trates what I believe to be the most important fact connected 
 with the history of salmon, viz. that the principle of a divided 
 migration, already referred to, is not confined to the parr on 
 going to the sea, or to the smolts on their return from it, some 
 as grilse, and some as spring salmon, but that it also extends to 
 the old and adult fish after spawning one portion of these 
 latter coming back into the rivers during the following summer, 
 and the rest not until the spring succeeding it ; in other words 
 (and this is the gist of the whole), that at least a proportion of 
 salmon spawn only every alternate year. The design of this law 
 or instinct which, when once apprehended, will be found to 
 explain many of the perplexities in the history of the salmon is 
 intelligible enough. It is evidently to insure a supply of clean 
 fish throughout as large a portion of the year as possible, and 
 to enable each river to support the greatest stock a result 
 which could only be obtained by such a provision as the above. 
 It is also doubtless intended to insure an equal distribution of 
 fish throughout the whole length of the river. These salmon,
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONW&. 121 
 
 by ascending thus early, before their spawn is at all matured, 
 are vigorous, and able to overcome the obstacles in their upward 
 course to the extreme sources of the river to which those fish 
 remaining in the sea until heavy with spawn could never pene- 
 trate. 
 
 Curiously enough, an analogous fact has been noticed with 
 regard to the spawning of the common trout. Dr. Davy, who 
 was in the habit of opening the fish he caught, records that by 
 this means he discovered that, as the spawning season ap- 
 proached, only about one-half of the females had visible eggs, 
 whilst in the other half there were no signs of the development oj 
 the ova. Charr, also, are frequently taken in Windermere in 
 high condition in October and November, which is their regular 
 spawning season a fact which would seem to point to the pos- 
 sibility of the rule of alternate spawning years holding good in 
 the case of all the fish of the salmon and trout species. 
 
 But to return. The ascent of salmon to the spawning 
 grounds is usually somewhat in this wise. During the early part 
 of the season, the fish in the rivers, which do not at once 
 ascend, remain in or near the mouths. But with the advance 
 of the season they get gradually farther into the fresh water 
 beyond the influence of the sea. The edible quality of the 
 salmon when thus ascending rivers depends entirely upon the 
 state of development of the milt or roe a loss of condition, 
 accompanied by the usual change of colour, following, even in 
 the salt water, upon the maturing of the spawn. The efforts of 
 the salmon to surmount all obstacles to their ascent of the 
 rivers increase with the approach of the spawning time, and 
 they shoot up rapids, and make wonderful exertions to surmount 
 cascades and other impediments, frequently clearing a height 
 of two or three yards at a bound. It has been calculated that, 
 when swimming, or rather darting at full speed, the salmon will 
 glide through the water at the rate of about 1,500 ft. per minute, 
 or upwards of 400 miles per day a pace which, if it could 
 be maintained, would speedily carry the fish round the world. 
 
 Although the height to which a salmon will leap seems
 
 122 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 wonderful to those who have watched the process, we may well 
 hesitate to accept all the ' tall stories ' on the subject which have 
 been put on record, with more or less show of authority. No 
 doubt the depth of water from which the spring is taken mate- 
 rially influences its height ; but I should hesitate to assert that 
 I had myself seen a perpendicular leap exceeding ten or twelve 
 feet and I have seen some thousands. Sometimes, as in the 
 Falls of the Beauly, the ascent is by a single bound, at others, 
 as at the Rogie Falls on the Scotch Blackwater, by a sort of 
 double jump, necessitated by the shape of the fall. Frequently 
 the fish are actually killed by the exhaustive violence of their 
 exertions or the injuries caused by falling back on the rock. 
 
 Lord Lovat, as is well known, has a salmon leap where, in 
 consequence of the local conformation, a kettle of boiling water 
 can be so placed that the fish literally jump into it and are 
 boiled. 
 
 Salmon ladders or stairs by which the fish are enabled to 
 surmount high weirs and other obstructions have proved of in- 
 finite value to the fisheries, and will, it is to be hoped, come 
 into yet more general and extensive use. The difficulty, of 
 course, is to obtain the running water-supply without diminish- 
 ing, or interfering with, the water-power of mill streams or 
 lessening their supply matters which have hitherto given rise 
 to much dispute and embroilment between the rival owners of 
 mills and of salmon rivers. As, however, it has been poinced 
 out by Mr. J. H. Horsfall inventor of the water economiser, 
 for avoiding a loss of 'headwater' such an interference or 
 injury to milling interests can only occur when the river is low 
 and when migratory fish do not run, and at such time no pro- 
 perly constructed fish ladder need have any water-supply. 
 When, however, the water rises and fish do run the water re- 
 quired for the supply of the fish ladder is merely a surplus 
 which the miller neither wants nor uses. It is, of course, quite 
 possible and, indeed, does not require much ingenuity to erect 
 fish passes or ladders in such a way or in such a position that 
 they prove only partially effective or entirely useless. The
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID/E. 123 
 
 points to be considered are, a, the placing of the ladder in the 
 most suitable part of the weir ; //>, the proper incline of the 
 ladder ; and, <r, the supply of water which is admitted to it. As 
 Air; Horsfall once wrote to me. no two weirs are alike, and in 
 his experience the proper position of the ladder can only be 
 shown by actually watching the habits of the fish at the darn, 
 and the points towards which they naturally head in their efforts 
 to ascend. There is a limit to the steepness of an efficient fish 
 ladder one in four being, I believe, the maximum slope which 
 can be safely calculated upon Next to this the point of 
 
 greatest importance is that the ladder should be supplied with 
 a greater flow of water in proportion than that running over any 
 other part of the weir, as when salmon and any other fish in 
 their ascent up the river meet with any obstruction they seem 
 instinctively to be attracted to the part where the stream is the 
 strongest. 
 
 The engraving is taken from the first model fish ladder 
 which was approved by the Inspectors of English Salmon 
 Fisheries and officially recommended for a weir thirty feet 
 broad and six feet high. The principal dimensions are as 
 follows :
 
 f24 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Total length from apex to base, including thickness of walls . 38 ft. 
 
 Total width ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, . 9 ft. 
 
 Length of watercourse inside walls 32 ft. 
 
 Width of ,, ,, 5 ft. 
 
 Length of spaces between steps of laJder, about . . . 5i ft. 
 
 Width of side openings in steps . . . . . . 9 in. 
 
 Width of central opening in top steps and at bottom . . 12 in. 
 
 The model of this ladder, with some diminutive salmon and 
 trout fry to represent the ascending fish, was for some time ex- 
 hibited at the Home Office, and afterwards at the Horticultural 
 Gardens, South Kensington. A prettier sight it would be diffi- 
 cult to find, whether to the naturalist or the utilitarian. On 
 these little water steps it depends whether hundreds of thousands 
 of acres of waste river and sterile lake shall remain waste and 
 sterile or shall be converted into training nurseries for the pro- 
 duction of the most interesting, as well as the most valuable, of 
 all the great classes which were commanded to multiply and fill 
 4 the waters in the seas.' Certainly the little Salmonida took 
 kindly enough to the fish ladder even as babies and were always 
 on the look-out for the chance to go ' upstairs.' They might 
 be seen moving anxiously to and fro with their noses up stream 
 waiting for a start, and the moment the freshet came (the water, 
 that is, was turned on), up they went, jumping and racing like a 
 school of boys turned out for a half-holiday. The slope of the 
 ladder I am describing was one in five ; one in seven or eight 
 is, however, very preferable when circumstances will admit of 
 it, and, as I have stated, one in four is the maximum. This 
 ladder was intended to be built of masonry, but sometimes the 
 ladder is constructed out of the rock itself that is, all except 
 the steps. A portion of the side of the dam or fall is partitioned 
 off and intersected at considerable distances by transverse steps 
 of wood or stone, each intersection crossing about two thirds of 
 the whole width, and the fish are thus, 'step by step,' taken up 
 to a height of thirty or thirty-five feet, or higher if necessary. 
 
 The longest fish pass or passage that has ever been attempted 
 was that made some twenty years ago by the proprietors of the 
 Gahvay fishery, in Ireland, between Loughs Corrib and Mask ;
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 125 
 
 the fall between the two lakes being twenty-eight feet and the 
 length of the pass no less than one thousand feet. The pass 
 was nothing less than a huge iron trough, like half one of the 
 large water-pipes seen in the London streets, and about three 
 feet in diameter. The trough, which was made in England and 
 transported to Galway in separate pieces, was then fixed in its 
 place with coping stones and cement, at an expense which may 
 be easily imagined. It is some years since I have visited Cong, 
 and whether this splendid attempt has been successful in ' sal- 
 monising' the 23,000 previously barren acres of Lough Mask 
 I am, therefore, unable to say. I remember the opinion of the 
 late Mr. Ffennell and of Mr. Frank Buckland was far from 
 encouraging on the point. 
 
 The great expense of ladders in different situations has 
 often stood in the way of their adoption, mostly to the detri- 
 ment, it need hardly be stated, of the fishing in the upper 
 reaches of the river. It may, therefore, be interesting to the 
 owners of fisheries, who are not already acquainted with the 
 very cheap and efficient floating salmon ladder lately con- 
 structed by Mr. Anton Pietsch, at Kurczyn, in Hungary, to 
 present them with a description of it, accompanied by such an 
 explanatory diagram as would probably enable any tolerably 
 intelligent engineer to erect a similar one in practice. For 
 this description, which is translated from the German of 
 Dr. M. Nowicki, of Krakow, by Mr. R. B. Marston, editor of 
 the ' Fishing Gazette,' I am indebted to the courtesy of that 
 gentleman, as also for the diagram of the ladder. 
 
 Dr. Nowicki says : 'At Kurczyn, on the river Poprad, in 
 Hungary, there is a high weir which prevents the salmon getting 
 up to the spawning ground, and has caused a falling off in the 
 number of salmon. 
 
 ' It was therefore decided in connection with the attempt 
 which was being made at the time to increase the salmon i:. 
 the Weichsel district, to open up the Poprad river again to 
 salmon. Count William Migazzy, President of the Upper 
 Hungarian Fisheries Society, and to whom the improvement
 
 126 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 in Hungarian fisheries owes so much, took steps to provide the 
 weir with a salmon ladder at his own expense. 
 
 ' The construction of the ladder was entrusted to the 
 
 forest officer at Kurc/yn, Mr. Anton Pietsch, who carried it 
 out in a most creditable manner, inasmuch as at very small 
 cost he made a wooden morabh ladder, which he attaches to
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 127 
 
 the weir every year in the autumn. The idea was, at any rate, 
 an original one as compared with the multiplicity of kinds of 
 fixed ladders of massive build those in use in Great Britain, 
 for example. This ladder answers admirably in practice, and 
 met with entire approbation from the members of the Fish- 
 breeders' Conference which was recently held at Dresden. 
 It may therefore claim to be somewhat particularly described 
 here and brought under more general notice, especially as 
 Herr Pietsch has had the great kindness to supply for this 
 purpose the accompanying design and also give instructions in 
 the use of the ladder. 
 
 ' The wooden weir (a l> c) occupies the whole width of the 
 river about one hundred and twenty five yards. Its face (c) 
 rises perpendicularly to a height of over three yards in a low 
 vater, so that except in a high flood the difference of level 
 between the water below the dam and that above is too great 
 for salmon to overcome, and for just this reason the use of a 
 ladder is imperative. The broad dam head (a b), with gentle 
 slope, is boarded horizontally ; its ridge (a) is horizontal 
 lengthways, and without crown. Below the dam are several 
 deep pools, in which the salmon lie, and it is over one of these 
 just below the weir that the fish pass is placed. 
 
 ' The ladder (d e) has parallel sides (/), and a level bottom 
 (d e) is made of strong two and a quarter inch planks, sixteen 
 feet four inches long, three feet six inches wide. The blocks 
 (g) are placed widely apart to allow room for large salmon to 
 move about between them easily. The height of these blocks 
 corresponds with the depth of water required for salmon, and 
 the fall is that of the floor of the ladder. The ladder rests on 
 strong beams (h] and is kept in its place by several small posts 
 (/) which are let into the beams. Its upper end is supported 
 by the woodwork (k /), and the lower by the float or platform 
 (n). The woodwork (k /) close to the front of the dam (c) is 
 lower than the dam edge, and consists of the two piles (k) and 
 the supporting beam (/) mortised on to them. The beam is 
 fastened to weir by strong iron clamps (m) (one inch square),
 
 128 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 which go through it, and are secured by nuts or screw ends 
 underneath. On this support (/) the upper end of the ladder 
 rests free, so that its floor is level with the top of the weir and 
 just touching it, while the sides of the ladder are higher, so 
 that the water can flow down between them. The ends of the 
 sides (//), where they meet the ends of the guides (v v), are 
 cut at angles (see illustration) to permit of the ladder working 
 in its place, as the platform rises or falls. The small space 
 between the ladder (d] and the edge of the dam (If) can be 
 covered by a board nailed to the dam if it was necessary to 
 prevent any water falling through. 
 
 ' The platform () floats on the surface of the water, and is 
 held fast by the two bars (s s) which are fastened to hooks in 
 the weir and platform. The platform is formed of several 
 eight to nine inch logs of well-seasoned wood (). These are 
 fastened together by the stout piece (r), on which rests the 
 cross-beam (0), the ladder being kept in place by nails in the 
 supports (/>), which act as axles on which it works. The end 
 of the ladder (<?) projects beyond the platform, and touches 
 the surface of the pool, or dips into it a little, according to the 
 amount of water flowing over the ladder. It will be seen that, 
 as the water rises or falls, the platform rises or falls with it. In 
 a small water the platform rests motionless ; but in a heavy 
 water, forming waves under the weir, it shakes. 
 
 ' The converging guards (v v} are for the purpose of direct- 
 ing the water which comes in at (ui] under the beam (z) on to 
 the ladder. They are about twelve inches in height, and pro- 
 vided with two blocks like those in the ladder () to break the 
 force of the water, and enable the fish to get over. The object 
 of the beam (z) is to control the amount of water passing into 
 the ladder at (iv) (the height of this opening being only about 
 six and a half inches), and prevent too much water flowing 
 over. In spring and summer high waters prevail in the 
 Poprad, enabling the salmon to get over the high dam ; but in 
 autumn there is generally a low water, and the ladder is neces- 
 sary in September, October, and November.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 129 
 
 ' A flood does not injure the ladder at all, but the winter's 
 ice would tear it away ; so, as it is easily taken down, it is then 
 taken away, and put so that the platform gets dried well by the 
 sun. The woodwork (k I) is left in its place as being out of 
 danger from ice. 
 
 'The construction of the ladder, including wood, iron, and 
 labour, cost only 3/. at Kurczyn, and the cost of removal and 
 replacing, with any necessary repairs, about 12^. or 14^. The 
 ladder has only been used two autumns, and Herr Pietsch has 
 often had opportunities of seeing salmon ascending it without 
 difficulty. Before it was put up he had frequently noticed 
 numbers of salmon collected in the pools below the dam, and 
 making vain efforts to get over it, and at last getting caught by 
 the fishermen. But since the ladder has been in use the 
 salmon are rarely seen waiting in this way, as it enables them 
 to get up at once. Models of this ladder are in possession of 
 the Galician Fisheries Society, the Austrian Fisheries Society 
 in Vienna, and the German Fisheries Society in Berlin, and 
 drawings of it have been sent to England and America. As a 
 movable and cheap salmon ladder, it seems preferable to the 
 costly fixed affairs. With the necessary modifications required 
 by different conditions in dams and rivers, it offers exceptional 
 advantage, especially where expense is a consideration, and 
 there is not much water to play with.' 
 
 Mr. R. B. Marston adds the following note : ' It seems to 
 me that we are much indebted to Herr Pietsch for inventing, 
 and to Dr. Nowicki for describing, such a very practical and 
 extremely cheap salmon ladder. It can hardly fail to succeed 
 if used on such rivers as the Don, in Aberdeenshire, at the 
 horrible weir at Armathwaite, on the Eden, at Totnes weir, on 
 the Dart, and other similar places where, except in heavy 
 waters, salmon cannot pass up stream.' 
 
 Many rivers are absolutely blocked to the ascent of salmon 
 by impossible obstacles such as those referred to by Mr. 
 Marston, or by other barriers ; but where no such impediment 
 exists the instinct of the fish is to go on ascending by degrees 
 
 I. K
 
 1 30 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 until they gain the upper and shallower reaches, or spawning 
 grounds. At this time all the salmon and trout species resident 
 in fresh water, both migratory and non-migratory, acquire, in 
 lieu of their brilliant spring tints, a dusky yellowish exterior, 
 accompanied by a considerable increase of mucus or slime 
 the fins also becoming more muscular. 
 
 The usual time of salmon spawning is from November until 
 the latter end of January or the beginning of February. 1 As the 
 all-important operation approaches their colours undergo a still 
 further deterioration, the general hue of the body in the males 
 assuming a browner or more golden tinge, and the cheeks being 
 marked with orange-coloured stripes ; the lower jaw elongates, 
 and a gristly projection or horn turns upwards from the point, 
 which is used by the salmon as an organ of offence in its con- 
 tests with other fish. In this state the males are called 'Red 
 fish,' or are said to be 'on the reds.' The females are some- 
 what darker in colour, and are known by the name of ' Black 
 fish.' The process of spawning is as follows : A pair of fish, 
 male and female, select a gravelly shallow suitable for the 
 purpose, which is generally occupied also by other spawners, 
 both salmon and trout, as well as by a considerable number 
 of male parrs. 2 The female deposits her eggs in shallow 
 furrows in the gravel, to which they adhere by a thin coating 
 of glutinous matter, the male at the same time shedding his 
 
 1 There are, however, except'onal rivers, both earlier nnd later, as a' ready 
 pointed out ; and it is probable that many of the so-called ' barren fish,' enter- 
 ing the fresh water in November and December, spawn in the succeeding 
 October. 
 
 2 Parr, as stated in Proved Facts, No. 3, are perfectly qualified to continue 
 their species, and they perform a most inipor ant part in the reproductive 
 process ; for the attentions of the male salmon being constantly distracted by 
 the necessity of protecting the spawning bed from the intrusion of the other 
 fish, the ova of the female are during these absences vivified by the mi't of the 
 parrs. According to experiments by Mr. John Shaw (subsequently confirmed 
 by those of Stormontfield), male parrs attain to the breeding state in about 
 eighteen months, from the time of hatching. The females, it wo-ild appear, 
 never become prolific whilst in the parr state unless they are amongst the 
 exceptional fish alluded to in Proved Facts, No. 4, which remain over the 
 third year in the rivers before migrating.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONW^E. 131 
 
 milt over them. Whether these furrows are made conjointly 
 by both spawners, or by the female fish only, and whether the 
 snout or the tail is the organ used in the delving process, 
 have been disputed points amongst naturalists. From the con- 
 current testimony, however, of those who have had the best 
 opportunities of observation, it now appears certain that the 
 trenches are made by the tail of the female fish only, and that 
 the male takes no share whatever in the more laborious parts 
 of the domestic arrangements. The only extra-matrimonial 
 function that he performs consists in exerting an unwearied 
 vigilance to protect his seraglio from the invasion of rival males, 
 all of whom he assiduously endeavours to expel living, in 
 fact, in a perpetual state of active hostilities. 
 
 These conflicts are incessant ; and it sometimes happens, 
 when a rival is either very fond or very fierce, that the domestic 
 supremacy is only to be maintained at the cost of a prolonged 
 and desperate fight. 
 
 The weapon of attack in all these battles appears to be the 
 cartilaginous bone or excrescence on the point of the lower 
 jaw, which is used as a sort of battering ram, the fish, as de- 
 scribed by Mr. Walsh, rushing on open mouthed, and turning 
 on his side in striking. In the case of the male fish being 
 captured or killed, the female retires to the nearest large pool 
 in search of a fresh mate, with whom she returns and completes 
 the process of depositing her eggs. This she will repeat several 
 times if her partner ba removed ; and it is mentioned as a fact 
 by Mr. Young, in his evidence before a Committee of the House 
 of Commons, that nine male salmon in succession have thus 
 been killed from the side of a single female, who then brought 
 back with her, as companion, a large yellow trout. 
 
 In consequence, we may suppose, of the arduous nature of 
 his military duties and reddish colour at this period, the term 
 'old soldier' is frequently used to designate the male salmon 
 after spawning ; and I recently examined an old soldier in 
 which the whole of the back and head was one mass of scars 
 and wounds.
 
 i.32 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The female, regardless of the frequent absences of her lord 
 during his internecine contests, and probably satisfied with 
 the presence of the male parr, proceeds quietly with her opera- 
 tions by throwing herself at intervals of a few minutes, upon 
 her side, and whilst in this position, by a rapid action of the 
 tail, she digs a receptacle for her eggs, a portion of which 
 she on each occasion deposits, and, again turning on her side, 
 covers it up by a renewed action of the tail thus alter- 
 nately digging, depositing, and covering over until the whole 
 are laid. 
 
 The adult fish after spawning are called { spent ' or unclean 
 fish, or ' kelts ; ' and at this time they are quite unfit for food 
 indeed almost poisonous and their capture is prohibited by 
 law. Lately spawned kelts may be recognised by their dark 
 unhealthy colour, lanky flaccid appearance, and by the enlarge- 
 ment of the vent. Their gills also are almost invariably found 
 to be infested by a species of white worm, the Lerncca salmonis 
 of Linnaeus, often improperly called a maggot, from which they 
 are released by contact with the salt water a similar release 
 from other parasites being obtained on passing to the fresh 
 water from the sea. 
 
 For some time after spawning, however, they are in a very 
 weak and exhausted state, and have not energy for immediately 
 descending the river. Accordingly they usually drop down from 
 the spawning grounds, or ' redds,' to the first quiet deep, there 
 remaining until their strength is recruited. They then con- 
 tinue falling back with the winter and spring floods, descending 
 from pool to pool, and avoiding as much as possible weirs and 
 rapid currents, until they reach the sea. Here they quickly 
 recover their condition, to ascend the rivers again (in at least 
 many cases) in the autumn or succeeding spring for the same 
 purpose as before, but almost always remaining some time in 
 the brackish water or tideway before making either decided 
 change. 
 
 Within a period of five or six months after their return from 
 the salt water, it has been proved that at least a proportion of
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 133 
 
 kelts find their way back to the upper reaches of the river as 
 clean fish, having gained in weight during the time from seven 
 to ten pounds. 
 
 The annexed table shows the actual increase of weight in 
 three fish marked by the Duke of Athol when returning to the 
 sea as kelts : 
 
 Caught as kelts or spawned jish 
 returning to the sea. 
 
 Weight 
 
 No. 21 Feb. 14 i .10 IDS. 
 No. 76 Mar. 2 . .115 Ibs. 
 No. 95 Mar. 29 , 12,7 Ibs. 
 
 Retaken ascending the river as 
 clean fish. 
 
 Weight 
 
 No. 21 Aug. 18 -17 Ibs. 
 
 No. 76 Aug. 18 . 17 Ibs. 
 
 No. 95 Aug. 12 .19 Ibs. 
 
 Whilst descending to the sea in the spring months kelts are 
 a great annoyance to anglers, as at this time they are ravenous 
 for food, rising greedily at any sort of fly, and though not so 
 strong and obstinate as clean fish, often taking up more time 
 in landing than can conveniently be spared. 
 
 That spawned fish improve greatly before they leave the 
 fresh water there is no room to doubt (although they are never 
 really in prime condition for the table until their return from 
 their sea trip), and hence the expression, 'A well-mended kelt;' 
 which is common amongst fishermen. These kelts are often 
 almost as bright and silvery looking as the really clean fish, 
 and are not unfrequently sold as such in the towns ; but the 
 head is disproportionately large, owing to the body not being 
 filled up, and upon opening the gill covers, the white worm, 
 before mentioned, will almost invariably be found adhering. 
 
 The hatching of the eggs and the growth of the young fry 
 is the next great event in salmon life, and leaving, therefore, 
 the exhausted and more or less ill-conditioned kelts to recruit 
 themselves in their salt-water bath, we return to the spawning 
 bed where the eggs are approaching the time of hatching. 
 Into this bed, during the preceding three months, a dozen 
 females have each poured the germs of, say, from seventeen 
 to twenty thousand salmon, which, if they all arrived at matu- 
 rity, would represent in approximate figures some three million 
 five hundred thousand pounds weigh f of wholesome food, or a
 
 I 3 4 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 money value of about i6o,ooo/. Unfortunately, however, the 
 fry actually added to the stock of the river are a mere fraction, 
 and those that survive to return as grilse a very trifling fraction 
 of these numbers. The proportion has been calculated by 
 some authorities as about one in every thousand, and by 
 others at a maximum of one in every six thousand, out of the 
 original deposit of ova. 
 
 Great as this loss appears to be, it is not really to be won- 
 dered at when the numberless causes of destruction are borne 
 in mind. From the first laying of the egg until the plunge of 
 the young smolt into the tidal wave, and even afterwards in 
 the broader waters of the estuary or open sea, a hundred 
 wholesale depredators lie in wait for it. 
 
 First there are the shoals of hungry fish of all kinds which 
 prowl about the fords, pressing close behind the spawner, and 
 ready to fight for the possession of her eggs almost before they 
 are laid ; l then come the voracious larvae of the may fly and 
 stone fly, the water shrimps, and a host of kindred insects, 
 which work their way in amongst the gravel and destroy, per- 
 haps less ostentatiously, but not less certainly ; whilst a winter 
 flood will often sweep down the river, and bury a whole brood 
 under a foot of sand drift. If the egg escapes these perils, 
 and, in due course, releases its charge, fresh dangers await the 
 delicate and immature fry. The trout, the heron, 2 and the 
 wild duck even the parent salmon themselves hunt it out 
 in its sheltering creeks and crevices ; and hundreds of fry are 
 daily sacrificed on a single spawning bed by this means. Lastly, 
 as if these causes of destruction were insufficient, naturalists 
 have discovered that there is in some waters a species of plant 
 by no means very uncommon, the Bladderwort ( Utricularid), 
 
 1 When a keeper of the Thames Angling Society was employed in procuring 
 trout ova in a stream at High Wycombe, he observed a pair of trout spawning 
 on a shallow ford, and another just below them devouring the ova as fast as 
 they were deposited by the spawner. The keeper netted the thief, and in his 
 stomach were found upwards of 2 oz. of solid ova, or about 300 eggs. 
 
 - One of these long-legged poachers was caught in flagrante delicto, at the 
 Stormontfield ponds. When shot he vomited up more than fifty fry.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 135 
 
 which eats fish \ It does not appear to have been clearly 
 proved that this piscivorous plant is usually, or indeed often, in 
 the habit of eating young salmon, and happily its natural pro- 
 clivities seem to favour stagnant rather than running waters ; 
 but as regards the minute fry of other species it has been un- 
 doubtedly caught in flagrante delicto^ with the victims in its 
 stomach, or rather bladder, and therefore it would be rash to 
 assume that its depredations are confined to the fry of the 
 coarser kinds of fish. At any rate the notion of an English 
 fish-eating plant is so novel that I shall probably be pardoned 
 if I take the liberty of here quoting a very interesting account 
 of it which appeared in the ' Pall Mall Gazette ' from the pen of 
 Mr. Grant Allen : 
 
 Our common bladderwort is a small floating water weed, found 
 here and there over all parts of England in still pools and stagnant 
 backwaters, and its long and slender root-like brandies hang on 
 the surface of its favourite ditches in thick masses of tangled vege- 
 tation. It seldom exceeds a foot in length, and has no height at 
 all to speak of, the branches all dispersing themselves radially 
 through the water on every side ; while the flower stems, which 
 alone rise above the surface with their graceful little cluster of 
 snapdragon-like yellow blossoms, hardly attain a greater height 
 than six or eight inches. The tiny leaves, like those of almost all 
 water plants, are very fine and almost hair-like ; but interspersed 
 among them on the branches every here and there are a number 
 of curious small green vesicles or bladders, which give the plant 
 both its common English name of bladderwort and its scientific 
 synonym, Utricularia. These bladders, though submerged, were 
 held to be full of air ; and it was long supposed that their only 
 office was to aid in keeping the plant afloat a belief all the more 
 reasonable because many aquatic plants actually have such air 
 receptacles on their leaves or leaf stalks for that very purpose, as 
 in some familiar seaweeds, and in that curious floating pond plant, 
 the water caltrop of Southern Europe. 
 
 The bladders of the bladderwort, however, differ from these 
 mere floats or swim-bladders of other water plants in the strange 
 peculiarity that they have each a door, closed by a valve which 
 opens inwards only. The whole mechanism, in fact, may be 
 roughly compared to an eel buck or a lobster pot, or even better,
 
 136 SALMON -AND TROUT. 
 
 to one of those mouse traps in which a small door closes behind 
 the unsuspecting mouse as soon as he has entered. Mrs. Treat, of 
 New Jersey, first showed that these bladders were really insecti- 
 vorous or carnivorous organs ; and Mr. Darwin afterwards worked 
 out the subject in minute detail, recording the results of his obser- 
 vations in his charming volume on Insectivorous Plants. He showed 
 that small floating animals, such as fresh-water shrimps or the 
 larvae of gnats, get entangled in the bladders, and there die, their 
 decomposing bodies afterwards serving as food for the tissues of 
 the plant. So far as he could discover, no true secretion of the 
 nature of a gastric juice takes place inside the bladders, and so 
 there is no true digestion, as in some of the higher and more per- 
 fect insect-eating plants, such as the sundew ; but the wall of the 
 bladder is covered by small glands, and by prickly hairs ' a ser- 
 ried mass of processes,' as Darwin well calls them, which absorb 
 directly the protoplasm or valuable organic matter of the included 
 prey into the tissues of the hungry bladderwort. Darwin believed 
 that the fresh-water shrimps and other creatures on which the 
 bladderwort feeds merely entered the door of the bladder out of 
 pure curiosity, so to speak, without the plant making any definite 
 quasi-voluntary efforts to entice or entrap them ; but Mrs. Treat's 
 more recent investigations seem rather to show that the tiny vege- 
 table traps actually open their mouths automatically, and snap up 
 the unwary prey whenever it approaches too near the small green 
 and almost invisible jaws. It should be added that the statement 
 recently made in several newspapers as to the bladders being ' the 
 size of a pear' is an obvious mistake. If Utricularia were a carni- 
 vorous plant on such a gigantic scale as that, it would prove a very 
 parlous fish eater indeed, and be hunted down by salmon preservers 
 like otters and herons. The real size of the bladders is scarcely 
 that of a garden poppy seed. 
 
 At this stage our knowledge of the habits and manners of the 
 bladderwort rested until the spring of the past year. The plant 
 was known to catch small insects and fresh-water crustaceans in its 
 tiny traps, and to use up their bodies as manure for its own de- 
 velopment ; but it was not yet known to be distinctly piscivorous. 
 Last May, however, Mr. G. E. Simms of Oxford, brought Professor 
 Moseley a specimen of Utricularia in a glass bowl, in which were 
 numbers of young roach, just hatched out of a mass of spawn lying 
 at the bottom. Many of the small fry were seen dead, held fast in the 
 firm bladder jaws of the murderous plant. Professor Moseley, being
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 137 
 
 interested in this curious discovery of a fish-eating weed, secured 
 another specimen of Utricularia, and put it into a separate vessel, 
 with fresh spawn and young fry of roach. In about six hours more 
 than a dozen of the fish were found caught in the wee green gins. 
 In most cases the fish are caught by the head ; and when this is so, 
 the snout is pushed into the bladder as far as it will go, till it touches 
 the opposiie wall, leaving the tail of the poor struggling thing half 
 free outside. Sometimes, however, the bladders catch the young 
 roach by the tail, a fact which seems to prove the truth of Mrs. 
 Treat's view that the valve actually snaps at the prey, instead of 
 merely allowing it to enter passively. In one of Professor Moseley's 
 specimens, a fish was caught by the yolk bag, which fry carry in 
 their early stage attached to the stomach ; and in another instance 
 two bladders had got hold of the same fish, one trapping him by 
 the head and the other by the tail. 
 
 Seen under the microscope the semi-transparent green traps, 
 with the tiny silvery bodies of the dead fish half protruding from 
 them, form very striking and beautiful objects. The big black eyes 
 of the fish show out clearly by transmitted light through the green 
 wall of the cell that has caught them. Preserved in spirits, the 
 specimens are less interesting, because then the bladder loses its 
 green colour, and the force of the contrast is considerably weakened. 
 After the fish have been for some time trapped they assume a slimy 
 deliquescent appearance, and are rapidly absorbed by the glandular 
 processes. As these processes project obliquely backward, Pro- 
 fessor Moseley thinks it probable that they help to catch the fish 
 and prevent him from escaping, in somewhat the same manner as 
 the barbs of a hook or arrow, or as the backward-pointing twigs of 
 an eel buck would do. Each fresh struggle and plunge must make 
 the fish get deeper and deeper entangled in the trap, because the 
 processes, catching in his gills or gill slits, prevent him from moving 
 backward and compel him to move forward only. Vestigia nulla 
 rctrorsum. 
 
 One word as to the evolutionary history of this singular water 
 weed. It is a close relation of the beautiful pale-green butterwort, 
 whose graceful purple-blue blossoms are found on almost every 
 upland bog or hilly brookside along the whole western half of our 
 islands. Butterwort is itself an insectivorous plant, as are all its 
 congeners ; and Utricularia is only a butterwort which has taken 
 to living in water, and has so far adapted itself to its new condi- 
 tions as to eat fish as well as insects. By descent, the butterworts
 
 138 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 are probably members of the primrose family, specialised for in- 
 habiting marshy spots ; while the Utricularia is a buttervvort which 
 has further adapted itself to a wholly aquatic life. 
 
 I hope all fishers who may come across the Bladderwort 
 will not fail to make a careful examination of the contents of 
 the ' larder,' and if any young salmon or trout are found in 
 it communicate instantly with the police, or rather with the 
 nearest water bailiff. 
 
 We left the young salmon, or parr, just prior to its emerg- 
 ing from the egg, and still all-unconscious of the dangers to 
 come, and the perils besetting its progress to adolescence. 
 
 With the various enemies above mentioned besetting every 
 period of their existence to say nothing of the great biped 
 parr destroyer, man himself it ceases to be a matter of surprise 
 that the percentage of fry attaining the grilse stage should be as 
 small as it is ; the only wonder is that it is not still more trifling. 
 
 By the system of artificial hatching and rearing, however, 
 now successfully carried out in different parts of the country, 
 the loss of ova, and of fry in its earlier stages is reduced to a 
 minimum. But this subject is fully dealt with elsewhere. 
 
 Let us revert to the spawning beds, where the ova have now 
 been deposited and covered, carefully up under little mounds 
 of fine gravel. 
 
 The first sign of animation in the egg is the appearance of 
 the eye, which may be noticed, a scarcely perceptible black 
 speck, in from forty to sixty days after deposition. The eye 
 gradually increases in size until the time of hatching an event 
 which usually occurs in from 90 to 140 days, according to 
 the temperature of the water and forwardness of the spring. 
 This period is liable, however, to great variations. The usual 
 time in Scotland is from 100 or no to 140 days. South of 
 the Tweed it is often considerably less. In water of the con- 
 stant temperature of forty-four degrees, eggs have been hatched 
 in sixty days ; whilst in some experiments made at the Crystal
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONIDM. 139 
 
 Palace in 1859, several were actually matured, it is stated, in 
 as little as thirty days. 
 
 The actual bursting of the young salmon from the egg, which 
 I have often watched, takes place thus : The fish lies in the 
 shell coiled round in the form of a hoop ; and the greatest 
 strain being at the back, it is at this point that the shell splits 
 across. After a few struggles, it is completely thrown off with 
 a jerk leaving the red yolk of the egg, by which the fish is 
 nourished during the first five or six weeks of its existence, 
 suspended in a conical bag under the stomach. At this ' bag 
 stage ' of its development the future monarch of the stream is 
 represented by a mere ragged line, fringed at the edges and 
 almost transparent, the head and eyes being prominent and 
 altogether out of proportion to the body, which measures only 
 about five-eighths of an inch in length, and is of a pale peach- 
 blossom or azure tint. In thirty-five or forty days after hatching 
 the yolk bag disappears, and the fry becomes a perfect little 
 fish of about an inch long with the fins separated and properly 
 developed, and the tail deeply forked at the end. The general 
 colour now also changes to a light brown ; and the sides are 
 indistinctly crossed by nine or ten transverse dusky bars, or 
 parr marks, characteristic of all the species of salmon and trout 
 when in an immature state, and which in the true salmon 
 remain more or less visible even in a smolt or parr six inches 
 long. 
 
 The differences in appearance between the fry of the salmon, 
 bull trout and sea trout, and probably also between the fry of 
 the other allied species of the genus, are so trifling as to be 
 scarcely perceptible, and are, moreover, liable to variations 
 with local circumstances. 
 
 The young salmon fry are unable to move about very freely, 
 owing to the presence of the vitelline, or yolk bag, which im- 
 pedes their motions in swimming, and obliges them when at 
 rest to lie perpetually on their backs, unless artificially sup- 
 ported. This support they seek to obtain by placing themselves 
 amongst gravel or in crevices between stones, exhibiting generally
 
 140 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 a great desire to escape observation an instinct given to them, 
 no doubt, for their preservation during so feeble and helpless a 
 condition. On the disappearance, however, of the yolk bag 
 and assumption of the parr marks, they come from their hiding 
 places, and are to be found, on careful search, in the streams 
 in or near which the parent salmon deposited their spawn 
 during the preceding winter. 
 
 At two months old the parr begins to acquire a more 
 symmetrical form, and the disproportion in the size of the 
 head ceases to be observable; at four months the characteristic 
 parr marks are clearly denned ; and at six months the fry has 
 reached the length of three or four inches, and is the small- 
 sized parr so constantly found in salmon rivers. 
 
 The next change is that of the parr into the smolt, prepa- 
 ratory to the first migration to the sea. 
 
 In somewhat more than twelve months from the time cf 
 hatching, that is, between the middle of April and the early 
 part of June about half of the last year's parr begin to assume 
 their bathing dress or coating of silver scales as contrasted 
 with the yellower scales worn up to this period. These silvery 
 scales, which form the distinctive mark of the smolt, as dis- 
 tinguished from the parr, are never put on except when the 
 fish is about to migrate ; and without them it will not migrate 
 at all, and cannot exist in salt water, as has been proved by 
 experiment. These scales come off upon slight pressure and 
 the parr marks are visible below. 
 
 At this time the habits of the transforming fish undergo a 
 marked alteration. As parr they show no disposition to con- 
 gregate, each occupying its own place in the pond, and any 
 intruder upon a post already tenanted being instantly and 
 forcibly expelled ; but as soon as the whole brood have donned 
 their travelling costume an operation usually lasting two or 
 throe weeks they collect in a shoal, and show their desire to 
 escape by scouring about hither and thither, leaping and sport- 
 ing, and generally displaying a greatly increased amount of 
 energy and activity.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 141 
 
 One half of the young fry migrate when about a year old- 
 almost all the other half at their second year and the few 
 remaining at their third year but the period of the descent is 
 very generally the same in either case and in all rivers, whether 
 early or late beginning in March and continuing through 
 April, May, and the early part of June only a few fish con- 
 tinuing to migrate during the subsequent months. 
 
 The length of the smolt when migrating varies from three 
 and a half to seven or eight inches, according to age and other 
 circumstances. 
 
 Its full colours are, dark blue or bluish green on the upper 
 half of the body and head, with black or carmine coloured 
 ftpots ; gill covers and lower half of the body silvery, and all the 
 fins much darker than those of the parr. The silver scales 
 come off on slight pressure and the parr marks are visible 
 below. What becomes of the young fish after reaching the sea 
 is still, more or less, a matter of conjecture. What we do know 
 positively is, that in from six to eight weeks a number return 
 to the same river with an increase in weight of from two to five 
 pounds, and that many of the fry marked when migrating as 
 smolts in May and June, are sold in the London markets as 
 grilse in July, August, and September. It is a fair point for 
 conjecture, and would be an interesting subject for future ex- 
 periment, whether the grilse returning the same season may 
 not consist principally of the tivo-year-old smolts, and so on ; 
 or whether, should this prove not to be the case, these older 
 smolts may not represent the larger-sized grilse, and the younger 
 fish the smaller ones. 
 
 The following is the actual growth of some smolts marked 
 at Stormontfield, when on their way to the sea, and captured on 
 their return as grilse during the same year : 
 
 Weight 
 
 July i . . .3 Ibs. 
 July 20 . .55 Ibs. 
 
 July 21 . . .5 Ibs. 
 
 Weight 
 
 July 31 . . . 9i Ibs. 
 Aug. 4 . 7i Ibs. 
 Aug. 4 ... 8 Ibs. 
 
 July 30 . . 7^ Ibs. 
 
 Of the habits and food of the salmon in its various stages
 
 142 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 whilst in the sea we know little. In his evidence before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords in 1860, Professor 
 Quekett stated it as his opinion that salmon travel some distance 
 along the coasts, and probably into deep water, in search of the 
 ova of the echinus or sea urchin a species commonly inhabit- 
 ing a depth of not less than from six to twenty fathoms. Pro- 
 fessor Huxley disagreed with this view as regards the nature of 
 the food, and believed that it consisted chiefly of a numerous 
 class of small creatures entomostracous Crustacea found in 
 semi- solid masses upon the surface frequently of deep water 
 in fact, that the salmon swims in a species of animal soup, in 
 which it has merely to open its mouth and swallow what enters 
 it. Dr. Knox was of opinion that the food consisted of the 
 ova of various kinds of star fish, sea urchins, encrinites, &c., 
 and some of the crab and lobster family, whilst Dr. Fleming 
 and several other naturalists have observed upon the partiality 
 of salmon for the sand eel or sand launce a fact which is con- 
 firmed by Sir John Richardson, who states that he has himself 
 taken this fish from their stomach. Herrings and many other 
 kinds of fish are also probably laid under contribution. 
 
 But whatever be its food, judging from the perfect arrange- 
 ment of the teeth and the tremendous rate at which it increases 
 in bulk, there can be no doubt that the salmon is a most vora- 
 cious feeder although the very small amount of food usually 
 found in the stomach has hitherto been a source of difficulty in 
 ascertaining its exact nature. The singularity of this latter cir- 
 cumstance has often been discussed by writers on ichthyology, 
 and it has been suggested, amongst other less probable explana- 
 tions, that the gastric juice of the fish was so powerful as to 
 dissolve almost instantaneously whatever was subjected to its 
 action another, and I am inclined to think, more correct 
 hypothesis being that the fish ejects its food on finding itself 
 hooked or retted. 
 
 On this subject a writer in 'Once a Week' furnishes evi- 
 dence which seems to be practically conclusive : ' My friend, 
 Mr. Walter Campbell,' he says, ' informed me that he once had
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONIDJE. 143 
 
 a wonderful haul of salmon at Islay. . . . He landed 716, and 
 many of them escaped. As the net approached the shore he 
 saw the fish discharging the contents of their stomachs, which con- 
 sisted of small eels.' 
 
 As regards the travelling or otherwise of the salmon in the 
 sea, the thousands of salmon constantly taken in nets along all 
 parts of our coasts are a clear proof that they do travel, at least 
 to considerable distances, from their native rivers and estuaries ; 
 and from the observations of Sir William Jardine and Dr. 
 Heysham it would appear probable that, when the fish happen 
 to have thus wandered beyond their usual limits, they will at 
 the proper season run up the first stream they meet with, the 
 temperature and condition of which are congenial. 
 
 The more usual course of events, however, is for the salmon 
 to return to their own rivers or localities, most remarkable and 
 well-authenticated proofs of which are on record and could be 
 produced in abundance. 
 
 It is only in the salt water that the salmon species, generally 
 speaking, gain in weight after once quitting the smolt stage. 
 During their sojourn in the sea after the first spawning, the 
 growth of the grilse is exceedingly rapid, a considerable portion 
 at least of such fish returning to the river in the summer and 
 autumn with an increase in weight of from five to nine pounds. 
 In twelve grilse of four pounds each which were carefully marked 
 by Mr. Young when descending to the salt water, this was found 
 to be the average increase on their return during the same 
 season. Whether the growth rate is as rapid in the later stages 
 of salmon existence we have no equally accurate means of 
 judging ; but reasoning from analogy it would appear probable 
 that it decreases somewhat with the advancing age of the fish, 
 and in very old specimens is perhaps comparatively trilling. Of 
 such patriarchal salmon, the largest recorded to have been cap- 
 tured in British waters was a female fish of the weight of eighty- 
 three pounds, which was exposed for sale in the shop of a 
 London tradesman in the year 1821. Another of seventy-four 
 pounds is alluded to by Pennant ; Salter, in one of his works
 
 144 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 on angling, refers to the capture of a salmon of seventy pounds 
 in the Thames near Fulham, in the year 1789, 'which was sub- 
 sequently sold to Mr. Howell, a fishmonger in the Minories, for 
 a shilling a pound,' and during the present season, when fishing 
 for ova on the Tay at Almond Mouth, a fish was netted con- 
 sidered to have weighed over eighty pounds, as it was six and a 
 half inches longer than one of seventy pounds taken in the same 
 river, of which there is a cast in the South Kensington Museum. 
 It was a male fish in splendid condition, and measuring in 
 length four feet eleven and a half inches, and in girth two feet 
 five inches. As it was the close season the fish was, of course, 
 returned to the water, and, as Mr. Malloch, who reports these 
 particulars, observes, some one may get him with the fly later 
 on. Whoever does will have his work cut out ! 
 
 Very large salmon are, however, occasionally caught with 
 the rod. One is noticed by Mr. Lascelles, as taken in Scotland, 
 which weighed fifty-four pounds and a half. The late Sir Hyde 
 Parker captured one in Sweden weighing sixty pounds, and a 
 former Earl of Home took another from the same waters of the 
 unequalled weight of seventy pounds within a few ounces. 
 
 I have never myself been lucky enough to kill a salmon over 
 twenty-five pounds, but I have had my ' experiences ' with fish 
 which I know both from sight and ' feel ' must have been nearer 
 forty-five than thirty-five pounds. 
 
 I once had one on in the Usk from tsvo o'clock till eight in 
 the evening for a good part of the time right under the point 
 of my rod, a sufficiently powerful one, but could do absolutely 
 nothing with him. When he liked to move to another pool he 
 moved there, and when he liked not to move at all he stopped 
 still. At last it began to get dark, and lanterns were brought 
 from the village and dotted at short intervals up and down the 
 river which was now coming down in a heavy spate. At last, at 
 about eight o'clock, when the flood was ' roaring from bank to 
 brae,' he made one splendid rush under Kamscatlog bridge, 
 where to follow was impossible rru-ried out the whole of the 
 eighty or ninety yards of line, and rolled over the fa)l below, as
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 145 
 
 the keeper, who had been set to watch, said, ' like a great 
 porpoise.' 
 
 ' Will salmon live and thrive entirely in fresh water that is, 
 in lakes and ponds which have no communication with the sea ? ' 
 
 Much controversy and many experiments have been devoted 
 to this question. The answer appears to be in the negative, as 
 far as all practical purposes are concerned. It has been proved 
 that the fish will so far increase under these conditions as to 
 attain a maximum weight of a few pounds ; but the flesh of 
 such fish is comparatively white and insipid, and as an article 
 of food altogether different from that of the sea-bred salmon. 
 
 This, however, may be an unduly gloomy view of the sub 
 ject, and I shall be very pleased to find my anticipations in this 
 respect falsified. Experiments tried some years ago in Norway 
 certainly seemed to point to at least a qualified success having 
 been in some instances attained. The account which was 
 written for the ' Fisherman's Magazine and Review,' at the time 
 when I edited that magazine, may, perhaps, be sufficiently 
 interesting to quote. 
 
 ' It can,' says Mr. Barnard, ' readily be understood that in 
 a country so unfertile as Norway, where, in fact, little more than 
 the hundred-and-fifteenth part of its whole superficial area is 
 under cultivation, any attempt to propagate such fish as salmon 
 in the interior must in an economical point of view be extremely 
 valuable. And, perhaps, no country is better adapted for the 
 carrying out of such experiments than this portion of the Scan- 
 dinavian Peninsula, which abounds with lakes and mountain 
 tarns of all sizes, and at all elevations. 
 
 ' And first, as regards sea trout, their endeavours have been 
 attended with most satisfactory results. Not only have they 
 thriven well in the lakes in which they were turned out, but 
 have rapidly increased in numbers. And just as river trout 
 after having been any length of time in brackish water become 
 thoroughly acclimatised, and in fact resemble sea trout in all 
 respects, so has it reciprocally been the case with the sea trout 
 in question in fresh water. 
 
 I. L
 
 146 SALMON AND TROUT 
 
 1 One of the first attempts that were made with salmon was 
 in 1857. A quantity of salmon fry were in that year put into a 
 small fresh-water pond in Lier, in the South of Norway. Their 
 growth was found to be very slow ; for, in the summer of 1862, 
 when they were, therefore, five years old, they had only attained 
 a weight of about one pound and three-quarters. 
 
 ' There can be but little question, as will subsequently be 
 seen, that the small size of the pond, and the consequent defi- 
 ciency of food, had much to do with their tardy development ; 
 for when other fry were turned into larger waters, much more 
 satisfactory results were obtained. In these latter instances not 
 only did the fish attain a quicker and larger growth, but the 
 flavour of their flesh was vastly superior. Therefore, I think, 
 we may infer that it was the want of the proper food, and not 
 so much of the salt water, that was the cause of their slow growth 
 in the small pond. 
 
 ' Again, in Laurdal, in Laurnig's Fogdin, in Lower Thele- 
 mackey, there are two lakes named, I think, Siljevande. Be- 
 fore 1856 there were only carp &c. in them. But in that year 
 two thousand salmon and sea-trout fry were turned in. At this 
 time these lakes abound with fish, as the salmon and sea trout 
 have rapidly propagated. In the summers of 1860, 1861, and 
 1862, fish of all sizes have been seen to leap in them ; but none 
 were taken till last summer, when several were caught on flies. 
 Some of the salmon were found to weigh from three and a half 
 to five pounds ; while the sea trout had attained about half 
 that weight. The flesh in both of them was pink, and was 
 extremely well- flavoured. 
 
 'Another successful attempt to acclimatise these fish was 
 made on a property named Sorkoee, in Storen, some distance 
 to the south of Throndhjem. The owner of the above and his 
 brother turned out several salmon and sea-trout fry into two 
 lakes on the estate, which were previously entirely destitute, 
 I believe, of fish of any sort. Now they teem with them, and 
 salmon have been caught in them from two and a quarter to 
 nearly seven pounds weight.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 147 
 
 ' In Holsfjard, in Ringerike, not far from Chiistiania, a lake 
 larger, I believe, than any of our Scotch or Irish lochs, several 
 thousand salmon fry has been turned in, which now have attained 
 weights varying from three to nine pounds. 
 
 ' And, now, what deductions may we at home draw from the 
 above interesting facts? Why, not only that sea trout and 
 salmon will grow in fresh water, but that they will also breed 
 there without migrating to the sea. That their development is 
 more tardy than of those which have access to salt water is 
 only what might be expected. 
 
 ' It seems further that the larger the lake the speedier their 
 growth. And this undoubtedly seems to corroborate the opinion 
 that the salt water is not absolutely essential to their develop- 
 ment; but that they grow quicker when they have access to it, 
 chiefly because they have a more varied and abundant supply 
 of food. And if one further takes into consideration that 
 salmon are as much fresh-water as sea-water fish (for their stay 
 in the former is quite as long and in some instances longer than 
 in the latter) ; and that they have also so much in common with 
 river trout and charr, it will be allowed, I think, that these 
 experiments in Norway may open a wide field for practical 
 investigation with us. 
 
 'Another fact worthy of notice is that it was with the young 
 fry, and not with ova that the experiments were made. 
 
 ' Whether the salmon after a lapse of time will like sea trout 
 adopt the form, colour, and flavour of fresh-water trout, expe- 
 rience only can decide. 
 
 ' It seems too that while the experiments in small ponds have 
 been partial failures (though even in this case it has been shown 
 that they will breed in them), those that have been made in 
 waters of large dimensions have quite realised all reasonable 
 expectations. 
 
 'The Nirosen lake, which ranks next in size to the 
 Wenern and Wettern, is, I hear, to be experimented on 
 on a large scale. I trust the trial will meet with the success 
 it deserves.' 
 
 L 2
 
 148 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 From the above facts I see no reason to doubt the success 
 of making the experiment of turning out salmon and sea-trout 
 fry into our Scotch and Irish lochs, and into our Cumberland 
 lakes. At all events it would be interesting to make the trial. 
 Patience and perseverance can work wonders. 
 
 The principal characteristics of the true salmon are : 
 
 Length of head compared with whole length of fish as i to 5. Body elongated; 
 dorsal and abdominal line about equally convex. Lateral line near middle of 
 body, dividing it about equally. Fleshy portion of tail slender. Scales, mode- 
 rate sized, oval, and thin, easily removed when young, adherent when old. 
 Teeth, stout, pointed, and curved, one line on each side of upper jaw, one line 
 on each bone of palate, one line on vomer or central bone in roof of mouth 
 when quite young (loses a large portion on first visit to salt water, and gradually 
 all, or all but one or two on mosi forward point of bone), on line one each side 
 of lower jaw, one line on each side of tongue (occasionally two lines on each 
 side of tongue). 
 
 Fin rays : D. 13: P. 12: V. 9: A. 9: C. 19. Veitebrce, 60. 
 
 THE BULL TROUT (Salmo eriox}. 
 
 Although differing in many respects from the true salmon, 
 and constituting, of course, a distinct species, yet in many of 
 its habits, if not, indeed, in all, the bull trout bears so close a 
 resemblance to the latter fish that the history of the one may, 
 to a great extent, be taken as the history of the other, and all 
 the laws relating to salmon apply equally to the bull trout and 
 their young, under whatever local names they may be known. 
 
 Like the salmon, the bull trout ascends rivers for the purpose 
 of spawning, deposits its ova on similar spawning grounds, and 
 after the process returns to the sea to restore its exhausted 
 energies and increase in weight and bulk. So far as I am 
 aware nobody has actually verified that is by the same absolute 
 means as in the case of the salmon the periodical growth-rate 
 of the bull trout between its various migrations. But as I have 
 caught several hundreds of bull trout myself in the Usk averag- 
 ing from four up to twenty pounds and never remember to 
 have caught one of much less than the first-named weight, it is 
 only reasonable to conclude that this is the size at which they
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 149 
 
 return to this river after their first salt-water trip in other 
 words, that it represents what would be the grilse stage in the 
 true salmon. 1 
 
 One reason why the natural history of the bull trout is not 
 so well understood as that of the salmon is doubtless its com- 
 parative rarity ; another is its inferiority both for the market 
 and as a ' sporting fish.' Indeed, Lord Home, who writes with 
 unequalled authority as regards the Salmonidce of the Tweed, 
 has put it on record that in his opinion ' a clean bull trout, in 
 good condition, is scarcely ever known to take fly or bait of 
 any description, and it is the same in the Esk at Dalkeith. ' 
 Lord Home continues : ' I believe I have killed as many 
 indeed, I may venture to say, I have killed more salmon with 
 the rod than any one man ever did, and yet put them all together, 
 I am sure I have not killed twenty clean bull trout. Of bull 
 trout kelts thousands may be killed.' 
 
 I have been so far more lucky than Lord Home, having 
 caught clean bull trout in good condition, and, indeed, with 
 the marks of the tide lice still on them, not once, but, I may 
 say, scores of times. They will not, however, in my experi- 
 ence, rise to the fly or take the minnow with any degree of 
 readiness, and the bait with which I have had my success has 
 always been a lobworm, used as described under the head of 
 worm fishing for salmon. 
 
 The more common weight of the bull trout is under fifteen 
 pounds, but it is sometimes taken weighing as much as twenty 
 or even twenty-five pounds. When a clean fish of this size 
 happens to be hooked it makes a splendid fight, dashing itself 
 repeatedly into the air and yielding to its fate only after an ex- 
 haustive conflict, in which it is aided by the size and great 
 muscular development of the fins, which are larger than those 
 of the salmon. 
 
 Indeed, although, as observed, in a double point of view 
 
 1 This average is larger than that of the bull-trout grilse in the Tweed t 
 which are said to weigh from 2 to 4 or 5 Ibs. Most probably, however, 
 different rivers differ somewhat in this particular.
 
 150 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 inferior to both the salmon and sea trout, if we can only induce 
 him to try conclusions with us the bull trout is a splendid 
 fellow a ' foeman worthy of our steel.' There is a breadth of 
 build and general strengthiness about him which is not belied 
 by the gallantry and determination with which he shows fight 
 when brought to bay. I think he dies harder than even the 
 salmon the Bayard of the water, sans feur et sans reproche. 
 Indeed, he is better built for fighting in some respects, being 
 shorter, thicker, and generally more muscular more bull-like, 
 in fact, in appearance, as his name denotes 
 
 I have pointed out the comparative rarity of the bull trout 
 as contrasted with the salmon proper, but it is very likely that 
 it exists in many more rivers than those chronicled by ichthyo- 
 logists, and indeed that it is in many cases mistaken by local 
 anglers for the salmon. The river in which it is best known 
 and where its habits have been probably most studied is the 
 Tweed, where it is as abundant as either the salmon or sea 
 trout. Lord Home gives the following observations on the 
 habits of the Tweed bull trout : 
 
 ' The bull trout has increased in numbers in the Tweed 
 prodigiously within the last forty years, and to that increase I 
 attribute the decrease of salmon trout or whitling for the 
 whitling in the Tweed was the salmon trout, not the young bull 
 trout, which now go by the name of trouts simply. The bull 
 trout take the river at two seasons. The first shoal come up 
 about the end of April and May. They are then small, weigh- 
 ing from two to four or five pounds. The second, and by far the 
 more numerous shoal, come late in November. They then come 
 up in thousands, and are not only in fine condition, but of a 
 much larger size, weighing from six to twenty pounds. The 
 bull trout is an inferior fish, and is exactly what is called, at 
 Dalkeith and Edinburgh, Musselburg trout. 
 
 'The great shoal of bull trout not taking the river till after 
 the commencement of close time, are in a great measure lost 
 both to the proprietor and the public,' 
 
 Yarrell, however, speaking of the bull trout generally,
 
 NA TURAL HISTOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 1 5 1 
 
 appears to differ from this view, as it is evident that if the fish 
 do not run up the rivers till November, they spawn later than 
 the^salmon ; whereas Yarrell asserts on the contrary that ' they 
 ascend rivers for the purpose of spawning, in the same manner 
 as the salmon, but earlier in the season ; and the fry are believed 
 to go down to the sea sooner than the fry of the salmon.' 
 This discrepancy is possibly to be explained by the different 
 habits of fish of different waters. 
 
 Amongst the localities in which the bull trout is known to 
 exist may be mentioned some of the streams of Devonshire and 
 Cornwall, the Severn, the Usk, and several of the rivers of 
 South Wales (where it is called the Sewin), and according to 
 Dr. Heysham, in some of the Cumberland waters debouching 
 into the Sohvay Frith. In Ireland it occurs very generally on 
 either side of the northern portion of the island ; and Killala 
 Bay," Donaghadee, Florence Court, Beleek, Crawfordsburn, 
 Nanny Water, Ballyhalbert, and Dundrum are all referred to 
 by Thompson as places whence he had obtained specimens. 
 Sir William Jardine mentions the bull trout as being found in 
 the Annan, Dumfriesshire ; and Mr. Low recognised it as an 
 inhabitant of the Loch of Stenness, Orkney. The Liddel, 
 which runs through Roxburghshire, appears to have been once 
 renowned for this fish. Sir Walter Scott, in his notes to the 
 ' Lay of the Last Minstrel,' quotes an old rhyme celebrating the 
 places in Liddesdale remarkable for game : 
 
 Billhope braes for bucks and racs, 
 
 And Carit haugh for swine ; 
 And Tarras for the good Bull Trout, 
 
 If he be ta'en in time. 
 
 4 The bucks and roes, as well as the old swine, are now extinct 
 but the good bull trout is still famous.' 
 
 It has been asserted that the trout of the celebrated Coquet, 
 commonly spoken of as ' Coquet trout,' are, in fact, the bull 
 trout, but the ' Kelso Mail ' criticises the assertion as being wholly 
 inaccurate. 'The Coquet trout,' says the writer of the article,
 
 iS2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 1 is the common yellow fin, or Salmo fario, and the bull trout 
 are the salmon of the river. There are no true salmon, Sal/no 
 salar, in Coquet, the only sea fish frequenting the river being 
 bull trout ; but with Coquet-side fishermen the terms salmon 
 and bull trout are synonymous : hence " salmon " with them 
 means Salmo eroix, or bull trout, and " trout " Salmo fario, or 
 common river trout.' 
 
 Principal Characteristics of the Bull-Trout. Length of head compared to 
 body only, as i to 4 ; general form of body similar to that of the salmon, but 
 nape of neck and shoulders thicker, and fleshy portion of tail and base of each 
 of the fins more muscular. Teeth of female smaller than those of male. 
 Elongation of lower jaw confined to the males only, but not so conspicuous as in 
 the salmon. Scales rather smaller and more numerous than those of a salmon 
 of equal size. Colour : when in good condition, like that of the salmon trout ; 
 at spawning time, (in the males] head olive-brown, body reddish or orange 
 brown ; (in \.hefema!es) blackish grey ; in both fish the back fins reddish brown, 
 spotted with darker brown, tail fins dark brown, the other fins dusky brown. 
 Vertebrae commonly 59, occasionally 60. 
 
 Fin rays: D. n: P. 14: V. 9 : A. n: C. 19. 
 
 The following were the principal dimensions of a very hand- 
 some specimen which I had sent up to me from the Tweed : 
 Total length, tail fin included, two feet four and a half inches, 
 girth at shoulder, just behind head, fourteen and a half inches, 
 weight eight and a half pounds. 
 
 THE SEA TROUT OR SALMON TROUT 
 (Sal/no tnitta). 
 
 Passing now to the last of our silver or migratory group, 
 we come to the sea trout, or as it is sometimes called salmon 
 trout, Salmo trutta, a fish much more frequently met with than 
 the preceding species and as a food fish ranking ' with, but after ' 
 the salmon, with which, also, owing to the general similarity of 
 its habits, it is included in all statutory restrictions. 
 
 Under a separate heading in this article the marks by 
 which the sea trout can be most readily distinguished from 
 the salmon and bull trout are given in detail, and beyond this 
 it need only be observed generally that in appearance it is
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONlDsE. 153 
 
 somewhat rounder or more tapering than either of its con- 
 geners, the form of the gill lids and proportions of the tail 
 beirtg intermediate between the two. The scales are also re- 
 latively smaller. 
 
 Indigenous in almost all salmon or bull-trout rivers, and 
 frequently abounding in streams which produce neither the 
 one nor the other, there is no fish that swims which, when in 
 the taking mood, will rise so boldly at the fly, or make a 
 pluckier or more brilliant fight. 
 
 In the division which I have adopted between the white or 
 migratory species of trout and the yellow or non-migratory 
 species, the sea trout is the only one about which any difficulty 
 of identification is likely to arise. The difference in colour 
 between the/aria and the truttaihe one being silver and the 
 other golden or yellow is usually too obvious to admit of 
 doubt ; but, especially when confined for a long time in a lake 
 or loch, sometimes the sea trout gets bronzed and acquires a 
 colour not very unlike that of the common trout. If a doubt 
 as to the species should thus arise a reference to the teeth on 
 the Tomer or central bone on the roof of the mouth will decide the 
 point. These teeth in the common trout as also in the great 
 lake trout run in two distinct rows, whilst in the sea trout they 
 run only in a single row. It is to be observed, however, that 
 teeth require to be closely examined, as in the case of the sea 
 trout the points bend alternately to either side, so as to pre- 
 sent rather the appearance of a thinly planted double row ; 
 whilst in the common trout the two lines of teeth are placed so 
 that a space in one row has a tooth opposite it in the other, 
 making the difference appear at first sight to be little more than 
 one of comparative closeness in the setting of the teeth. 
 
 In regard to the position of these vomerine teeth, the en- 
 graving of the mouth of the common trout, given farther on in 
 this article, is somewhat inaccurate, resembling, in fact, more 
 nearly the appearance of the single row seen in the mouth of 
 the sea trout. 
 
 The usual weight of the sea trout runs from one to three or
 
 154 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 four pounds, but larger specimens are constantly met with ; 
 one, for example, a male, was taken in July 1840, at Sanstill 
 fishery, on the Tweed, thirty-seven inches in length, twenty- 
 two inches in girth, and which weighed twenty-four and a half 
 pounds, and in November 1846, one of forty inches in length, 
 weighing twenty-one and a half pounds, was caught in the 
 Tame, near Drayton Manor, and presented by Sir Robert Peel 
 to Professor Owen. 
 
 Scotland produces the sea trout in great abundance, and 
 throughout almost the whole of Ireland it is widely distributed. 
 In Wales also it is frequently met with, as well as in some of the 
 Devonshire streams and in those of Cumberland and Cornwall. 
 On the banks of the rivers falling into the Solway Frith the 
 sea trout is called, in its grilse state, a hiding, 1 and in Wales 
 and Ireland it commonly goes under the name of white trout. 
 It is believed to be the 'Fordwich trout' of Izaak Walton, so 
 named from a village on the Stour, near Canterbury, where it 
 still maintains its reputation for being ' rare good meat ' 
 according, at least, to the reports of those who have tasted 
 it from the Ramsgate market. M'Culloch mentions that it 
 is found in a fresh-water lake in Lesinore, one of the Hebrides, 
 where it has existed for many years, precluded from ever visiting 
 the sea, but apparently quite reconciled to its prison, and breed- 
 ing freely. 
 
 If it could be really introduced and found to thrive and 
 propagate in closed pools or lochs, what a splendid addition 
 the Salmo trutta would be to our lake fish. 
 
 Principal Characteristics of the Sea Trout. Length of hpad compared to 
 body only, ns i to 4; depth of body compared to whole length of fish also as 
 i to 4. Teeth small and numerous, in five rows on upper surface of mouth, 
 those on the vomer, or central bone in roof of mouth, generally extending 
 some distance along it, the points turning outwards alternately to either side ; 
 one row on each side of under jaw, and three or four strong, sharp and curved 
 teeth on each side of tongue. Lateral line very nearly straight. Scales adher- 
 ing closely, in form rather a longer oval than those of the salmon. Colour 
 
 1 In some parts of Scotland, as on the Lochy, for example, the young sea 
 trout, or hiding, goes by the name of the phinnock, or finnock ; and it is, I 
 have every reason to believe, the ' red fin ' of some of the rivers of North Wales 
 so called from an orange or reddy tip to the adipose fin.
 
 NA TURAL HIS TOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONIDJE. 1 5 5 
 
 when in season : upper part of head and body bluish black, lighter on sides, 
 which are marked (principally above the lateral line) with numerous spots 
 somewhat resembling in form the letter X. Lower part of sides and belly, 
 cheeks, and gill covers silvery white ; back tins and tail nearly same colour as 
 back ; pectoral fins small, and bluish white ; anal fin and ventral fins white. 
 Vertebra; 58. 
 
 Fin rays : D. 12: P. 13: V. 9 : A. 10: C. 19. 
 
 DISTINCTIVE MARKS OF SALMON, BULL TROUT, 
 AND SEA TROUT. 
 
 The points upon which ichthyologists principally rely in 
 distinguishing between the three species composing the migra- 
 tory Salmonida of the British Islands are the form of the gill 
 covers, the arrangement of the teeth, the shape and relative 
 position of the tail and of the fins, and the colouring. 
 
 A represents the firc-oj>ercnlum, or fore gill cover ; B, the oferculnm, or gill cover 
 
 or intermediate gill cover ; E, the branchiostegous rays, or gill rays. 
 
 To begin with the form of the gill covers or opercida, which 
 consist of four pieces, three movable, and one. the pre-oper- 
 culicui fixed. These afford the readiest, and probably the surest 
 mode of distinguishing between the true salmon, sahno salar, 
 and the sea or salmon trout. Salino tnitfa. In the former the 
 hinder margin of the whole gill cover forms almost a semicircle, 
 whilst in the latter it approaches more nearly a right angle, or 
 a semicircle with a slice taken off the circumference above and
 
 1 5 6 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 belo\v. In both species the shape of the gill cover differs some- 
 what from that of the bull trout, and also from that of the 
 yellow trout (fario), the shape of the gill cover in which last- 
 named species is shown in the engraving on page 155. 
 
 The difference in the position c. of the teeth, again furnishes 
 a ready test for distinguishing the sea trout from the true salmon 
 and from the bull trout. In the sea trout the teeth on the vomer, 
 or central bone in the roof of the mouth (marked A in engraving) 
 are more numerous than in either of the other species, and 
 often remain, as shown, extending a considerable distance along 
 
 the bone, whilst in the true salmon and in the bull trout they 
 are almost all lost upon the first migration to the sea, and only 
 two or three left on the most forward end of the bone. Even 
 these teeth, in very old fish, are frequently reduced to a single 
 representative, or entirely disappear. 
 
 In the sea trout also, however, the teeth on the vomer 
 diminish in numbers as the fish gets older, and will often be 
 found in a cluster only at the end of the bone ; but they are 
 always retained in greater numbers than in the true salmon and 
 bull trout. The teeth generally of the sea trout are also finer
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 157 
 
 and more numerous than in the other two species, the bull trout 
 possessing the longest and strongest of the three fish, and the 
 salmon those of medium size short, stout, and pointed. 
 
 Thirdly, as to fins. The shape and size of the tail fins are 
 a less certain test in some respects than the teeth, as they vary 
 
 A, the pectoral or breast fins (so called from their being placed on the breast or 
 shoulder of the fish) ; E E, the dorsal or back fins ; n, the ventral fins (named 
 from their position on the belly); c, the anal fin (placed close behind the anal 
 aperture) ; D, the caitdal or tail fin ; F marks the lateral or side line. 
 
 much in different stages of growth. They will, however, be 
 found a great aid to other distinguishing characteristics. They 
 are usually as follows : 
 
 SALMON'. 
 
 Tail fin : deeply forked 
 when young, less so 
 at third year : at fifth 
 year nearly or quite 
 square. 
 
 BULL TROUT. 
 
 Becomes square at an 
 earlier period than in 
 salmon, and after- 
 wards gradually con- 
 vex. 
 
 SEA TROUT. 
 
 Less forked than in 
 salmon of same age ; 
 becomes ultimately 
 square. Tail shorter 
 and smaller than in 
 salmon. 
 
 The shape and position of the other fins likewise differ, as 
 will be seen by a comparison of the descriptions which follow: 
 
 SALMON. 
 
 Dorsal fin : Hinder ori- 
 gin about half-way be- 
 tween point of nose 
 and end of tail fin. 
 Third ray longest. 
 
 Adipose fin : Hinder 
 origin half -way be- 
 tween origin of last 
 back-fin ray and end 
 of tail fin. 
 
 BULL TROUT. 
 
 Commences about half- 
 way between po ; nt of 
 nose and origin of 
 unper tail fin rays. 
 Base of dorsal longer 
 than longest ray. 
 
 Xearer to end of tail fin 
 than to origin of last 
 dorsal-fin rav. 
 
 SEA TROUT. 
 
 Hinder origin exactly 
 half-way between point 
 of nose and end of 
 tail fin. Second ray 
 longest ; same length 
 as base of fin. 
 
 Half-way between origin 
 of last ray of back fin 
 and end of tail fin.
 
 158 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 To the above it may be added, that in the salmon the pectoral fin equals 
 two-thirds of length of head, whilst in the bull trout it equals little more than 
 half the anal fin also in the former commencing about half-way between origin 
 of ventral fins and origin of lower tail fin rays, and in the latter nearer to the 
 tail. Lastly the fins of the bull trout are more muscul-ir and larger in propor- 
 tion to the rest of its body than those in either of the other species. 
 
 In regard to colouring, the bull trout is thickly spotted with 
 brown over the back and sides both above and below the 
 lateral line, and even to the tip of the dorsal fin, which in 
 the salmon is seldom or ever marked with more than a few 
 ' splotches,' and those close to the base of the fin. 
 
 In the sea trout the dorsal fin is generally spotted like that 
 of the bull trout though not quite so thickly. 
 
 A comparison between the characteristics given of the 
 salmon, bull trout, and sea trout, with those of the non-migra- 
 tory division the common or brown trout, the great lake 
 trout and the charr will probably enable the fisherman to dis- 
 tinguish readily between them. The general colouring, more- 
 over, affords in most cases a good rough and ready guide : that 
 of the first or migratory group is always more or less greyish 
 silver, and that of the second golden or yellow with, in the 
 case of the charrs, an occasional dash of crimson and orange 
 of various degrees of brilliancy on the belly. 
 
 The charrs are, unfortunately, so seldom captured by the 
 rod and line that they are objects more of interest to the ich- 
 thyologist than to the fly fisher. 
 
 The Sea Trout is the last of the Silver, or Migratory, Group 
 of British Salmonidie. We now come to the second division, 
 viz. the Non-migratory species of the family, in which are in- 
 cluded the Common or Yellow Trout, Sahno fario , the Great 
 Lake or Grey Trout, Salmo ferox ; the Charrs, the Grayling, and 
 some other local species of no interest from an angling point 
 of view.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMON ID.E. 159 
 
 THE COMMON OR YELLOW TROUT 
 (Salmo fario}. 
 
 This species, the mainstay and principal resource of the 
 fly fisher, is so well known, and is so widely distributed over 
 the whole of the British Islands, as to make any detailed de- 
 scription of its appearance or habitats superfluous. Indeed, so 
 far as the former is concerned, it would be practically impos- 
 sible ; as its colour and shape except in the points already 
 referred to are susceptible of infinite difference, and vary as 
 much as the qualities of the waters (whether in sources or 
 feeders), geological strata of the beds, and nature and quantity 
 of food found in the brooks, streams, rivers, ponds, lynns, 
 and lakes, where it is bred. 
 
 Inhabiting such an infinite range of varying waters this 
 diversity of colouring is, in fact, a defence given by nature to 
 the trout for its preservation. Were its colour more uniform 
 or unchangeable, the fish would be so plainly visible in dif- 
 ferent waters or soils as to fall an obvious prey to its enemies, 
 whether biped or quadruped. In fact, experiments have shown 
 that the changes of colour are a question of minutes rather 
 than of days and weeks. Upon its transfer from a light to a 
 dark coloured vessel, or vice versa, the hue of the trout under- 
 goes an instant alteration, and in a very short time assimilates 
 itself more or less perfectly to that of its new domicile. Thus, 
 for instance, the trout of Lynn Ogwin, almost the whole bottom 
 of which is formed of grass, have, when first caught, a brilliant 
 emerald gloss over their golden and yellow tints ; and although 
 the waters are of the utmost clearness and the lake swarming 
 with fish, I was never able in any one instance to distinguish 
 these from their surrounding green. Again on the Spean 
 Water, Inverness, there are several small tarns in which I have 
 frequently taken fish almost the colour of ink ; yet these 
 tarns actually join the Spean, where many of the trout are of a 
 fine rich yellow the cause of the difference being that the
 
 r6o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 river has at this point a bed of gravel, whilst the tarns are 
 floored with a deep deposit of bog mud. A similar peculiarity 
 has been noticed as regards the black-moss trout of Loch 
 Knitching ; and Loch Katrine produces a small description of 
 very dark trout, which probably owe their discolouration, as in 
 many other lochs, to the drainage of the bog moors. 
 
 Even on different sides of the same river I have found 
 complete differences in the colour and also in the edible quali- 
 ties of the trout, depending on the nature of the bottom soil ; 
 and a similar example, in the case of the fish of a small Irish 
 lake in the county of Monaghan, is mentioned by the author 
 of ' Wild Sports of the West.' One shore was ' bounded by a 
 bog, the other by a dry gravelly surface. On the bog side the 
 trout are of the dark and shapeless species peculiar to "moorish" 
 loughs, whilst the other affords the beautiful and sprightly 
 variety generally inhabiting rapid and sandy streams. Narrow 
 as the lake is, the fish appear to confine themselves to their 
 respective limits the red trout being never found upon the 
 bog moiety of the lake, nor the black where the under surface 
 is hard gravel.' 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, this almost infinite range of 
 variety in the yellow trout, depending upon local circumstances 
 of food, &c., we have only one really distinct species common 
 to both running and still waters, viz. Salmo fario, and one in- 
 digenous to lakes and similar situations, viz. the great lake 
 trout, Salmo ferox. 
 
 Dr. Gunther, of the British Museum, has ' recognised ' 
 another separate species in the well-known Loch Leven trout 
 of Scotland, to which he gives the name of Salmo levenensis. ' I 
 
 1 The Loch Leven trout spawn in January, February, and March. I have 
 had opportunities of examining many specimens of the Loch Leven trout, and 
 their characters agreed closely with those given by Dr. Parnell from a specimen 
 one foot in length. Of these the principal were : 
 
 Head a little more than one-fifth of the whole length, tail fin included. Depth of 
 body at the deepest part about equal to length of head. Gill cover produced behind ; 
 lower margin of operculum oblique ; pre-operculum rounded ; end of the superior maxil- 
 lary bone extending as far back as the hinder margin of the orbit. Commencement of 
 back fin half way between point of upper jaw and a point a little beyond the fleshy 
 poition of the tail. End of back fin even, sometimes concave. Pectoral fins pointed
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 161 
 
 was myself formerly of opinion, without perhaps sufficiently close 
 examination, that there was probably ground for the distinction, 
 but> having since visited Loch Leven and examined a large 
 number of its trout, I really do not think with great deference 
 to the authority of so distinguished an ichthyologist as Dr. 
 Gunther that there is enough evidence for considering Sal/no 
 levenensis as other than a variety and, it must be admitted, 
 a very beautiful and 'sporting' variety of the common trout. 
 Its excellent flavour and sporting qualities, as well as, very pos- 
 sibly, the more permanent differences noticed by Dr. Gunther, 
 are due to the abundance of small red shell fish on which it to 
 a great extent exists. Some ichthyological authorities would 
 make a distinct species out of the Gillaroo trout, &c., but 
 the fact is all these variations are produced by the wonderful 
 'plasticity' of nature in adapting fish, as well as other animals 
 to the conditions of climate, food, &c., in which they have to 
 exist. 
 
 The remarkable variation, for example, in the Gillaroo con- 
 sists in the thickening of the coats of the stomach, so as to 
 afford increased muscular power for dealing with its peculiar 
 shell-fish food. It has been said to be recognised in Lough 
 Neagh, the largest of the Irish lakes, as well as Loughs Boffin, 
 
 when expanded ; in common rounded. Tail fin long, rather narrow, and concave at the 
 end. Tail-fin rays much longer than in the common trout, and pointed at the upper and 
 lower extremities, whilst in the latter they are rounded. Teeth stout, sharp, and 
 curved slightly inwards, situated as in the common trout. In the specimen described by 
 Dr. Parnell there were 32 in the upper jaw, 18 on the lower, 12 on each palatine bone, 
 13 on the vomer, or central bone in roof of mouth, and 8 on the tongue. Scales small, 
 thick, and adherent, when dry exhibiting a small ridge in the centre of each, not perceived 
 in the common trout ; 24 in an oblique row between middle back-fin ray and lateral line. 
 Pyloric ca;ca from 60 to So. Colours: back deep olive green; sides lighter; belly 
 inclining to yellow ; pectoral fins orange, tipped with grey ; back- and tail-fins dusky ; 
 ventral and anal fins lighter. Gill cover (in the specimen described by Dr. Parnell) with 
 9 round dark spots ; body above lateral line with 70 spots, below it 10 ; back fin thickly 
 marked with similar spots. Foreign extremities of anal and back fins without the 
 oblique dark bands so constant and conspicuous in many of the common trout. Flesh 
 deep red. The Loch Leven trout has never any red spots, and the common trout is 
 scarcely ever without them. Fin rays : D. 12 : P. 12 : V. 9 : A. 10 : C. 19. 
 
 'These fish,' says Dr. Parnell, ' do not appear to be peculiar to Loch Leven, 
 as I have seen specimens that were taken in iorne of the lakes in the county of 
 Sutherland, with several other trout which were too hastily considered as mere 
 varieties of Salmo fario. It is more than probable that the Scottish lakes 
 produce several species of trout known at present by the name of Salmo fariu, 
 and which remain to be further investigated. 
 
 I. M
 
 1 62 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Corrib, Mask, and some others ; and, according to Stoddart, 
 also in Lochs Muloch, Corrig, and Assynt in Scotland. 
 
 In a specimen examined by Mr. Yarrell, the number 
 of rays of the back fin was less by two than in the more ordi- 
 nary specimens of the common trout, but the numbers of all 
 the other fin rays, as well as of the vertebrae, were identical. 
 
 Variations and deformities amongst trout have been noticed 
 from time to time which their discoverers have doubtless 
 been pleased to chronicle as separate species ; for instance, 
 there is the Botling, mentioned by Dr. Davy as inhabiting 
 Wastwater, Cumberland, which attains a weight of ten or twelve 
 pounds, and is found in the autumn ascending the lake streams 
 for the purpose of spawning. In form it is short and deep, 
 with the lower jaw much hooked, or curved upwards, and, when 
 full grown, its girth considerably exceeds its length. In the 
 arrangement of its teeth and spots it resembles closely the 
 ordinary trout. 
 
 Another singular variety is the ' hog-backed trout ' of Plin- 
 limmon, a fish not altogether unlike the perch in form, and there 
 is also the deformed trout of Lochdow, Inverness-shire, in which 
 the lower jaw protrudes a long way beyond the upper. This fish 
 was supposed to be confined to Lochdow, but I caught similar 
 trout with the fly in 1862 in a mountain tarn of the same county, 
 called Roy, or Roi, from which the picturesque little salmon 
 river so named takes its source. The elevation of the loch 
 above the sea level is considerable, and its appearance striking, 
 as it is situated directly below an almost perpendicular cliff, at 
 the base of which it forms a sort of lynn or caldron. In some 
 parts it is very shallow but in others the water is black, and 
 apparently of immense depth ; whilst what seems to be the 
 edge of the declivity between the two is bordered, far out in 
 the pool, by a semicircular sweep of bulrushes cut as sharply 
 as if with a knife. 
 
 To the trout of Carraclwddy pools, near Rhayader, has 
 been attributed the singular propensity of croaking indeed, the 
 ' croaking trout of Carraclwddy pools ' are regarded as amongst
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 163 
 
 the local lions. A writer who visited the pools some years ago 
 as an investigator avouches the croaking. ' When first taken,' 
 he says, ' and even after they have been in the basket for some 
 time, they do decidedly utter a peculiar croak, which the natives 
 attribute to their having been bewitched by the monks of Strata- 
 florida Abbey ; others again assert that it is an attempt to 
 speak Welsh ! ' Although owing to the colour of the water which 
 niters through the peat these trout are nearly black, the spots 
 are of rich crimson and well defined, and the fins edged with 
 the same colour. They will take the fly, it appears, three or 
 four at a time, and thus afford unlimited sport to those who 
 care for numbers more than size. When cooked the flavour of 
 Carraclwddy trout is delicious, and Lord Lismore, to whom 
 the pools belong, has large quantities of them potted, when 
 connoisseurs consider them equal to charr. 
 
 Instances of such varieties might easily be multiplied, but 
 whenever there can be any reasonable doubt as to their specific 
 distinctions I am all for simplifying rather than for complicating. 
 The fewer unnecessary species that are created by ichthyologists, 
 the more chance has ichthyology of becoming generally popular, 
 especially amongst fishermen. 
 
 In regard to each of the two admittedly distinct species a 
 few general observations will probably enable the reader to 
 distinguish them without the necessity of resorting to a minute 
 comparison. 
 
 We have not in the present case the same prominent 
 differences in the teeth, shape of the gill covers, c., by which 
 the migratory trout and salmon are so clearly defined, and for 
 ready points of distinction we must rely upon colour, external 
 proportion, and localities ; these however will generally be 
 found sufficient for the purpose. Thus : 
 
 The common yellow trout breeds indifferently in brooks, 
 rivers, and lakes, whilst the great lake trout is never found except 
 in or close to lakes (generally large and deep). 
 
 The common trout is almost always spotted over the body 
 with crimson, the spots in the great lake trout being in each 
 case surrounded by a paler ring, sometimes of a reddish hue. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 The flesh of the great lake trout is generally orange yellow, 
 and that of the common trout pink or white, according to the 
 nature of the water and the condition of the fish. 
 
 The disproportionate size of the head in the great lake trout 
 is very remarkable, it being little less than one-fourth of the 
 total length of the fish, tail fin included ; whilst in the common 
 trout it is not much more than one-fifth. The length of the 
 head in the great lake trout is also greater than the depth of 
 the body at the deepest part, whilst in the common trout it is 
 usually less, 
 
 The tail fin in the great lake trout is nearly ' square' at the 
 end, and is considerably wider than the widest part of the body, 
 whereas in \\\efario it is very obviously narrower than the same 
 measurement. 
 
 It may be further noticed as a mark of distinction between 
 the two species of Trout and their congeners, the Charrs, 
 inter se, that besides the orange and red colours of the latter, 
 Trout are recognisable by the characteristic of having two 
 complete rows of teeth on the vomer, or central bone in the 
 roof of the mouth, whilst in the Charrs the vomer has only a 
 few teeth, and those on the most forward part. The Grayling, 
 though belonging to the same family, is yet so totally different 
 in shape, colour, &c., that it is never likely to be mistaken for 
 any of the other species. 
 
 By a little attention to the foregoing points the young fisher- 
 man will speedily acquire a knowledge of the proper names of 
 the several species of Salmomdce, and be able to recognise them 
 when he sees them on the river bank. 
 
 As to the size attainable by the trout under favourable condi- 
 tions it is very difficult to speak with certainty, the more so as, 
 owing to the very general absence of ichthyological know- 
 ledge on the part of fishermen, they are very apt to confound 
 the yellow trout (Salmo fario) with the Great Lake trout (Sal/no 
 ferox), and, perhaps, not unfrequently also with one or other of 
 the migratory species which have got bronzed by remaining a 
 considerable time in fresh water. 
 
 Amongst rivers producing exceptionally large trout the
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONIDsE. 165 
 
 Thames is, of course, one of the best known, and here fish up 
 to ten pounds or twelve pounds weight are by no means rare. 
 Indeed, I have before me an authentic record of a trout, taken 
 in the Thames, which weighed twenty-three pounds and a half, 
 and which is now, or was some years ago, preserved at the 
 cottage of George Keen, fisherman, of Weybridge. This fish 
 was taken at Shepperton Weir, if I remember rightly, with a 
 spinning bait. At any rate the specimen is, no doubt, still 
 extant to bear testimony in favour of its own authenticity. 
 I have referred to another at Laleham, which weighed twenty- 
 one pounds, and one of sixteen pounds and a half was taken 
 by Mr. John Harris, landlord of the ' Lincoln Arms,' Weybridge, 
 at Laleham, in 1822. 
 
 Many other English waters besides the Thames produce 
 very large trout. I have caught some heavyish specimens 
 myself in the Hampshire Avon, above Ringwood, and at Herd- 
 cott House, near Salisbury, there is preserved the skin of a 
 (rout taken from a tributary running through that town, which 
 weighed twenty-five pounds, and measured four feet two inches 
 and a half in length, its girth being two feet one inch. 
 
 This leviathan is probably the fish alluded to in the ' Trans- 
 actions of the Linnean Society 'as being caught on the nth 
 of January, 1822, in a brook some ten feet wide at the back of 
 Castle Street, Salisbury. Mr. Powell, at the bottom of whose 
 garden it was discovered, placed it in a pond, where it was 
 fed for four months, until it died, when it was found that it 
 had decreased in weight to twenty-one pounds and a qnarter. 
 
 Lord Craven had some years ago a fresh-water trout of 
 seventeen pounds from his stews in Berkshire. The trout had 
 been known in the stew for eight years. In the neighbourhood 
 of Downton on the Avon, a trout was caught with the fly by a 
 Mr. Bailey which weighed fourteen pounds ; and in a small 
 tributary of the Trent, at Drayton Manor, one was taken ex- 
 ceeding in weight twenty-one pounds. A portrait of this fish 
 is still in the possession of the family of the late Sir Robert 
 PeeL A male fresh-water non-migratory trout of thirty pounds
 
 1 66 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 weight, from Lough Neagh, Ireland, was cooked at Brooks's 
 Club, in October 1832. It was beautifully spotted, and its 
 flesh of good colour and flavour. The length of this fish was 
 forty inches, and its girth twenty-four inches. 
 
 But here the difficulty above alluded to in distinguishing 
 between the specimens of the Salmo fario and the Salmo ferox 
 occurs, and in the absence of scientific verification leaves it in 
 doubt to which of the two species this monster trout may have 
 really belonged. 
 
 This confusion appears to extend sometimes even to the 
 salmon, for, when I was last at Staines, there was at the Swan 
 Inn, a picture of a huge Thames trout which was taken at 
 Shepperton, by Mr. George Marshall, of Brewer Street, London, 
 on the 3rd of October, 1812, with a single-gut line and no 
 landing net ; weight twenty-one pounds. The following was 
 the subscription : ' A Thames Salmon \ ' The picture, which 
 was not badly done, represents all the usual characteristics of 
 a large Thames trout, except the tail, which was drawn square 
 at the end ; from the age of the fish I should naturally have 
 expected it to have been round. . . . Possibly this Thames 
 trout had not eaten enough whitebait to develop aldermanic 
 proportions. 
 
 The trout is very rapidly affected by the nature of its food, 
 as is well known to those who have compared the flesh of trout 
 after and before the ' May fly season.' Some interesting ex- 
 periments, by Mr. Stoddart, made in order to ascertain the 
 relative fish nourishment to be extracted from different descrip- 
 tions of food, have been put on record. The trout to be 
 experimented upon were put in three separate tanks, and in 
 one the fish were fed daily upon worms, in another upon live 
 minnows, and in the third upon flies of various kinds. The 
 result was, that the fish fed on the worms grew slowly, and had 
 a lean appearance those dieted upon minnows became much 
 larger, whilst such as were fattened wholly upon flies attained in 
 a short space of time extraordinary dimensions, weighing twice 
 as much as both the others put together the bulk of food eaten
 
 NA TURAL HISTOR Y OF BRITISH SALMONWM. 1 67 
 
 by them being actually less. On another occasion trout were 
 kept for many years in a store stream, and tested with various 
 kinds' of diet, when it was ascertained that in some instances 
 the increase in weight was as much as nine pounds in four 
 years (or from one to ten pounds). 
 
 It is evident from these experiments that fish and grubs 
 bear no comparison with insect food in point of nourishment, 
 in consequence, no doubt, of the amount of phosphate of lime 
 contained in the latter ; and of the insects specially contributing 
 to fish food, probably most nutritious of all is the May fly, 
 which, when in the larval state, works havoc amongst the trout 
 ova on the spawning beds. 
 
 Recent piscicultural experiments have demonstrated the 
 great value of the fresh-water shrimp also as an article of fish 
 diet, and for feeding young fry on. 
 
 It was once my good fortune to have an opportunity of 
 verifying the growth rate of trout when fed upon this insect 
 which abounds in almost every stream and ditch where the 
 water is not too turbid. In its general structure the fresh- 
 water shrimp bears some resemblance to the common sand 
 hopper to which it is closely allied, and its movements in 
 the water increase the similitude. The author of the ' Fresh 
 and Salt Water Aquarium' (the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A.) says 
 they act much like fish in their habit of keeping their heads 
 up the stream, and in their general conduct look something 
 like the fry of various fish. 
 
 Sometimes they make their way up the stream by clinging to 
 the stones and other objects that form the bed of the stream, 
 making quick darts forward, and then holding tightly to a stone 
 until they choose to make a second dash onwards. When they 
 have gone up the stream as far as they think proper they loosen 
 their hold and come drifting back again, sometimes rolling over 
 and over, but generally contriving to keep their heads pointing up 
 the stream. In fact, they appear to amuse themselves by this 
 action, just as the gnats amuse themselves by dancing up and 
 down in the air. 
 
 The food of the fresh-water shrimp is usually decaying animal
 
 1 68 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 matter, and it can be attracted by sinking a piece of half-putrid 
 flesh in the water. When it is not engaged in active exertion, it 
 retires to some little crevice at the side of the stream, whence, 
 however, it keeps a careful watch so as to be able to dart out as 
 soon as it sees anything eatable. When removed from the water 
 the little creature is quite helpless, lying on its side, and merely 
 spinning round and round in its struggles a habit which has 
 gained for it the title of fresh-water shrimp. 
 
 But to my feeding experiments. At Encombe, in Dorset- 
 shire, the seat of the Earl of Eldon, there is an artificial pond 
 of two or three acres in extent facing the house. The pond is 
 paved with marble at the bottom and sides, and is supplied 
 with water from a small fountain fed from a spring in the 
 neighbouring valley, carried by an artificial tunnel under some 
 high hills. The pond is, for all practical purposes, stagnant ; 
 the fountain's supply not being more than equivalent to the 
 summer evaporation. From 1862 to 1864 this pond was 
 drained off and left absolutely dry, in order to kill the weeds 
 and clean the bottom. In 1864 the water was turned in again, 
 and in August of that year a number of artificially reared trout 
 of the same season's hatching, about three-quarters of an inch 
 long, were put into the pond. In August 1866, the pond was 
 again dried for cleansing purposes, when it was found that the 
 trout had grown in the space of two years to an amazing 
 extent four or five pounds being the smallest size, and a 
 weight of six pounds ten ounces having been attained in several 
 cases. 
 
 When visiting at Encombe in September of the following 
 year, I examined the pond at Lord Eldon's request with a view 
 to ascertaining to what cause, in the absence of any artificial 
 feeding, the extraordinary growth rate was to be attributed. 
 With the aid of a bucket and a rope, the explanation was not 
 hard to find : the whole pond was simply swarming with water 
 shrimps, and on questioning the keeper he assured me that 
 when the water in the pond was let off there were literally cart- 
 loads of these insects. My informant as to the facts and dates
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 169 
 
 was Lord Eldon, who also examined the keeper in my presence, 
 as v to the circumstances, whose account again was confirmed in 
 every respect by the corroborative testimony of Mr. Dickson, 
 one of Lord Eldon's stewards, who was cognisant of all the 
 facts of the case, and was also present and saw the fish weighed 
 when caught. 
 
 The only outlet to the pond is a small drain at one end up 
 tvhich nothing could practically pass, even if there were any 
 trout streams at hand with which it could be supposed to com- 
 municate. 
 
 It may be mentioned that the weight of the trout at the end 
 of the first year was from a quarter of a pound to half a pound. 
 
 In the 'New Sporting Magazine ' an interesting experiment 
 in trout growth was chronicled. The progressive weights of a 
 female fish, regularly fed and weighed during six consecutive 
 years, were as follows : 
 
 Date of Weighing 
 
 1835 
 
 1836 
 
 1837 
 
 1838 
 
 i339 
 
 1840 
 
 
 Ib. oz. 
 
 Ibs. oz. 
 
 Ibs. oz. 
 
 Ibs. oz. 
 
 Ibs. oz. 
 
 Ibs. oz. 
 
 April I . 
 
 O 12 
 
 I 12 
 
 3 4 
 
 5 4 
 
 7 o 
 
 7 4 
 
 October r 
 
 i 4 
 
 2 O 
 
 5 o 
 
 5 12 
 
 7 8 
 
 7 o 
 
 At the end of the six years the fish being observed to be 
 falling off in colour and condition was killed, when it was 
 found to weigh less by 4 oz. than it had done six months 
 previously. 
 
 The advent of the May fly gives the signal for the carnival 
 of the trout to begin, and they may be seen almost with their 
 noses out of water lying in wait to gulp down the succulent 
 morsels which the stream floats over them. It seems, there- 
 fore, that the bliss ascribed by the poet to our 
 
 . . . painted populace 
 That live.in fields and lead ambrosial lives 
 
 is not without its alloys. 
 
 The voracity of trout when in pursuit of its favourite food 
 sometimes leads to curious results. Dr. Gillespie once saw a
 
 i/o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 swallow from above and a trout from below dart upon the 
 same May fly : down came the swallow, and up came the open 
 mouth of the trout, into which, in pursuit of its prey, the 
 swallow pitched its head. The struggle to get separated was 
 short, but severe ; and the swallow was twice immersed, wings 
 and all, before it disentangled itself from the teeth of the 
 trout. I have myself known both swallows and bats to take the 
 artificial fly, and after an aerial combat to be ultimately netted 
 secnndum artem. 
 
 Although Ephemera vitlgaris has been called the May. or 
 'Day,' fly in common with its congeners, and, indeed, insects of 
 all kinds, it appears in greater numbers and exhibits increased 
 activity towards sunset. This, consequently, is usually the best 
 time for taking trout with the artificial fly, and especially 
 for the heavy fish, which until then lie concealed amongst 
 roots, under deep holes, and in other similar shelters. The 
 ' next best ' time is during the first freshness of the morning, 
 before the sun gets much power. 
 
 The fly fisher, in fact, cannot be too early or too late at the 
 water ; and I have often killed the best fish of the day when it 
 was so dark that I could hardly see my rod, and had entirely 
 lost sight of my flies. At both these times larger sized flies 
 may be used than at others. Small flies are preferable on hot 
 windless days, or when the water is bright and low. When 
 water is much discoloured with rain so as to become opaque, 
 fly fishing is useless. The two golden maxims are, first, to 
 keep as far from the bank, and as much out of sight as pos- 
 sible ; and, secondly, always to use finer tackle than anyone 
 else on the river and (your skill being equal) you will always 
 catch the most fish. 
 
 The latter end of October or November, and thence up to 
 the beginning of February, is the usual spawning time of 
 trout the operation, however, in each particular fish con- 
 tinuing only about eight days ; and at this period the under 
 jaw in old males exhibits in a modified degree the elongation 
 and upward curving characteristic of the male salmon at the
 
 NA TURAL HIS TOR Y OF BRITISH SA LMONID^E. \ 7 1 
 
 same time. From the experiments of Dr. Davy, elsewhere 
 commented upon, it appears probable that at least a propor- 
 tion "of trout, like some salmon, spawn only in alternate years. 
 The situation chosen for, and the mode of conducting the 
 spawning process are very similar to those noticed in the 
 salmon the eye. however, of the young fish becoming visible 
 in about three weeks, and the egg being usually hatched in 
 from forty to fifty days. 
 
 The yolk bag is absorbed in from three to five weeks ; and 
 in six weeks or two months the young fly are about an inch 
 long and able to shift for themselves. From this time their 
 growth is rapid or slow according to the nature and quantity of 
 their food and other local circumstances. 
 
 THE GREAT LAKE TROUT. 
 
 This fish is the ' Ullswater trout ' and ' grey trout ' of the 
 English lake district, and the ' Buddagh ' of Lough Neagh, 
 where the smaller fish bear the local name of ' dolachans.' 
 Though probably distributed throughout almost all the larger 
 and deeper lakes of Scotland, it is, perhaps, best known amongst 
 fishermen as the species for which Loch Awe is celebrated. 
 It is found, to my own knowledge in Lochs Ericht, Lochy, 
 Garry, and Laggan, and has also been recognised in Loch 
 Shin, Loch Rannock, in Lochs Loyal and Assynt, and amongst 
 some of the Orkney and Shetland Islands. 
 
 Besides Lough Neagh, the Great Lake trout is an inhabitant of 
 all the largest Irish lakes Loughs Mask, Melvin, Earn, Corrib, 
 &c. and is, in fact, almost wholly confined to similar great 
 lakes and deep extensive tracts of water, where it reigns in 
 more or less solitary grandeur, never leaving the lake except 
 for the purpose of spawning a process which commences 
 about September or October and then seldom venturing far 
 up or down the tributary lake streams. In the river Awe, for 
 example, the outlet from the lake best known in connection with
 
 1/2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 this species, they seldom pass the main ' hang or throat ' of 
 the river or one or two streams in connection with it. 
 
 I believe Great Lake trout to be essentially night feeders, 
 and that during the day they lie hidden under rocks and in 
 holes in the deepest water, only venturing into spots that are 
 ' fishable ' at the approach of evening. This is, perhaps, more 
 an act of necessity than of voluntaryism on the part of the lake 
 trout. Its food or at any rate a riot unimportant part con- 
 sists of small fish ; these are not to be found at any great depth 
 of water, but, on the contrary, on the sloping shores, up which, 
 therefore, the trout comes in search of them, stopping short of 
 the shallows. Its appetite is prodigious the stomachs of the 
 specimens that I have caught having been constantly found 
 literally gorged with food indeed, the specific name, ferox, has 
 been given to it in consequence of its fierceness and voracity, 
 which are such that, having once seized a bait, it will, like the 
 pike, allow itself to be dragged merely by its ' holding on ' for 
 forty or fifty yards, and when accidentally shaken off will im- 
 mediately seize it again. 
 
 I cannot forbear quoting here some observations on the 
 habits of this fish from the pen of an old friend of mine, now 
 no more, but whose delightful articles on fishing, under the 
 signature of ' Autochthon,' will, doubtless, be remembered with 
 pleasure by many readers of these pages. After alluding to the 
 question which ichthyologists have raised as to the distinct 
 species of the Great Lake trout, he continues : 
 
 Till the exigencies of an exact science are adequately worked 
 out, it must suffice to assume here that there is such a being as 
 the Great Lake trout, distinct from the other species and varieties 
 of the genus. . . . 
 
 Fcrox is quite an epicure in his diet, and playful as a kitten on 
 his own domestic hearth. In no stage of his existence can he well 
 be confounded with his cousins of the river. Even in his infancy 
 there is a breadth and freedom of outline in his configuration, 
 which distinguish him at once from relatives of the same age in 
 brook or streamlet. When viewed playing at their favourite game
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID^E. 173 
 
 of entomology, one of them exhibits a promise of future expansion 
 never presented by the other. Not but that the latter, under 
 favourable circumstances, is capable of reaching a considerable 
 weight and size ; but the larger he grows the less he really 
 resembles the Great Lake type. His increase is lateral rather than 
 longitudinal, as if the vertebrae refused to be parties in the process ; 
 and I have seen quadrilateral monsters of this type taken in small 
 bog lakes, which weighed from nine to ten pounds, though no more 
 than a dozen or fifteen inches long. But they were nasty tenchy 
 creatures to look at, bad for sport, and worse for the table. 
 
 Our old friend ferox, notwithstanding his bad name, never 
 makes a beast of himself in this fashion. No matter to what 
 stature he grows, he never, till age overtakes him, loses his noble 
 athletic and artistic proportions. In these characteristic qualities, 
 he vies with salar and trutta themselves. Into rivers or brooks, 
 except for the purpose of making them tributary to the propagation 
 of his young, he never condescends to wander. Even in the lower 
 reaches of rivers discharging into the lakes he inhabits, I have 
 never met him in the summer months. Neither will he answer 
 the call of inquisitive naturalists who expect to find him at home 
 in small loughs, though contiguous to or connected by stream or 
 river with large ones. Elbow- or, more correctly, fin-room he 
 must have, or he will not prosper. There would appear, indeed, 
 a certain ratio always to exist between him and the extent of water 
 he requires. In this he, of course, only conforms to the supposed 
 law of harmony which is said to prevail between all organisms 
 and external circumstances. But why other little fishes in the 
 same waters do not conform in the same way the philosophers do 
 not tell us. It is probably certain, however, that in lakes less than 
 three miles long, and half that in width, a genuine specimen of the 
 ferox will not be found. The physical features, too, of the ample 
 basin he loves to sport in, besides mere extent, have doubtless 
 much to do with his health and happiness. Shingle beaches, 
 marly bottoms, precipitous rocks, fathomless water valleys, and 
 corresponding elevations of sharps or sunken islands, to which in 
 the summer he resorts to have a charge at the sticklebacks, or a 
 tumble at his favourite ephemeridae, constitute some of the do- 
 mestic requirements for his full development. As a variety he has 
 no objection to a certain amount of bog shore ; but it is obvious it 
 does not agree well with his constitution his fine colours suffering 
 there, and his whole physiognomy becoming bilious and jaundiced.
 
 174 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 If brooks or rivers are not at hand, he and madam/erax provide 
 heirs to the estate in some nice gravelly or sandy creek of the lake. 
 For this I can answer, having frequently been a witness of their 
 connubial happiness, standing with hymeneal torch in hand over 
 the nuptial bed on a dark November night. How many seasons 
 the amiable couple may live to visit the gravel beds is rather a 
 difficult question to answer. The registry of births, deaths, and 
 marriages in such remote and obscure places as the depths of a 
 'great lake' furnishes but doubtful data for the statistics of the 
 ages of the population. Neither have we, in this case, the ' equine 
 marks' of the teeth, or the 'annual vegetable rings' to appeal to. 
 The probability is that the happy pair live to a good round age, 
 though it might be imprudent to reduce it to figures. The pounds 
 avoirdupois which they are found to weigh, after they attain a 
 respectable size, may possibly give a fair approximation to their 
 respective ages. 
 
 Sooner or later, however, the day of decline arrives. Fly 
 fishing or trolling, I have hooked during the season occasional 
 specimens of a long, tapering, large- headed animal ; all skin, bone, 
 and fins, like a flying fish, but languid in his movements, voracious 
 in his appetite, and seemingly indifferent to his fate. Shall the 
 melancholy fact be recorded? it is our once gallant friend, ferox, 
 who would in better days run out forty yards of line in a breath, 
 spring from the lowest depths of his domain above the surface with 
 fly or roach in his mouth, and contemptuously turn up his nose 
 half a dozen of times at a net or gaff; but now, alas, wabbling 
 about like a miserable snig in his dotage and decrepitude ! And 
 as if this were not sufficient humiliation for the pride and paragon 
 of inland waters, the rustic fishers, no more respectful of his cha- 
 racter than the ichthyologists, have combined to call him in this 
 state a ' piper.' Date obolum Belisario gently remove the hook 
 from his aged jaws ; return him safely to his native element, and 
 crown the deed of charity by sending after him as many loaches as 
 you can spare. When you next visit the lake you will probably 
 witness his obsequies performed and his bones picked by a merci- 
 less group of seagulls and scarecrows, screaming and howling over 
 his remains, as they are buffeted about by the waves. Such is the 
 natural end of ferox full of indignities, indeed, but from which it 
 is consoling to reflect that the insensibility of death has plucked 
 the sting ! 
 
 The food of this distinguished member of his family, like his
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 175 
 
 place in systematic arrangements, has been a matter of doubt and 
 dispute. That his whole bill of fare cannot be correctly filled up 
 is very probable. But sufficient data, I think, exist to make out a 
 tolerable carte of his favourite dishes. Oh ! those words of learned 
 sound, and little meaning, that must be used to describe this food 
 in the jargon of science, make one almost shudder. That he is, 
 then, insectivorous, vermivorous, molliiscivorous, piscivorous, and 
 probably herbivorous, is all but certain. I have taken him with at 
 least twenty different kinds of lake flies. I have seen him in his 
 junior state, dragged up like a malefactor amongst slimy eels on a 
 night line baited with worms. He has risen to my hook baited 
 with five species of little fishes namely, the loach, stickleback, 
 fry of trout, and pike, and the gudgeon. His addiction to these 
 dainties has been proved to me numberless times by a very un- 
 willing visit to my net. 
 
 There is, however, so far as I have been able to observe, one 
 condition necessary to his indulgence in these luxuries. They 
 must be in a comparatively minute form, and presented to him on 
 a link of clear, clean gut. As a general rule, the limit of his taste 
 in this respect does not exceed baits of three or perhaps four 
 inches. He must be hard up for a dinner if he goes beyond these 
 dimensions. To be sure it has been stated what, indeed, of fishes 
 has not? that, like the pike, he attacks prey of a considerable 
 size. Possibly this may be so. ... Yet I have trolled with pike 
 tackle and larger baits, how often I know not ; but never, in any 
 instance, &\&ferox favour me with a call while engaged in this kind 
 of work. 
 
 Of his feeding on small shells and larvae, which are to be found 
 in large quantities on the bottom of lakes, the evidence, though in- 
 ferential, assumes a look of certainty, on examining the contents of 
 his stomach. The debris of these semi-digested creatures is there 
 to be seen and felt clearly enough. Amongst the mass are traces 
 of apparently green vegetable matter ; but whether these are the 
 remains of a salad of aquatic herbs is problematic. 
 
 Whatever be his food, there is no doubt that the Great Lake 
 trout will attain, under favourable conditions, to a very great 
 size, though I have never happened myself to meet with any 
 remarkably large specimens, either alive or stuffed, nor do I 
 find any such authentically recorded. Stoddart mentions one
 
 1 76 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 which he saw and weighed himself that was a trifle over nine- 
 teen pounds. This was taken from Loch Awe. I remember, 
 however, in Windermere, where I used to go out occasionally 
 night-trolling for ferox, the fisherman would entertain me 
 with stories of monster fish taken within his knowledge, be- 
 ginning, I think, at about twenty pounds, and progressing night 
 after night perhaps to stimulate my flagging energies until 
 I should say that the limit reached by the chronicle attained 
 something like thirty-five or forty pounds. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Loch Awe there are also traditions 
 of exceeding giants twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five pounds 
 but these are not to be found in the records of any living 
 angler, and when we hear yarns about these leviathans caught 
 by the fishermen of a former generation, we are reminded of the 
 Scotchman's retort as to the size of the fish caught by his rivals : 
 ' They're nae bigger fish, but only bigger leers.' In some of the 
 continental and American waters the above weights, exaggerated 
 as they doubtless are, are dwarfed by comparison into insignifi- 
 cance. Lakes Michigan and Superior abound with monster 
 trout of such a size as to set at defiance all attempts to capture 
 them with rod and line. One of the smaller sized of these fish 
 (weighing only seventy- two pounds !) was, however, actually 
 caught by a fisherman in Lake Huron. Some curious facts 
 respecting the habits of the Huron trout are mentioned by 
 Featherstonhaugh in his ' Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor. 1 
 ' Upon one occasion,' he says, ' Mr. Riddle caught one of the 
 great trout of this lake, which when it was drawn up, had a large 
 white- fish (Coregonus alb us) in its throat, with the tail sticking 
 out of its mouth, whilst inside the trout's stomach were two 
 more white-fish, each weighing about ten pounds. In the lake 
 of Geneva the trout run also to a monstrous size, but whether 
 they are identical with the Sal/no ferox is very doubtful. For- 
 merly it was supposed that they were, but Agassiz pronounces 
 to the contrary. Dr. Henry Bennett, of Mentone, is one of 
 the few Englishmen that I know personally who has had any 
 sport in trolling for these Geneva trout. His description of
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 177 
 
 his tackle and the weights he used to lead his line, was 
 unique. 
 
 In Sweden, a writer, formerly well known to readers of 
 angling literature under the nom de plume of 'An Old Bushman,' 
 gives thirty pounds as a weight frequently attained by the Great 
 Lake trout in the waters of that country. The marks by which 
 he distinguished the ferox from the fario, when of a greater 
 weight than, say, eight or twelve pounds, were ' the thick clumsy 
 form, the great square tail, and the dull bluish steel colour of 
 the body, with but fewish spots.' His conclusion, however, 
 it should be stated is rather in favour of the lake trout being 
 merely overgrown specimens of the Salmo fario than distinct 
 species, an opinion boldly advanced also by that thoroughly 
 practical fisherman, Mr. Thomas Tod Stoddart, in the teeth of 
 Yarrell, Couch, Selby, Wilson, Jardine, and other ichthyologists. 
 
 In the parr or early stage of growth it is very difficult, if 
 not impossible, to distinguish between the young of the Salmo 
 fario and of the Great Lake trout. 
 
 I believe that neither in this country nor in Sweden does 
 the Salmo ferox, under ordinary circumstances, rise to the arti- 
 ficial fly, at any rate when he has arrived at anything like 
 maturity, and the only effectual way of taking him is by spin- 
 ning. Such hints as I am able to offer on this subject wil be 
 found in the chapter devoted to lake trout spinning.
 
 178 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 [In order to an adequate comprehension of the theory and 
 practice of fly fishing, some general acquaintance with and 
 knowledge of the art of making and using the tackle employed, 
 as also of the habits and history of the several fish it is proposed 
 to ' angle ' for, are clearly desiderata. They are, in fact, the 
 alpha and beta of the business, the ultimate ' catching ' playing 
 the part of omega. 
 
 These two important preliminaries being now, however, 
 supposed to be more or less mastered, and the neophyte having 
 become to some extent a naturalist as well as a fairly good, judge 
 in the matters of rods, lines, hooks, &c., the next point is to apply 
 his knowledge to the practical business of fly fishing, beginning, 
 as is but respectful to the king of fresh waters, with fly fishing 
 for Salmon. This subject, for the reasons stated in my Pre- 
 fatory Note, I have committed to other and more orthodox 
 hands. 
 
 A safer pilot through the shoals and quicksands of the art 
 than Major Traherne, or a more experienced and practical 
 exponent of its mysteries, cannot be found within the ' three 
 seas that girth Britain.' II.C.-P.] 
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 
 
 ALSO A FEW NOTES ON FLY FISHING FOR SEA TROUT. 
 
 IT is with great pleasure, although with considerable diffidence, 
 that I accede to a request, made in very complimentary terms 
 by Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell, that I should write an account of 
 my experience in salmon fishing ; and I am induced to do so 
 in the hope that it may be instructive to gentlemen who are 
 inexperienced in the art, and also to a certain extent interesting 
 to the angling public.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FL V. 179 
 
 There are certain well-known and established facts con- 
 nected with salmon fishing that need no mention on my part, 
 and I will endeavour to confine myself, as far as I can, to the 
 relation of that which I know of my own knowledge. During 
 an experience of over thirty years, in England, Scotland, Ire- 
 land, and Norway, I have had most favourable opportunities 
 of studying the habits of the salmon and the art of fishing for 
 him, and, if any information I am able to give should prove 
 useful to my brother fishermen, I shall be amply repaid for my 
 trouble. 
 
 All the knowledge we possess of the habits of the salmon 
 has been acquired during that period of his life which he passes 
 in fresh water. We know nothing of his habits during his so- 
 journ in the sea, except that at certain seasons of the year he 
 feels his way along the coast until instinct teaches him he has 
 found the estuary of the river he has been bred in, and he then 
 makes his way up it. From this time until, in the natural course 
 of events, he returns to the sea, we have many opportunities 
 of studying his habits, and we get to know certain facts, from 
 which we draw our own conclusions. We start theories with- 
 out end, some of which, after a short argument, will be found 
 utterly baseless; but others seem more plausible, and have a 
 certain amount of evidence to support them, such as may make 
 it reasonable to assume that we have arrived at something like 
 a near approximation to the truth. 
 
 We know a salmon enters fresh water at certain seasons of 
 the year for the purpose of propagating his species, that sooner 
 or later he makes his way to the locality where instinct points 
 out to him he is to deposit his spawn, and that on his journey 
 upwards he will occasionally take whatever bait is offered him 
 by the angler. When the time comes he deposits his spawn, 
 after which he gradually makes his way down the river and 
 re-enters the sea. The sea is his native element, and I think 
 it must be taken for granted that he feeds voraciouslv during
 
 i8o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 his sojourn there : in tact, he must do so, otherwise he could 
 not grow so rapidly or attain such condition in the short time 
 it is known he has to stay there. Nature has provided him 
 with a formidable set of teeth, and it may be presumed he 
 makes the best use of them. 
 
 When he first enters fresh water he is in his prime, and in 
 the full glory of his strength. Doubtless instinct teaches him 
 not to leave the salt water before he has attained this con- 
 dition that he may be able to surmount the difficulties he will 
 have to encounter before he can reach his spawning ground. 
 A half-conditioned, ill-fed fish could not accomplish this : his 
 strength would be exhausted before half the journey was com- 
 pleted, and he would probably be no more seen. A fish in 
 this condition is seldom caught by nets in fresh water or on 
 the sea-coast. 
 
 There is great difference of opinion as to whether or not a 
 salmon feeds in fresh water. In my opinion there is positive 
 evidence that he does ; otherwise, why docs he take flies, live 
 and artificial bait, worms, and shrimps ? Is it to be supposed 
 for a moment that if he takes these he will not take any other 
 food fresh water affords him ? It is true he deteriorates in 
 condition from the date of his migration from the sea : but 
 this may be accounted for by the fact that the food the river 
 affords is not of that fattening nature which he gets in the 
 sea, and Nature evidently did not intend he should remain 
 in the same prime condition in fresh water as when he entered 
 it. He has to undergo certain changes before he is in a fit 
 state to spawn, and, if he remained in the same prime condi- 
 tion as when he entered the river, this would be impossible. 
 
 It is well known that a newly run salmon will take a. fly or 
 bait sooner than one which has been a longer time in fresh 
 water, and I could quote many instances to prove this. A few 
 years ago I was fishing in the north of Norway, where there 
 was a large pool under a fall which was impassable for salmon. 
 The fish congregated in this pool in vast numbers, but I seldom 
 killed one in it that had not sea lice on him. (The presence of
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 181 
 
 sea lice is a. certain sign of a. new-run salmon : these parasites 
 die after being twenty-four hours in fresh water.) I also re- 
 member, when fishing in the Galway river, in Ireland, in the 
 spring months, where from twenty to thirty salmon were killed 
 daily with rod and line, nine out of ten had sea lice on them. 
 The fish congregated in the stream below the weir in thou- 
 sands, and, although they had only been a short time in fresh 
 water, they did not seem to care much about feeding. 1 
 
 To account for this satisfactorily is impossible, but it may 
 be reasonable to assume that for the first few hours after a 
 salmon has left salt water, where he has been in the habit of 
 feeding voraciously, his appetite does not leave him : but 
 eventually the absence of the food he lias been accustomed to 
 will make him sulky and disinclined to feed. He is in such 
 good condition that he can afford to abstain for a while ; but he 
 will sooner or later be obliged to feed to maintain his strength, 
 in order to enable him to reach his spawning ground. It is not 
 to be supposed he can exist on water, and we know that at 
 times he takes a fly or bait greedily, particularly after a ' fresh,' 
 when he shifts his quarters up stream. He will then take the 
 first fly he sees ; but when once he is lodged it is generally 
 difficult to get a rise out of him. 
 
 There is a certain time of year when salmon are less 
 inclined to feed than at any other period this is generally 
 from about the middle of July to the middle of September. 
 The temperature of the water and of the atmosphere is then 
 higher than at any other time, and this has doubtless a great 
 
 1 The most extraordinary thing is the difference in the habits of salmon in 
 different rivers. In theSpey, for instance, in Scotland, fish rise most freely, and 
 as freely take the fly, almost in the tide-way, which comes up but a short distance. 
 In the Wye, where the tide runs ten miles up, the fish do not take freely till 
 they have run up seventy miles. Does this result from the fact that the Spey 
 fish are never in muddy water? the sea and river being quite clear and the 
 bottom pebbly, whereas the fish come twenty miles up the muddy Severn 
 and then have ten or more miles of muddy Wye besides to run up before they 
 get to clean water. This may make them so sick that they do not recover 
 before reaching the Hay in Breeonshire, and only above that, seventy miles from 
 the mouth, do they take freely. ED.
 
 1 82 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 effect on the appetite of a salmon. I have found this to be 
 the case upon almost every river I have fished. It matters 
 little whether the fish are fresh-run or stale : they are indifferent 
 to taking food, and it is quite exceptional to get a good day's 
 sport during those months. They begin again, however, to 
 take at the latter end of September and up to the time of 
 the close season ; but these are mostly gravid fish, and hardly 
 worth the trouble of fishing for. 1 
 
 After a salmon has spawned he is at his lowest ebb thin, 
 emaciated, and unsightly to behold. He then gradually makes 
 his way to the sea, but, as it is necessary to recruit his strength 
 before he finally leaves fresh water, Nature seems to have pro- 
 vided him with ample means for so doing at this particular 
 season, as on his downward journey he is accompanied by 
 millions of the fry of his own species, and it is supposed he 
 makes such havoc amongst them that it has been in contem- 
 plation to alter the salmon laws, making it legal to take spent 
 salmon after a certain date. I have seen spent salmon in such 
 a condition that it has been difficult to distinguish them from 
 newly run fish. 2 
 
 It is commonly believed, because nothing has ever been 
 
 1 In all rivers August is the worst. 'Soolky Agust ' (sulky August), the 
 Irish fishermen call it, the warmth of the water making fish sick and idle in 
 Canada the latter half of July is as bad but throughout Scotland, Ireland, and 
 "Wales I have found fishing to be worst in August. En. 
 
 2 In 1879 I got to our camp on the Natasquham on the bor-ders of Labra- 
 dor, a Lower Canada province of Quebec, on June 9. The river was full of 
 thousands offish bright as silver, and apparently in first-rate condition. They 
 we're every one of them mended kelts, i.e. fish of the previous year that had 
 spawned in October or November, and, for some unaccountable reason, had 
 not returned to the sea. Usually at that season there are no fish in the water, 
 but just within a week, sooner or later, the new fish come up. That year the 
 old fish did not go down till about June 20, and no new fish came up before 
 July. The mended kelts are useless for food, and scarcely any of them would 
 rise. 1 went away across the gulf to the Ristigouche between New Brunswick 
 and Lower Canada on June 27, not having seen a fresh-run fish, and only killed 
 half a dozen kelts 'on the Natasquham. One of my friends who stayed through 
 July often killed twenty-five fish a day. From June 10 to the 2oth I could sit on 
 a rock and count from sixty to eighty fish jump in a pool within an hour. Xo 
 one could account for this unusual delay in the going down of the old and 
 coming up of the new fish. Eu.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 183 
 
 found in the stomach of a. salmon, that he does not feed. A 
 friend of mine, who takes the greatest interest in this subject, 
 told me that, when he was fishing in Norway some years ago, 
 he cut open every fish he caught (thirty in number), and did not 
 find anything inside any of the salmon, but three of the grilse 
 were gorged with insects, which he thought were daddy-long- 
 legs. This is the only instance I ever met with of food being 
 found in the stomach of a salmon ; it is, of course, an excep- 
 tion : but if any evidence were wanting, this of itself proves 
 thit salmon will feed, though how to account for the absence 
 of food in their stomachs is a puzzle. I have often noticed, 
 fishing with natural bait, when a salmon is landed the bait is 
 torn from the hooks and sent up the line a foot or more. Does 
 not this show that a salmon has marvellous power of ejecting 
 its food ? Is it not probable that, when he gets into trouble, 
 either by being hooked, or netted, he will disgorge the contents 
 of his stomach ? A trout that is full of food will, we all know, 
 do so after he is landed and why not the salmon ? My friend 
 who told me he found food inside the grilse also said that 
 several Norwegian net fishermen informed him that, after their 
 nets were drawn in they generally found a number of half- 
 digested fish amongst the salmon thus caught. He also said he 
 had heard the same story at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. If these 
 fishermen spoke the truth, it goes a long way in support of my 
 theory. 1 
 
 The absence of food in a salmon's stomach has been 
 accounted for in one other way. A salmon may have such 
 powers of digestion that whatever food he consumes disappears 
 almost at once ; but against this supposition there is the fact 
 of what my friend found inside three grilse. As it is certain 
 grilse are only salmon in youth, this theory must fall to the 
 ground, and I am inclined to think the former explanation is 
 the correct one. 
 
 1 From my own experience I fully endorse this. Salmon must feed in fresh 
 water, or they would take neither fly nor bait -spoons, prawns, or anything else. 
 Yet I never found anything in their stomachs ; they must eject it when in 
 trouble. ED.
 
 1 84 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 A spring salmon will not travel as fast as a summer salmon. 
 The rate at which salmon travel is dependent upon the state of 
 the weather and the temperature of the water. Should there 
 be a hard winter, lasting, as it often does, well into the spring, 
 hardly a fish will have found his way to the upper waters ; but 
 should there have been an open winter, with good travelling 
 water and no obstruction, the upper reaches will be fairly stocked 
 by the time the fishing season commences. Of course there 
 are exceptions, and, however mild the spring may be in some 
 rivers for instance, the Wye and the Usk in Monmouthshire 
 and Brecknockshire spring fish will not travel above a certain 
 distance, and the upper waters do not get stocked until well on 
 in the season. In Scotland the temperature of the water in 
 the early spring is always very low, and obstructions in the 
 Scotch rivers stop the fish running, so that they will not pass 
 these until the weather gets warmer and the temperature of 
 the water higher. 1 
 
 On the Helmsdale and Shin, in Scotland, are falls over which 
 salmon can easily pass, but they will never do so until the 
 month of April, and it is known almost to a day when they will 
 make their appearance in the stream above these falls. That 
 salmon are very susceptible to cold is quite certain ; although 
 they are fresh out of the sea, and in their primest condition, and 
 will take a fly or bait greedily, yet they will not lodge in a rapid 
 stream in the early part of the spring, but are always found in 
 easy water, just where one would expect to find a spent fish ; 
 and it is not until well on in the spring that they will lodge in 
 rapid water. 2 
 
 1 Is it not probable that the big fish travel slower than the smaller ones, as 
 in all rivers the first school of fish that come in are the biggest and heaviest during 
 the year, and each subsequent school is successively smaller? Also as the 
 weight and volume of water coming down are greater in the spring than the 
 summer, does that not probably make the progress of the fish slower in 
 spring? ED. 
 
 2 Who can account for the fact that when you cannot find, or certainly see 
 or rise a fish on the Lochy in the early spring, you can take scores on the Garry 
 of beautiful large salmon in prime condition? The shortest journey to the 
 Garry is through the river and loch Loch}-, and yet the fishermen will tell you
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 185 
 
 The climate of Ireland is milder than that of any other part 
 of the United Kingdom. The temperature of the water is con- 
 sequently much higher than in either England or Scotland, 
 and many newly run salmon will be found in early spring in 
 the upper waters of Irish rivers where obstructions exist. The 
 majority of them, however, seem to object to face an obstruc- 
 tion until about the month of April, when the weather gets 
 warmer. 
 
 A lake is a great attraction to a salmon. If there is no 
 obstruction between lake and sea, a spring salmon will, on 
 leaving the salt water, make straight for the lake without halt- 
 ing. This is particularly the case in Irish rivers, where the tem- 
 perature of the water is generally high for the time of year. 
 
 Autumn salmon are different in their habits from spring and 
 summer fish. For some unknown reason they remain in the 
 sea until they are full of spawn, and then, not being able, on 
 that account, to surmount the difficulties which a spring or 
 summer salmon is capable of, are seldom found above a certain 
 distance from the sea. Their journey up is also a very slow 
 one, and I have always noticed this peculiarity in the habits of 
 an autumn salmon. 
 
 In many of our rivers the heaviest salmon of the season, 
 in splendid condition and in appearance like spring salmon, 
 run during the winter months. The run commences in the 
 autumn, when now and then one is caught, but the great run 
 takes place in December, and I often think it is a pity we are 
 prohibited by law from fishing for them. 1 
 
 that the fish in the Garry come from the east and not the west coast (which is 
 close by), and come all the way up the river Ness and through loch Ness, 
 double the distance to the Garry, and whilst they are being caught there in 
 numbers, not a fish could be seen or caught on the Ness. In July and autumn 
 when sport is fast and furious in the rivers Lochy and Ness, not a fish is to be 
 seen in the Garry. ED. 
 
 1 This is peculiarly the case in the Wye. Up near Builth in December, 
 beautiful fish called Blue Cocks appear. The Wye Fishing Board, of whkh I 
 am Chairman, gave permission a few years ago to the Honourable Major 
 Geoffrey Hill to catch some of these for scientific purposes. As yet he has not 
 succeeded in doing so. Lu.
 
 iC6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 If the rivers that are frequented by these fish were closed 
 from October i to December 15, and angling only allowed 
 after the latter date, there would be far less harm done than 
 by allowing angling during October and November, when 
 almost every fish hooked is gravid. 
 
 By December 15 every gravid fish will have left the pools 
 for the spawning beds, and the catches will be occupied only by 
 those heavy, fresh-run winter salmon. No doubt there are ob- 
 jections to allowing angling during the winter months, but it is 
 a pity we should lose the sport these splendid fish would afford. 
 It is true they can be caught when the season opens in the 
 spring, but by that time they get ' foxey ' and have lost condition, 
 and are only fit for kippering ; as it is, they do an immense 
 amount of mischief among the smolts in their downward journey 
 to the sea, and we should be far better without them. 
 
 Having introduced the salmon to the notice of my readers, 
 I will now endeavour to describe the best way to catch him, 
 and, as it is the most important part of a salmon fisherman's 
 gear, I will commence my remarks with 
 
 THE ROD. 
 
 I have tried all sorts and sizes of rods, by various makers, 
 but the one I am now using, and have used for many years, is 
 to my mind perfection. It is a greenheart in three splices, 
 made by Farlow, and, if a rod is to be judged by its powers 
 of casting, it should be a good one. It is the one with 
 which I won the first prize at the Fishing Tournament at 
 Ilendon, in July 1884, for the longest overhead cast, with 
 a cast of forty-five yards one inch. To cast a long line, 
 a rod requires great lifting power, and my rod possesses this 
 quality to a great extent, although, at the same time, it is not 
 heavy enough to tire one in a hard day's fishing. I am at 
 a loss how to describe it, but its virtue lies in an equal distri- 
 bution of strength, in proportion, from the butt to the point.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 187 
 
 A heavy butt with no spring to it, and with a weak top, is of 
 little use for casting purposes, beyond a certain distance. The 
 spring should be felt, to a certain extent, to the bottom of the 
 butt when casting, and I consider a rod which does not possess 
 this quality of little or no value. Castle Connell rods are made 
 on this principle, but, in my opinion, they are too top-heavy. 
 If they had a little less weight at the top and more in the butt, 
 I think they would be pleasanter to fish with and would lose 
 nothing in power. They will doubtless cast as long a line as 
 rods of other descriptions, but, owing to their being so thin 
 at the butt and so top-heavy, it often happens that, when throw- 
 ing a long line in a gale of wind, they are apt to smash just 
 above the reel. I fished with these rods for years, but for this 
 reason I discarded them. They are, however, very powerful 
 rods, and well suited to the Shannon, where the fish run very 
 heavy and a powerful rod is required ; and, as all fishing is 
 done out of a boat on that river, long casting is unnecessary. 
 
 Every rod requires a line to suit it ; and it will be as well to 
 bear in mind when making a choice of one that a rod with a 
 weak, whippy top is not suitable for casting thick lines, and a 
 stiff or more powerful rod is not adapted for casting a thin line. 
 The best wood for a rod is green or brown heart. It is very 
 light and pleasant to fish with : the only drawback is that rods 
 made of it will sometimes smash at a moment's notice without 
 any apparent cause. 
 
 I have sent my favourite rod to Farlow's, and, should anyone 
 wish to try one made on the same lines, he will be able to obtain 
 it at that establishment. In choosing a rod, a novice will walk 
 as it were blindfolded into a fishing-tackle maker's shop, and 
 generally order the biggest rod he can get, and of a calibre 
 which will tire him in half an hour. A big rod seems to be a 
 necessity to him, and a gentle hint from an older angler that 
 the rod is rather too heavy is not often taken in good part. 
 It is only by bitter experience that he will find out his mistake. 
 If fishing-tackle manufacturers would but 'take stock' of 
 their customers, and recommend the beginner to choose a rod
 
 1 88 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 which will be found suitable to his strength, it would be no loss 
 to them, and would save a great deal of disappointment. It 
 would, moreover, start the novice in the right road to success ; 
 whereas, if he begins fishing with a big rod that is over his 
 strength, he will have probably to toil and labour for weeks 
 before he can make a decent cast, which he might have suc- 
 ceeded in accomplishing in a day or two if he had taken a 
 friend's advice. 
 
 A seventeen-foot rod is quite long enough for any ordinary 
 casting for salmon, provided it is of sufficient power. A sixteen- 
 foot rod is long enough for peel or grilse fishing, or even- for 
 salmon, when the water is low and where fine tackle and small 
 flies are required. Anyone who has read the reports of the 
 Casting Tournaments at Hendon, will see what marvellous 
 casts were made with sixteen-foot rods : but they must be 
 made of good stuff, with plenty of lifting power. Fishermen 
 of any experience will of course select a rod to suit their own 
 fancy, but I strongly recommend the novice to make his first 
 effort with a rod under his strength, and, above all things, to 
 avoid using one with a weak, whippy top. 
 
 The art of rod-making has been brought to great perfection 
 in America ; the split-cane rods are marvellous works of art, 
 and are being much used in this country ; but they are very 
 expensive, and, as I cannot discover any particular advantage 
 they possess over our old-fashioned English-made rod, I prefer 
 to use the latter. 
 
 THE REEL AND LINE. 
 
 It is a great mistake to fish with a big, heavy reel, as every 
 ounce of needless weight in reel or rod will tell against the 
 angler in a hard day's fishing, as surely as it docs upon a race- 
 horse when running a race. A man who thinks it necessary to 
 fish with a big rod generally uses a big reel to match, with as 
 much line as it will hold, very often needlessly thick. To make 
 a clean cast the line must be used to suit the rod. When fibh-
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 189 
 
 ing with a 'powerful rod a moderately thick line is required, a 
 thin line, as I have before remarked, being of no use. A reel 
 four inches in diameter, with a drum of if inch in width, will 
 hold thirty or forty yards of thick line for casting purposes, and 
 100 to 1 20 yards of thin back line in all about 140 yards, which 
 is long enough for any of our rivers. The majority of fisher- 
 men use a thick line, of the same thickness from end to end ; 
 but, as I think it may be taken for granted that forty yards only, 
 at the outside, are required for casting purposes, nothing is gained 
 by the remainder of the line being of the same thickness. 
 
 I will endeavour to show that there is a great disadvantage 
 in using a continuous thick line, and that there is a good deal 
 to be gained by using a line made as I have described. When 
 fishing with a continuous thick line, should a salmon take a 
 long run when hooked in a rapid stream, the pressure of the 
 water upon the line is so great that, unless the casting line is of 
 unusual strength, there is great risk of its getting broken. On the 
 other hand, fishing with a thin back line, the resistance to the 
 water in a like case is so much less, in proportion, that the 
 chance of bringing the fish to bank is far greater and the risk 
 of a break reduced to a minimum. Another advantage in using 
 a thin back line is that the reel of the aforenamed dimensions 
 will hold a far greater length of line. The line I recom- 
 mend, say thirty or forty yards, is tapered at both ends, and 
 moderately thick in the middle. The advantage of having 
 this line spliced to a back line is that when one end is worn 
 from casting it can be cut off, the worn end respliced to the 
 back line, and the other end brought into use. Anyone who 
 has not fished with these tapering lines will be surprised at the 
 ease with which they can be cast, and their superiority will be 
 found out when fishing on a windy day. Some say it is best 
 to use a light line upon such an occasion, because it cuts through 
 the wind better than a heavy line, but in my opinion a light 
 one is utterly useless for casting purposes upon a windy day, 
 and the heavier the line the easier it is to cast. 
 
 Thicker lines are required for spring and autumn fishing,
 
 IQO SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 when large flies and strong tackle are used, but in the summer 
 time, when the peel commence to run and small flies are used, 
 light springy rods and light lines are preferable to the heavy 
 salmon rod, and far more pleasant to fish with. The mouth o( 
 a fresh-run peel or grilse is very tender, and the strain likely to 
 be put on the line when the fish is hooked will, if a heavy 
 salmon rod is used, be very apt to tear the hook out. Very 
 little strain is required to fix the barb of the hook, and when 
 fishing for peel the fish should be very lightly handled ; easy- 
 running reels should be used when fishing for either salmon or 
 peel, but most particularly so when fishing for the latter. 
 
 The tapering lines I have mentioned can be obtained of 
 any length or thickness to suit the angler's fancy, dressed or 
 undressed. I prefer to buy them undressed and dress them 
 myself. An undressed line will last quite as long as a dressed 
 one, and be quite as pleasant to cast, but care should be taken 
 to dry it each day after fishing. I have an undressed line 
 that I have used for two whole seasons, and it is now as sound 
 as the day I bought it. This is more than I can say of most 
 dressed lines sold by fishing-tackle makers, which will seldom 
 stand more than one season's work. 
 
 In selecting a dressed line care should be taken to ascertain 
 it is not hollow. A hollow can easily be detected by cutting 
 off the end of the line with a pair of sharp scissors. My 
 objection to a hollow line is this, that should there be a flaw 
 or bruise the water will gradually find its way into the hollow, 
 run down the whole length of the line, and as owing to the 
 outer coating being waterproof the line cannot be dried, it will 
 therefore quickly become rotten. I have seen many lines thai 
 have been used only two or three days become quite rotten, 
 which I am convinced has been from no other cause than the 
 one I have mentioned. A hollow line may be easily known, 
 as it is round ; a solid plaited line is square.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. u)i 
 
 DRESSING LINES. 
 
 The following recipe for dressing lines I can safely recom- 
 mend. Mix equal parts of raw linseed oil and best copal var- 
 nish, boiling until the mixture singes a feather (this should be 
 done out of doors, owing to the inflammable nature of the so- 
 lution). When cold put the line in to soak. A week will be 
 enough for a solid plaited line, but if the line is hollow it should 
 remain in much longer so as to allow time for the solution to 
 fill up the hollow. When thoroughly saturated, a fine day 
 should be taken advantage of, and the line put out to dry in 
 the open air, stretched at its full length, fastened at both ends 
 to two wooden posts, all the superfluous dressing being care- 
 fully removed with the hand or a bit of cloth, It should not 
 remain out, in its first stage of drying, in the rain, as a very few 
 drops will spoil it, and the dressing will come off; but when the 
 outer coating is tolerably dry, which will be in about a week in 
 warm weather, wet will not affect it, although it will be advisable 
 not to leave it out in the rain at any time if it can be avoided. 
 
 In about a fortnight after it has been out the line should be 
 redipped in the solution, and the operation of stretching and 
 removing the superfluous dressing repeated. This will be found 
 sufficient, and nothing will remain but to allow it to dry. 
 
 A line should not be used for at least six months after being 
 dressed. It may be hung up indoors, but it will be advisable 
 whenever the weather is favourable to put it in the open air, 
 The best months for performing the operation of dressing are 
 June, July, August, and September, the temperature being 
 higher during those months than at any other time of the year. 
 Dressed lines can be dried in a very short time by mixing 
 'dryers' with the solution, but there is the greatest objection to 
 their use. The object of the wholesale manufacturer, owing to 
 the great demand, is to get the operation performed as soon as 
 possible, and therefore dryers are required ; but the consequence 
 is, although lines dressed in a solution in which dryers ha\e
 
 IQ2 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 been used look like perfection in the fishing-tackle maker's 
 shop, it will often be found after they have been used a very 
 short time they will ' knuckle,' when they may just as well be 
 thrown into the fire. There is no mistaking a 'knuckled' 
 line, and nothing can be more unsightly. Instead of being the 
 beautiful even-looking coil that came out of the fishing-tackle 
 maker's shop, about every two inches or so, where the line has 
 passed through the rings of the rod, the varnish comes off in 
 dust, and a small white ring appears, giving the line the appear- 
 ance of the knuckles of the finger. 
 
 I have seen many of the best American dressed lines 'knuckle' 
 in a very short time and become quite unfit for use. After 
 paying a good price for a line, nothing to my mind can be more 
 annoying or disappointing, and if this were to happen in a far-off 
 country where there were no fishing-tackle makers' shops, for 
 instance in Norway or Canada, the consequences might be very 
 serious. This evil can, however, be avoided by dressing lines 
 in my fashion, and these I will guarantee to last for years if 
 taken care of and dried every day after fishing. I would not 
 trust the-best looking dressed line that ever came out of a 
 fishing-tackle maker's shop ; but the wholesale manufacturers 
 are to blame for this, and not the fishing-tackle makers, who as 
 a rule do the best they can to supply the best article for their 
 customers. I would recommend anyone who has time to spare 
 to dress his own lines, but without dryers ; or, if he has not any 
 time to spare, to use them undressed. An undressed line will get 
 saturated with water after the first cast, and this supplying the 
 place of the dressing, the line will be found quite heavy enough 
 to make the longest cast required. The only objection, and 
 it is but a very trivial one, to the use of undressed lines, is that 
 should it be desired to add to the length of a cast by pulling 
 out a yard or so of line before the cast is made, when this is 
 let go it is very apt in its wet state to get twisted around the 
 butt of the rod, which will defeat the object
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 193 
 
 CASTING LINES. 
 
 The selection of a suitable casting line (i.e. the gut line that 
 connects the reel line with the fly) requires great judgment and 
 care on the part of the angler. If the water should be high or 
 stained after a fresh, the strongest lines may be used, and finer 
 ones in proportion as the water gets lower and clearer. 
 
 During the early spring months salmon are keener to rise at 
 the fly than at any other time of the year, they will take larger 
 flies than later in the season, and do not seem to care what the 
 casting line is made of ; but during the later spring and summer 
 months, when the water is very low and clear, they are more 
 particular, and very fine casting lines and flies, not much bigger 
 than trout flies, must be used. To land a big salmon in low 
 water with a light rod and fine tackle, is a feat any salmon fisher 
 may be proud of. 
 
 Treble-twisted or plaited gut casting lines are generally con- 
 sidered the strongest, but these are not to be trusted. Some 
 of them will doubtless last a long time, but many are made up 
 of inferior cast-off gut which is difficult to detect in the piece, 
 and would not stand a week's work. It is also difficult to twist 
 gut so evenly that when a fish is being played, an equal strain 
 shall be made to bear on each strand. 1 
 
 Lines made of two strands of carefully selected round sal- 
 mon gut of equal thickness, untwisted, are much stronger than 
 most of the treble gut casting lines that are generally used, but 
 great care must be taken in making these lines, as when the 
 links are knotted together it will be found that, nine times out 
 of ten, one of the. strands will be longer than the other, conse- 
 quently the shorter strand would have to bear the whole strain 
 when a fish is being played, and the other strand would be 
 useless. This can be avoided if the following directions are 
 attended to : after the strands that are to compose the line 
 
 1 I call a piece of gut taken singly ' a strand,' and when made up in a casting 
 line 'a link.' 
 
 I.
 
 194 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 have been selected, and have been allowed to soak in cold 
 water for some hours, take the two that are to form the first 
 link, and having made the loop that is to connect this with 
 the reel line, whip the strands tightly together (this need not 
 be done closely) with well-waxed silk, from the knot where the 
 loop has been made down to nearly the ends of the strands. 
 Knot to the next link and remove the whipping, when it will 
 be found that the strands will lie evenly together and any strain 
 that is put on will be equally shared by both. Commence 
 whipping from the last knot made in the manner above men- 
 tioned, and continue until the casting line is complete. I my- 
 self never use anything but single gut, unless fishing in big 
 rivers, but I make up my own lines and take great care to use 
 only the strongest gut. 
 
 Not long ago I discovered what I thought was a new method 
 of fastening strands of gut together without knots, but I have 
 since found that the invention was not a new one, and that 
 my plan had been adopted years ago by Mr. Cholmondeley- 
 Pennell, and described in his book ' The Modern Practical 
 Angler.' His principle and mine are identical, although some- 
 what differently carried out. The result, however, is that in 
 both cases Ihe fastening together of the gut in a casting line is the 
 strongest part of if. 1 
 
 On testing a line so constructed with strands of ordinary 
 salmon gut, dry, it broke at a strain of 15 Ibs. in the middle of 
 one of the links and not at the fastening. 
 
 Another line of apparently the same strength, the links of 
 which were fastened together by knots in the ordinary way, broke 
 at a knot at a strain of 7.7 Ibs. A third, again, made of two 
 strands of the strongest picked gut, untwisted, without knots, 
 pulled the index of my steelyard down to 20 Ibs. without 
 breaking. I am certain it would have stood a strain of several 
 pounds more, but I was content with such a result, and I feel 
 satisfied that such a line would hold the biggest salmon that 
 
 1 See description of the knot, p. 41 (chapter on 'Tackle').
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 195 
 
 was ever caught by rod and line, and a break would be almost 
 impossible. 
 
 There is nothing more disappointing or trying to the temper 
 than to get a line broken owing to using bad tackle. The man 
 from whom the gut is bought is pronounced to be a swindler, 
 and never to be patronised again, but in the majority of cases 
 carelessness on the part of the angler lies at the root of the 
 evil, and it is not fair to lay the blame on the man who sells 
 the gut, which varies in quality so much that it is quite a chance 
 to get a good hank of it. Good ' made-up ' single-gut casting 
 lines can be bought at any of the leading fishing-tackle makers' 
 establishments, but the greatest care should be taken in the 
 choice of one. If there is but one link in the cast of uneven 
 thickness it will be better to put it aside. A cast may be to all 
 appearance perfect, but if the thin end of one of the links is 
 knotted to another which is thicker, there the weak part of the 
 cast will be, and it will be very apt to break at that point. The 
 same care must be taken in making up one's own casting line. 
 Each link should be of even thickness throughout the whole 
 length of the line, and round without a flaw or a scratch. A flat 
 strand, or one which is coarse-looking, should never be used. 
 
 If every reasonable care is taken in the selection of a casting 
 line and a fish breaks it, as will occasionally happen to the best 
 of us, the angler has the satisfaction of knowing he has done 
 his utmost to avoid such a catastrophe, and will feel the dis- 
 appointment far less than if he were conscious a fish was lost 
 through his own carelessness, When a casting line gets worn 
 and ragged, which will probably be the case after two or three 
 months' use, it will be advisable not to trust it. Some of the 
 links may be sound, and may be used in making up another 
 cast, but I would rather not trust them, as it is like mending 
 an old garment with new cloth. 
 
 All casting lines should be tested every morning before 
 going out fishing, and also looked over several times during the 
 day. Knots which are often made in casting in foul wind should 
 be taken out whenever they appear, for, if allowed to remain, 
 
 o 2
 
 196 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 there is great risk of a break even with the strongest line. If 
 they cannot be taken out, the link in which they occur should 
 be cut out of the cast and replaced by a new one. The most 
 severe test a casting line can be subjected to is to take an 
 end in each hand and give it a sudden jerk. A line must be 
 very strong to stand this, and unless it is intended to go in 
 for big salmon, when the strongest line is required, such a 
 severe test is unnecessary. In testing a line it is generally 
 thought that if it will stand a strong pull it is sound. This is 
 not to be trusted, and it should be subjected to an additional 
 test as follows : 
 
 Hold the line by the forefinger and thumb of each hand 
 about an inch on either side of each knot in succession ; ima- 
 gine for a moment that the line is a bit of stick or slate pencil, 
 and proceed as if you were trying to break it. If the gut is 
 worn at any of the knots it will knuckle at that point, and it 
 should be cut off and a new knot made ; although it might 
 stand a strong pull, a sudden jerk would generally break it. If 
 the line does not knuckle at any of the knots it may be assumed 
 that it is sound. 
 
 Some fishermen prefer a tapered line, which they say will 
 make a neater cast than one of a continuous thickness. This 
 may be very well when fishing in low clear water in summer 
 time, when fine tackle and fine casting are required, but in 
 spring or autumn, or when fishing in a big water, where it is 
 necessary to use the strongest tackle, I should prefer, at the risk 
 of making an occasional clumsy cast, to use a casting line of 
 the same strength and thickness throughout. A tapered line 
 is weakest at the end where the fly is attached to it, and as 
 a line should be as strong, if not stronger, at this point than 
 any other, owing to the connecting knot getting the hardest 
 work, I think a tapered casting line is objectionable, and I will 
 engage to cast quite as neat a line with one of a continuous 
 thickness. 
 
 It is not generally known that gut will quickly rot when ex- 
 posed to a bright hot sun. But this is so. Casting lines, there-
 
 SALMON FISHLVG WITH THE FL Y. 197 
 
 fore, should not be wound round the hat, but put away when 
 not in use ; hanks of gut are best preserved in wash-leather. 
 
 It is a common belief that by staining gut it is less easily 
 seen by the fish, but I think this is very doubtful, and I prefer 
 to use it in its natural state. 
 
 I have entered into minute details upon this subject, as I 
 think it of great importance. Rod, line, flies, &c, may be per- 
 fection in every other respect ; but should there be one weak 
 point in the casting line, the angler may just as well be fishing 
 with rotten thread, and it is absolutely necessary to insure suc- 
 cess that he should take such precautions as I have advised. 
 
 FLIES. 
 
 There is more difference of opinion about salmon flies than 
 upon any other subject connected with salmon fishing. Some 
 people assert that it is necessary to use different patterns of flies 
 for every month during the fishing season ; others, that certain 
 patterns are suitable only for certain rivers, and that it is useless 
 to fish with any others. Another theory is that certain shades 
 of colour must be used on certain days. Every fisherman one 
 meets has his own ideas upon this subject. I have mine, and 
 whether they are right or wrong I will endeavour to explain them. 
 I think it is reasonable to assume that a salmon can discern the 
 colours of a fly; but will the theorists, who believe that it is ne- 
 cessary to fish with certain patterns of flies in each month of the 
 fishing season, tell me that a feeding fish will refuse a fly which 
 is offered him, say during the month of April, because it is not 
 said to be the pattern of that particular month ? There is not 
 a particle of evidence in support of such a theory, and it is not 
 worth one moment's argument. That certain patterns of flies 
 must be used on different rivers is a more plausible theory, and 
 if the word ' colour ' had been substituted for ' pattern ' I should 
 be quite of the same opinion. Some rivers are very clear ; 
 others more or less stained with bog water, and from other
 
 1 98 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 causes ; and for this reason flies which are suitable for clear 
 water will not suit peaty or stained water, and local anglers, 
 having found out flies that w-ill kill on their rivers, establish 
 standard patterns, and will use nothing else. 
 
 Experience has, however, taught me that if due regard is 
 paid to colour, any other pattern will kill just as well. Local 
 professionals are a very prejudiced class of people as regards 
 salmon fishing, and, if they can help it, w r ill never allow a stranger 
 they are attending to fish with any other than local patterns of 
 flics. If he persists in doing so, and does not know the river, 
 he will as likely as not be put to fish where he will get no 
 sport, and it generally ends by his leaving the flies he has 
 brought with him behind at his fishing quarters and filling up 
 his book with local patterns. If he has sport with these flies, 
 which is very likely to be the case, whatever opinions he may 
 have had before he came, when he goes away he will probably 
 have become impressed with the belief that no other flies were 
 suitable to the river he has fished, and no amount of argument 
 will convince him to the contrary. No doubt that is the reason 
 why so many anglers become converts to this theory. 
 
 It may be presumptuous on my part to say I differ from 
 them ; but I have had so many proofs they are mistaken in 
 coming to such a conclusion that I do not hesitate to say so. 
 I have fished a great number of rivers all over the United 
 Kingdom and elsewhere, and I have generally, when not fishing 
 my own water, used local patterns, as it is as well not to fall out 
 with one's attendant, who has it so much in his power to make 
 or mar sport. These flies have generally proved to be killers ; 
 but whenever I have had an attendant who did not understand 
 much about flies, I have always used my own favourite patterns, 
 and have found them just as killing as the local ones. 
 
 When I fished the river Wye some years ago, the favourite 
 local fly was made up of a dirty yellow rough body, blue cock's 
 hackle, and the wing of a feather from a bittern's neck. Now 
 all the modern patterns are used, the favourite fly in the spring 
 being the ' canary.' What a contrast !
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 199 
 
 A friend of mine (a Lee, co. Cork, fisherman) told me not 
 long ago that the fish were beginning to take the Jock Scott in 
 that river ; but the greatest revolution as regards local patterns 
 has been on the river Usk, in Monmouthshire. Formerly the 
 favourite fly used there was made of a dirty yellow body, blue 
 or red cock's hackle, and brown wing. Now, that fly is quite 
 out of date, and the favourite fly I suppose it may be called 
 a fly is the ' Usk grub.' Its body is made of tinsel chenille, 
 cock-y-bonddu hackle in joints, and it is certainly a killing fly. 
 Other flies of modern patterns are used, but this is the favourite. 
 This fly was first introduced in the Usk by Mr. G. M. Kelson. 
 
 A gentleman considered to be the best fisherman on the 
 Usk, who has fished that river all his life, uses nothing but 
 bodies of flies without wings, made of various colours of seal's 
 fur and mohair, with hackles to match. He never puts on 
 wings, as he says there is no necessity for them, and yet he 
 catches as many fish as anyone else, and often scores when 
 others draw a blank. Two years ago I went with my friend 
 
 Colonel R to fish the Shannon at Killaloe, in the month 
 
 of April. The river was high at the time, and the gaudy Shan- 
 non flies were being used. We had just come from the Black- 
 water, and had no flies excepting those we had been fishing 
 with on that river. Our boatman had no Shannon flies to spare 
 us, so we were obliged to fish with the Blackwater flies, but 
 were told no Shannon salmon would look at them. The result, 
 was whether it was luck or not the Blackwater flies beat the 
 Shannon flies, much to the astonishment of our boatman, who 
 accounted for it by saying that the fish were tired of seeing 
 gaudy Shannon flies and wanted a change. Almost every sal- 
 mon we caught, however, had sea lice upon him, and the fish 
 which were said to be tired of seeing the Shannon flies were in 
 all probability in the sea at the time. I often ask myself the 
 question whether it is the salmon or the angler that has changed 
 his fancy. I am inclined to think it is the latter. 
 
 I think I have adduced sufficient evidence to prove that 
 the salmon is not so very particular as to the pattern of fly, and
 
 200 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 it is my belief he will take a fly of any pattern when he is in the 
 humour, provided it is of a proper size. Size has more to do 
 with success than all the patterns of flies ever invented. Even 
 if a fly is of the right colour too ' big ' a salmon will not take 
 it. He may rise at it, and probably get ' rugged ' and will then 
 be seen no more. The choice of a fly of suitable size is a very 
 important matter, but I will allude to this hereafter. 
 
 I now come to the question of certain shades and colours 
 being more suitable than others upon certain days. I have 
 no doubt a salmon will occasionally prefer a fly of a certain 
 colour to any other, although I do not admit he would 
 refuse to take a fly of another colour, when he is in the 
 humour, if it were offered to him. I remember upon one occa- 
 sion watching a cross-line at work upon the Blackwater, when 
 I noticed one fly take fish after fish, all the others, eleven in 
 number, failing to rise one. I cannot think this was accidental ; 
 probably the appearance of the fly, under a peculiar condition 
 of light, was the attraction. Whether the fish would have 
 taken any of the other flies if that particular pattern had not 
 been upon the cross-line I cannot say, but I am inclined to 
 think, from what I know of their habits, they would have 
 done so. 
 
 If it is taken for granted that a salmon prefers a fly of one 
 colour to another upon certain days, the difficulty is to find out 
 the right colour, and I think a great deal of time would be wasted 
 in the endeavour to do so. All we can do is to select the fly we 
 fancy will take, and if it is of the right size, and if any fish are 
 on the move, we are not often disappointed. There are certain 
 facts, however, which, to a certain extent, may guide us in the 
 choice of a fly. I have tried the experiment of holding up flies 
 of different colours against the sky, putting myself in the posi- 
 tion a salmon would occupy with regard to each fly as it was held 
 up. The result was that, with a bright blue sky as a background. 
 I could see every colour fairly well, with the exception of light 
 blue and a jay hackle, which I could not distinguish. With an 
 overcast sky as a background, and a clear atmosphere a I could
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 201 
 
 see all the colours much plainer, and more distinctly in propor- 
 tion as the background was darker. If I held up the fly in a 
 room, I could distinguish the colour of almost every fibre in 
 the fly, but when it was dark a white fly was seen plainer than 
 any other colour. 
 
 There were certain conditions of sky and atmosphere, 
 however, when I was puzzled to distinguish the colours. If 
 the sky was not wholly overcast, and there was a great glare 
 caused by the sun shining through the broken clouds during the 
 summer months, and on a dull heavy day, with a dark murky 
 atmosphere, I could not tell one colour from another, but 
 I could tell whether it was dark or light. In all states of the 
 background I could distinguish black and red better than any 
 other colour, and if it is taken for granted that a salmon can 
 see a fly as we do, when it is held up to the light in the manner 
 I have explained, it may assist us in the choice of a fly as regards 
 colour. 
 
 In clear water, on a bright day, a fly composed of red or 
 black, being decided colours and easiest seen, might scare a 
 salmon when coming near it, or just about to take it ; therefore 
 it may be advisable to use a fly of a neutral or any light colour 
 on a bright day. Upon a dark day, particularly if there is a 
 wind, or should the water be stained after a fresh, as black 
 and red are more distinctly seen, the more likely are they 
 to attract a salmon's attention than a neutral colour, and in 
 such a case I should say that a fly with a black or dark body 
 would be most suitable. It must, however, at best be only 
 guess-work. Large, gaudy flies, such as are used on the Shan- 
 non, are not suitable for ordinary-sized rivers, and are only 
 good for fishing in deep rapids of big rivers, where they are 
 more likely to attract the attention of fish than flies of more 
 sombre or neutral colour. 
 
 In a deep and rapid stream a black or red fly, of a proper 
 size, will be more likely to attract a salmon's attention than 
 any other colour. Whether he would take a fly body, hackle, 
 and wings all black, I am not prepared to say, but I have taken
 
 202 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 numbers of salmon with a red fly, and find this colour do well 
 in a big water, particularly if stained after a fresh. Although 
 big, gaudy flies are only suitable for big rivers, I see no reason 
 why they should not kill as well as any other pattern upon 
 smaller rivers, provided they are made of a suitable size. I 
 have said success greatly depends upon the size of the fly used, 
 and to judge the proper size is a most important part in the art 
 of salmon fishing. 
 
 On arriving at a river's bank the angler should carefully 
 examine the pool he is about to fish, so as to ascertain the 
 colour and depth of the stream, and whether it is rapid or 
 smooth running. If it is deep and rapid, or stained after a 
 fresh, a large-sized fly should be used, and a smaller one in pro- 
 portion as the stream is clear or shallow. The state of the sky 
 must also be taken into consideration. In spring and autumn 
 salmon will take much bigger flies than in the summer time. A 
 fly that would be called big in summer will appear almost a 
 midge in comparison to the smallest flies generally used in 
 early spring or autumn. If the water, however, should be very 
 low, even in spring, it will be necessary to use a very small fly, 
 according to the size of the water. It is impossible to lay down 
 any hard-and-fast rule for selecting a suitable fly. The art of 
 doing so is only acquired by long experience, and the best of 
 us are often at our wits' end to know what fly to select. 
 
 When a man is seen constantly changing his fly it is certain 
 that sport is bad, and fish not on the move. It is possible, but 
 very improbable, that a change of fly will change the humour 
 of the fish. I have myself changed flies hundreds of times, 
 but have never known it to answer when fish are sulky; a 
 change, however, after a fish has risen is very often successful. 
 It is a common saying that fish get tired of the sight of flies, 
 and become shy by being much fished over ; but if my expe- 
 rience can be taken as evidence, I rather incline to the opinion 
 that it is the fisherman who gets tired of throwing his fly over 
 the fish, rather than the fish that get tired of seeing it. 
 
 I was fishing in the Lyngdal, in the south of Norway, with
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 203 
 
 my friend T. F. the water was very low, and we could see 
 from rocks overhanging every salmon in the pools. At the 
 bottom of a pool celebrated for fish taking the fly, we saw 
 four salmon lying close together. The pool was, I should 
 say, ten feet deep. I scrambled down the rocks to where I 
 could cast my fly over them. My friend stood above watching 
 my proceedings. After about six or seven casts over the fish, 
 he said, ' When your fly was in a particular position, one of 
 the salmon seemed to get uneasy and shifted his position a 
 trifle.' This happened two or three times, until at last the fish 
 could not stand it any longer, and took my fly, but I had the 
 bad luck to lose him after a hard fight. 
 
 Upon another occasion, when a little farther down the river, 
 I was standing upon a rock watching my friend fish, where I 
 could see everything which was going on. The water was high 
 but very clear, and nearly a dozen times running I saw a fish 
 rising to the fly whenever it came to a particular part of the 
 stream, but he did not attempt to take it, and did not approach 
 nearer to it than at least a foot. The sun was shining on the 
 pool at the time, and thinking it was of no use trying any more 
 until sunset, we waited until the sun had disappeared behind 
 the hills. Afterwards, the very first cast my friend made he 
 hooked the fish and landed him. 
 
 These are the only two occasions on which I have had the 
 chance of knowing what has taken place below the surface of 
 the water while a pool was being fished over, but after what I 
 saw I cannot quite believe a fish gets scared by seeing too 
 many flies. I have no doubt many a fish which we know 
 nothing about comes ' shy ' at a fly in the manner I have stated. 
 We leave the pool we have perhaps fished the whole day blank 
 in disgust, yet it often happens another fisherman takes posses- 
 sion of it, and hooks a fish before we are out of sight. What 
 can be more aggravating than this ? Yet there are few of us 
 who have not had our tempers thus tried. 1 
 
 1 In 1879 in July, about 6 A.m., I was first on the water on the Ristigouche, 
 fishing down, at Metapedia, in a canoe. I had on 'Jock o' Scott." I did not
 
 204 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Fly tying is a very important part of the art of salmon 
 fishing, and doubtless to be able to tie one's own flies enhances 
 the pleasure of the sport. I have heard it said that a man 
 cannot rank as a first- class fisherman unless he can do so ; 
 but I think this is hardly fair. Many people's fingers are ' all 
 thumbs,' and they could not tie a fly in a year of Sundays, 
 as the saying goes ; other salmon fishers are professional men, 
 and have no time to spare from their duties. These may be 
 first-rate fishermen, although not able to tie a fly, and would 
 loudly protest against being placed in a secondary position on 
 this account. It might just as well be said that to rank in 
 the first class a fisherman should be able to make his own 
 rods and reels, yet there is not one in a thousand that can do 
 so. Fly tying is a most interesting, and I might almost say 
 exciting occupation, and many a dull rainy day, during the 
 winter months especially, may be thus pleasantly, and as far 
 as salmon-fishing matters are concerned profitably, passed. 
 Doubtless a man will feel much prouder when he has landed 
 a fish with a fly of his own making, than with one he had 
 bought, and I would recommend every fisherman who has the 
 time to spare to try his hand at it. 
 
 In selecting bought flies care should be taken to ascertain 
 that they are firmly tied. A fly that is to all appearance 
 perfect, may when used a short time come to pieces, and it will 
 probably be found that this is in consequence of no varnish 
 having been applied when finishing off at the head. It is 
 necessary this should be used to make the wings sit firmly and 
 keep their position. This can always be tested in the following 
 
 get a rise. I had just reached the railway bridge when an American gentleman 
 asked what fly I was using. I told him. ' I have the same,' he replied, and 
 fished down the pool behind me. He, about the sixth or seventh cast, hooked 
 a 2^-lb. fish, which he killed some way down below me, I pulling out of the way 
 to let him pass. Immediately behind him another American gentleman came. 
 Within half a dozen casts he hooked a fish. As he passed I asked what fly ? 
 'Jock o' Scott,' he replied. Away he went in his canoe and killed a twenty- 
 three pounder also. I did not get a rise in the pool, and had fished over the 
 two fish they killed. They were both novices, and had not either of them killed 
 six fish in their lives ! Eu.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 205 
 
 manner. Hold the bend of the hook between the forefinger 
 and thumb of the left hand, and the head, where the wing is 
 attached, in those of the right hand. If the wing is firmly put 
 on it cannot be moved, but if the fly is badly tied the wing can 
 be shifted with ease right and left at an angle to its proper 
 position, in which case it should be discarded. Bought flies 
 are generally made with too much feather in the wing ; this is a 
 great mistake, especially in the case of a mixed wing. If the wing 
 is too heavy the fly cannot work properly ; every fibre of a 
 mixed wing should be separate in the water, and, if the angler 
 does his work properly, made to assume a natural and life- 
 like appearance. The loop also of a fly should be carefully 
 examined. It should be made of stout single or treble gut, 
 and on no account of thin gut. I prefer making loops of two 
 pieces of single gut to treble gut, as I think the latter is 
 more apt to fray the casting line where it is fastened to it. 
 Loops should always be tested by giving them a strong pull. 
 
 It should be borne in mind by the maker of a fly, be he 
 professional or amateur, that not the least important part of 
 his work is to securely fasten the loop to the shank of the hook. 
 If this is neglected all the precaution the angler may have taken 
 will have been in vain. Before a fly is used the temper of the 
 hook should be tested by holding the shank between the fore- 
 finger and thumb, and having inserted the point in a piece of 
 soft wood, giving it a moderately hard pull. A hook that will 
 stand this test may be trusted. 
 
 HOOKS. 
 
 There are many different shapes of hooks, each of which 
 has its advocates, but I have not yet come to any conclusion 
 as to which is best to use. 
 
 Opinions are often formed according as the fish take badly 
 or well. Supposing a man to have fished for a week with a 
 Limerick bend, when salmon were rising badly, and he lost a
 
 206 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 large proportion of the fish he hooked, he would condemn the 
 Limerick hook and try another description of bend, say a sproat; 
 with this he might fish all the succeeding week when salmon 
 were taking well, and lose hardly a fish. He would then 
 adopt the sproat and say there was no hook like it, and he 
 would fish with it until he again came across fish that were 
 rising badly, when the sproat in its turn would be condemned 
 and perhaps the Limerick again adopted. He would thus go on 
 changing from year to year, never being able to give a decisive 
 opinion as to which is best to use ; and that is precisely my 
 case. If, however, I have a preference for one shape over 
 another, I would take the Limerick, as I think a fly looks 
 better when dressed in this shape than in any other. 
 
 With regard to patterns of flies, my favourite is the Jock 
 Scott, and if I were told that I was only allowed to fish with 
 one pattern that is the one I should choose ; but in any case, 
 with half a dozen flies in addition of different sizes and colours, 
 I should be quite content to go on a fishing expedition and 
 would engage to hold my own. Many salmon fishers, however, 
 prefer a larger selection, and the following list of some of the 
 most popular standard patterns may perhaps assist them in 
 making their choice. 
 
 The selection has been made to embrace flies which are all 
 more or less general suitable, that is, to the generality of 
 rivers rather than those having a comparatively restricted 
 range, however popular and successful they may be in particular 
 localities. 
 
 The ' descriptions ' of and remarks about all but a few of 
 the last flies are by Mr. George M. Kelson, who has made 
 the question of salmon flies and their dressing a special study.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 207 
 
 THE 'JOCK SCOTT. 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and light yellow silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping and Indian crow. Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body : In two equal sections, the first light yellow silk ribbed with 
 fine silver tinsel ; above and below are placed three or more toucan's 
 according to size of hook, extending slightly beyond the butt and followed 
 with three or more turns of black herl. The second half black silk with 
 a natural black hackle down it and ribbed with silver lace and silver 
 tinsel. Throat: Gallina. 
 
 Wings : Two strips of black turkey with white tips, below ; two strips 
 of bustard, and grey mallard, with strands of golden pheasant tail, peacock 
 (sword feather), red macaw, and blue and yellow dyed swan over ; having 
 two strips of mallard and a topping above. 
 
 Sides: Jungle fowl. Cheeks: Chatterer, Horns: Blue macaw. Head: 
 Black herl.' 
 
 No one will dispute that Jock Scott, when dressed correctly, is the 
 most remarkable of all our standard patterns, and therefore entitled to the 
 precedence it has been here accorded. It is probably the best known fly 
 that ' swims ' throughout the length and breadth of the three kingdoms, 
 and indeed it would hardly be an exaggeration of language to say that this 
 splendid specimen of artificial entomology has won an almost superstitious 
 veneration amongst salmon anglers. 
 
 AVhether used in rushing streams or rapids, or in still, sluggish, oily 
 pools, its appearance seems to be equally attractive and its success assured. 
 It svas invented by the late Lord John Scott's water bailiff some forty-two 
 years ago.
 
 2c8 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THE 'DURHAM RANGER.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and light yellow silk. 
 
 Tail : A topping and Indian crow. 
 
 Butt: Black herl. 
 
 Body : Two turns of orange silk, two turns dark orange seal's fur ; the 
 rest, which is about half, black seal's fur. 
 
 Ribbed ' : Silver lace and silver tinsel. 
 
 Hackle : From orange seal's fur, a white coch-y-bonddu dyed orange. 
 
 Tliroat : Light blue hackle. 
 
 Wings: Four golden pheasant tippets overlapping, as illustrated, and 
 enveloping two projecting jungle fowl back to back ; and a topping. 
 
 Cheeks : Chatterer. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head : Black Berlin wool. 
 
 The Durham Ranger owes its origin to James Wright, the famous 
 fly dresser of Sprowston, near Kelso ; and its name to the circumstance 
 of its being first successfully tried, some twenty years ago, on the Sprows- 
 ton water by a party of gentlemen from Durham, to whom it was let at 
 the time. 
 
 This was the christening of the Durham Ranger, one of the very best 
 of bright flies, and one that in open pools and bright weather, no matter 
 what the river, rarely fails if not mounted too large. Indeed, as a rule in 
 regard to flies generally, I have often noticed that failure, particularly with 
 gaudy patterns, is due to the fly being disproportionately large or small.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE PL Y. 209 
 
 THE 'GUILDERS.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and light blue silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping with strands of red macaw, powdered blue macaw, 
 and pintail. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body: Two turns of light yellow silk continuing with light yellcw 
 seal's fur, leaving one-fifth at the shoulder for scarlet seal's fur. 
 
 Ribbed: Silver lace and silver tinsel. 
 
 Hackk : A white furnace hackle dyed light yellow. 
 
 Throat: A scarlet hackle and light widgeon. 
 
 IVings : Golden pheasant tippet and tail, turkey, silver pheasant, pin- 
 tail, summer duck, bustard, powdered blue macaw, parrot, red macaw, 
 and gallina, with two strips of mallard above and a topping. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Cheeks : Chatterer. 
 
 Head: Black herl. 
 
 This fly is an old favourite, having been introduced about the year 
 1850. Dressed large or small it kills well in any part of the three 
 kingdoms. Originally Colonel Childers, who was the inventor, 'formu- 
 lated ' this fly without a topping, but there is some justification for the 
 addition of one, as, to use his own words, he 'always put one when he 
 could get it.' The black ' list' down the centre of the hackle has a very 
 telling effect in the water. 
 
 It is as well to note that ' turkey,' unless when otherwise indicated, 
 means the brown mottled feather.
 
 210 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 THE 'BUTCHER.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and dark yellow silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping, teal, and powdered blue macaw. Bittt : Black herl, 
 
 Body : In four equal divisions beginning with light red-claret, ana 
 continuing with light blue, dark red-claret, and dark blue seal's furs. 
 
 Kibbed : Silver tinsel (preceded on large hooks by silver lace). 
 
 Hackle: Natural black, from light red-claret seal's fur. 
 
 Throat: Yellow hackle and gallina. 
 
 Wings : One tippet feather, and a breast feather from the golden 
 pheasant, back to back, tied edgeways as illustrated, the points of the 
 breast feather extending to the length of the wing. Both well covered 
 on the side with slight strips of teal, golden pheasant tail, gallina, bustard, 
 and peacock wing ; with strands of parrot and swan dyed yellow, and with 
 two strips of mallard at top. 
 
 Horns: Blue macaw. Checks: Chatterer. Head: Black herl. 
 
 Measured by the standard of antiquity the Butcher is entitled to the 
 first place in our list of standard flies. Its claim to seniority would 
 probably be admitted by a jury of fly fishers nctnine contradiccnte. I can 
 trace it back to the first fountain head. In its infancy it went by the 
 name of Moon's Fly, and was the invention of Mr. Jewhurst, of Tun- 
 bridge, Kent. About the year 1838 it was re-christened at Blacker's esta- 
 blishment, from which date it became a popular favourite, and no standard 
 pattern has undergone less change of toilette whilst still retaining its high 
 reputation everywhere. 
 
 It is very much more effective when the outer wing-coverings are 
 arranged to ''veil' the tippet and breast feather, so as not to form a 
 confused mass at the top, as is the case with carelessly dressed specimens.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 211 
 
 THE ' POPHAM.' 
 
 Tag: Gold twist. 
 
 Tail: A topping and Indian crow. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body: In three equal sections butted with black herl. The first dark 
 red orange silk, ribbed with fine gold tinsel having Indian crow above 
 and below, as illustrated ; the second, or middle joint, yellow silk with 
 similar ribbing and crow's feathers as before ; the third light blue silk and 
 silver ribbing, with the Indian crow repeated. 
 
 Hackle : At the throat only, jay. 
 
 Wings: Tippet, teal, gallina, golden pheasant tail, parrot, light brown 
 mottled turkey, bustard, red macaw, yellow macaw (swan dyed yellow 
 instead of yellow macaw for large sizes), with two strips of mallard above, 
 and a topping. 
 
 Checks : Chatterer. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head: Black herl. 
 
 This fly retains, and if a prophecy be admissible will continue to 
 retain, its high reputation on many of our best salmon rivers. The com- 
 binations in the body are, in my opinion, absolutely free from blemish, and 
 reflect great credit upon the inventor, a dexterous and persevering fisherman 
 who has given his name to the fly, and who is further known as the 
 winner of the Derby in Wild Dayrell's year. Another variety was intro- 
 duced by the late Mr. John George Children, of Halstead Place, but ths 
 original here given is not only considered better, but is certainly more 
 popular. The great mistake generally made is in overlaying the body 
 with too many Indian crow's feathers. 
 
 P 2
 
 212 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 'THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.' 
 
 Tag: Gold twist and yellow silk. 
 
 Tail : A topping. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body: Black silk. 
 
 Ribbed: Gold tinsel. 
 
 Hackle: From first turn of tinsel, orange. 
 
 Throat: Jay. 
 
 Wings: Mallard, in strips with a topping. 
 
 Sides: Jungle fowl. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw, 
 
 /AW: Black herl. 
 
 This another creation of the redoubtable James Wright is, in my 
 estimation, as a clear-water fly, the best that he has ever invented. It 
 is a well-recognised fact that salmon ' take ' better just as the water is 
 beginning to rise after rain, and in such conditions without detracting in 
 any way from its merits under other circumstances I know of no fly that 
 can he recommended in preference. It is not, however, a pattern that I 
 should select when a river is at all inclined to be muddy; but in heavy 
 rains and boisterous weather it is the one of all others entitled to a patient 
 trial. In fact, to perpetrate a mild joke, ' Thunder and Lightning' is the 
 natural accompaniment of a storm.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 213 
 
 THE 'SILVER GREY. 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and yellow silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping, unbarred summer duck, and two strands of blue 
 macaw. 
 
 Butt: Black herb 
 
 Body: Silver tinsel (flat) ribbed with silver tinsel (oval). 
 
 Hackle: From first turn of ribs, a silver-white coch-y-bonddu. 
 
 Throat: Light widgeon. 
 
 Wings: Silver pheasant, bustard, golden pheasant tail, pintail, pow- 
 dered blue macaw, gallina, swan dyed yellow ; two strips mallard above, 
 and a topping. 
 
 Sides : Jungle fowl. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head : Black Berlin wool. 
 
 The Silver Grey, another of the Sprouston list, also by James Wright, 
 is a very old and well-established pattern. 
 
 I have cast this fly for years with considerable success in all kinds of 
 pools and corners, and it seems to be equally effective either in bright or 
 dull weather, in open or shaded places. In rivers where the fish are 
 proverbially sulky it is a great favourite, and I have one or two instances 
 recorded of its success in out-of-the-way districts 'where no fishers abide.' 
 The Silver Grey makes a capital change with the Lion the two most 
 valued silver-bodied flies in general use. Many anglers are shy of tinselled 
 bodies, but either of these patterns can be safely recommended, and, the 
 question as to size being correctly estimated, exceptional sport is frequently 
 obtained with them.
 
 2i 4 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THE <LION. J 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and light yellow silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body : Silver tinsel (flat) ribbed with silver tinsel (oval), One fifth 
 part being left at the shoulder for dark scarlet seal's fur. 
 
 Hackle : Natural black, three parts down the body. 
 
 Throat: Gallina. 
 
 Wings: Commencing with a few fibres of tippet, sword feather of tho 
 golden pheasant, and peacock herl. Yellow macaw, reel macaw, bustard, 
 golden pheasant tail, teal, gallina ; with two strips of mallard above, and 
 a topping. 
 
 SiJes : Jungle fowl. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head : Black Berlin wool. 
 
 The Lion, as already mentioned, is another exceptionally good silver- 
 tinselled pattern. Some of our most distinguished fly-fishers adduce an 
 imposing array of facts and arguments in its favour, and whatever local 
 opinions may be, anglers will do wisely to give it a trial. When the water 
 is slightly stained, it is, perhaps, a little more attractive than the Silver 
 Grey, and may be used with advantage one size smaller, speaking com- 
 paratively, the materials in the dressing being more conspicuous. In the 
 event, however, of one or two downright refusals, the Jungle which 
 cannot be too black and white as a rule should be nipped entirely off. 
 Tlu Lion is another invention of James Wright.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 215 
 
 THE 'CAPTAIN. 
 
 Tag: Silver t\vist and light blue silk. 
 
 Tail: A topping and chatterer. 
 
 Body : T\vo turns of light orange silk, two turns dark orange seal's fur, 
 two turns dark red-claret seal's fur, and finish with dark blue seal's fur. 
 
 Ribbed: Silver tinsel. 
 
 Hackle : A white coch-y-bonddu dyed light red-claret, from the orange 
 silk. 
 
 TJiroat : Blue hackle and gallina. 
 
 W'ings: Pintail, teal, gallina, peacock wing, Amherst pheasant, bustard, 
 and golden pheasant tail ; swan dyed light orange, dark orange, dark 
 claret, and dark blue ; with two strips mallard above, and a topping. 
 
 Sides : Jungle fowl. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head: Black herl. 
 
 The Captain is one of my own patterns, and was introduced by 
 Bernard, of Church Place, Piccadilly, with another of mine called the 
 Champion, many years ago. But it has long <ince adopted the name of 
 the Poinder in Scotland, and is perhaps better known there by that 
 erroneous appellation. 
 
 It is rather difficult to recommend this fly without appearing to blow 
 my own trumpet ; at the same time I shall probably be justified in saying 
 that as a general pattern it holds its own everywhere. I have had good 
 sport with it dressed in all sizes and very rarely meet with disappointment, 
 especially as a change when the Durham Ranger, for example, has moved 
 a sh. It shculd be dressed very small for lakes or shallow streams.
 
 2l6 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 THE 'BLACK JAY.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and dark yellow silk. 
 
 Tail : A topping. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body: Two turns black silk ; the rest black seal's fur. 
 
 j<il>bed : Silver tinsel, preceded by silver lace for large patterns. 
 
 Hackle : Natural black from silk. 
 
 Throat : Jay. 
 
 IVings : Tippet, scarlet ibis and gallina ; golden pheasant tail, bustard, 
 teal, black cockatoo's tail, and swan dyed green and dark yellow ; with 
 two strips mallard above. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head: Black herl. 
 
 A complete contrast to the preceding series is the Black Jay, a pattern 
 for the introduction of which I am also responsible, and which has been 
 in general use for more than a quarter of a century, though invented long 
 before that. Unlike the rest of the 'jays' it will be found most useful in 
 dark water, and although it kills well dressed small, it shows perhaps a 
 move marked superiority when tied on very large hooks. I then generally 
 add jungle to the wings and a topping. 
 
 There are numerous imitations of this fly, all varying trivially in minor 
 details ; but I think the formula here given will be found satisfactory upon 
 hooks up to an inch and a quarter in length, without any alteration or 
 addition.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY 217 
 
 THE 'CLARET JAY.' 
 
 Tag : Silver twist and light yellow silk, 
 
 Tail: A topping, scarlet ibis, and gallina. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body : Two turns light red-claret silk, the rest claret seal's fur. 
 
 Ribbed : Silver tinsel. 
 
 Hackle: Claret. 
 
 Tliroat '. Jay. 
 
 Wings: Teal, tippet, and floricnn ; light mottled turkey, parrot, 
 golden pheasant tail, gallina, and dark bustard ; swan dyed light yellow, 
 yellow-green (or powdered blue), yellow and claret ; with two strips 
 mallard above. 
 
 Sidts : Yellow macaw and ibis, in married strips. 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head. Black herl. 
 
 The Claret Jay is the best known and most popular of the 'jay set. 1 
 In river.; where medium-sized flies are used the ' Claret,' as it is generally 
 termed, kills as well as anything. There is one variety of it that may lie 
 mentioned having yellow seal's fur instead of light red-claret silk on tht: 
 body, but the description given is that of the original dressing. 
 
 These three sombre patterns the Black and Claret Jays and the Dirty 
 Orange are more suitable for medium sized rivers, and although they are 
 rarely tied on very large hooks, there are plenty of flats, streams, nooks, 
 and corners in our largest rivers where I am satisfied they could be tried 
 wilh considerable success on hooks up to, say, Xo. 2.
 
 218 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THE ' DIRTY ORANGE.' 
 
 Tag: Gold twist and light blue silk. 
 
 Tail : A topping and tippet. 
 
 Butt : Black herl. 
 
 Body : Two turns light orange silk ; the rest light dirty orange seal's f_;r. 
 
 Ribbed : Gold tinsel. 
 
 Hackle : Light dirty orange from silk. 
 
 Throat: Jay. 
 
 Wings: Ginger turkey, gallina, and strands of breast feather of golden 
 pheasant ; bustard, peacock herl, golden pheasant tail and strands of black 
 turkey with white tips ; red macaw, swan dyed dirty orange and dark 
 blue, with two strips of mallard above. 
 
 Suks : S u m m e r d u c k . 
 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 
 Head: Blue her]. 
 
 Another of the Jays, and also a popular favourite, is the Dirty Orange. 
 Salmon fishers, and novices more especially, are often so eager to try every 
 imaginable novelty that makes its appearance in the way of flies that they 
 are unconsciously apt to neglect the more quietly dressed but well 
 established patterns. So far as appearance goi_s, there are doubtless many 
 patterns more taking, but I have included this and the two preceding Hies 
 in my standard list advisedly, believing that in the long run they will b_ 
 f.iund to justify the selecti-n.
 
 SALMOX FISHING WITH THE FLY. 219 
 
 THE 'FIERY BROWN. 1 
 
 Tag: Gold twist and light orange silk. 
 
 Tail : A topping. 
 
 Body : Fiery brown seal's fur. 
 
 Ribbed: Gold tinsel. 
 
 Hackle : From first turn of tinsel, fiery brown. 
 
 H r ings : Tippet strands between broad strips of mallard. 
 Horns : Blue macaw. 
 Head: Black herl. 
 
 N.B. There is also another variety by the inventor (Michael Rogan), 
 having a blue hackle alongside the iiery brown hackle down the body. 
 
 The Fiery Brown, facetiously termed ' The All Ireland Fly,' is gradually 
 becoming more popular elsewhere, and many a victory won in 'despite of 
 fate ' may be credited to this singularly attractive yet plain-looking pattern. 
 Indeed, however unpropitiously the campaign may appear to be going, 
 Michael Rogan's ingenious offspring will very likely retrieve the situation, 
 whether the champ de battailk be in the north or south, in pool, stream, 
 or rapid. Rogan's mode of dyeing the seal's fur and hackles is most 
 successful, and far superior to all others for securing the fierce flame-like 
 tint desired. 
 
 The Fiery Brown is another fly that seems to answer best when dressed 
 on medium-sized hooks, though I have never tried it, or even seen it tied 
 very large,
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THE 'SPRING GRUB.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and light blue silk. 
 
 Tail : Scarlet ibis and blue macaw in married strips. 
 
 Body : In two sections having three hackles as illustrated : in the 
 place of the butt. 
 
 Butt : A furnace hackle dyed orange. The first half of the body 
 yellow silk ribbed with black chenille. 
 
 In the centre is placed a natural blue hackle. The second half of the 
 body black silk ribbed with silver tinsel, and the shoulder, or head 
 hackles, a natural coch-y-bonddu, and a gallina dyed dark orange. 
 
 This is one of my earliest of the scorpion tribe, and belongs to a 
 numerous collection of wingless flies which are coming more and more 
 into fashion. There are times when fish require a good deal of coaxing, 
 and on many days they will rise in pool after pool merely, as it were, for 
 the sake of inquisitiveness. Upon these occasions especially I make it a 
 rule to tone down the colours by mixing them with deeper shades, and 
 dress then and there a fly of this description, if, that is, I do not happen to 
 have a suitable one by me. The pattern here given I have often found a 
 good change with Excelsior, Jock Scott, &c. I have found these wingless 
 'nondescripts' kill well wherever I have fished, and every standard 
 fly should, I believe, be partially imitated in a similar fashion. 
 
 The ' Spring grul> ' completes the list of general standard 
 flies, with one or other of which, from the beginning to the end 
 of the season, and in any part of the United Kingdom, salmon 
 are to be killed if at all.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 
 
 221 
 
 [NOTES BY THE EDITOR 
 
 To Major Traherne's capital selection of standard flies I should be dis- 
 posed to add half a dozen patterns which in my own experience I have 
 found to be generally ' good killers ' on the salmon rivers of v he United 
 Kingdom. The descriptive formulae of these flies are by Mi. Charles 
 Farlow, 191 Strand. 
 
 THE 'BEAUFORT MOTH.' 
 
 Tag: Gold tinsel; Tail: Golden pheasant topping; Body: Bronze 
 peacock herl, ribbed with gold tinsel : Hackle, Throat : Red cock's (throat 
 hackle only) ; Wings; Two small white hen feathers ; Head : Peacock heri. 
 
 This fly will be found very useful during the last hours of daylight if 
 fish are shy. It has never failed to kill on any river on which it has been 
 tried in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada, and Labrador. 
 
 THE 'SILVER WILKINSON.' 
 
 Tag: Gold twist; Tail: Golden pheasant topping; Butt: Scarlet 
 wool; Body: Silver tinsel, ribbed with gold twist; Hackle: Pale blue- 
 run down body ; Throat : Jay ; ] Tings : Fibres of golden pheasant tail, 
 bustard, widgeon, golden pheasant tippet, dyed red swan, topping over 
 all ; Horns: Blue and yellow macaw; Head : Scarlet wool. 
 
 An excellent fly for salmon on a bright day. Sometimes when the
 
 222 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 ' Silver Doctor ' fails the spotted jungle cock wing appears to exercise an 
 attraction ; but it is a killing fly in any river. 
 
 THE 'BLACK FAIRY.' 
 
 Tag: Gold twist and golden yellow floss; Tail: Golden pheasant 
 topping; Body: Black wool ribbed with gold twist; Throat: Black 
 cock's hackle; Wings: Brown mallard ; Head : Black ostrich herl. 
 
 As universally killing a fly as even Jock of Scot. I prefer it on a dark 
 day ; other people fancy it on a bright one. 
 
 'CRITCHLEY'S FANCY.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and pale blue floss silk ; Tail: Golden pheasant 
 topping and fibres of golden pheasant tippet ; Body : Pale orange floss 
 silk ribbed with silver twist ; Hackle: Orange run down body; Throat: 
 Teal ; Wings: Fibres of leal, dun turkey, and red macaw ; Horns : Blue 
 and yellow macaw ; Head: Black ostrich herl. 
 
 This fly was the only one at which fish would rise in the Ristigouche 
 river at the end of June and beginning of July 1879, and Mr. Critchley, 
 who alone did any good on the water at the time, was kind enough to give 
 me some of his patterns. The Ristigouche runs between Lower Canada 
 and New Brunswick.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 THE 'LEMON-TIPPED GREY MONKEY.' 
 
 Tag: Silver twist and yellow floss ; Tail: Golden pheasant topping ; 
 Body: Grey monkey fur ribbed with silver oval; Ha<.kk : Green olive 
 run down body; Throat: Yellow hackle; Wings: Fibres of brown 
 mallard, golden pheasant tippet, golden pheasant tail, bustard, guinea 
 fowl, and green parrot ; Horns : Blue and yellow macaw ; Head: Black 
 ostrich. 
 
 A very useful fly. When there is not sun enough to make the ' Silver 
 Grey' sparkle this pattern is often very killing. 
 
 THE 'GREEN GROUSE' AND THE 'BLUE JAY.' 
 
 ' GREEN GROUSE.' Tag: Silver twist and medium orange floss silk ; 
 Tail: Fibres of magenta and pale blue dyed swan and golden pheasant 
 tippet; Body: Light green floss silk ribbed with silver tinsel; Hackle: 
 Grouse run down body; Throat: Blue jay hackle; Wings Fibres of 
 -ilver pheasant, brown mallard, red macaw, and golden pheasant tippet ; 
 Head: Black ostrich herl. 
 
 ' BLUE TAY.' Tag: Silver tinsel; Tail: Golden pheasant topping; 
 Butt: Black ostrich; Body: Medium blue floss silk ribbed with silver 
 tinsel ; Hackle: Blue jay half way clown body ; Throat: Yellow hackle ; 
 Wings: Fibres of bustard, golden pheasant tippet, green parrot, dyed 
 purple swan, and guinea fowl ; Head : Black ostrich herl. 
 
 The Green Grouse, and the Blue Jay, are the two best flies for the 
 Blackwater, co. Cork, Ireland. 
 
 BEAUFORT.]
 
 224 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 CASTING. 
 
 I have so far given all the information I can think of that 
 may be of use as a guide to the selection of the principal requi- 
 sites for an outfit for salmon fishing. There are, however, 
 several other articles to make it complete, such as fly books, 
 tin boxes, c. ; but these do not require any mention in detail, 
 and, as they will not make or mar sport, the choice of them 
 may be safely left to the angler's fancy. 
 
 The first thing a beginner has to learn is, how to cast over- 
 hand, and he should commence work with a short line, say 
 from ten to fifteen yards. When he can make a tolerable cast 
 with this length, he may gradually lengthen the line ; and if he 
 perseveres and works upon a sound principle, and has provided 
 himself with a rod suitable to his powers of casting, he will 
 gradually become master of it, and be able, with tolerable ease, 
 to cast a line of twenty or twenty-five yards, which is as far as 
 will be required for general purposes. To make a clean cast 
 overhand, it should be borne in mind it is necessary that the 
 line be lifted out of the water to the very end to where the fly 
 is attached ; and that it should be thrown to its fullest extent in 
 the backward cast (that is, behind the angler's back) prior to 
 the forward cast being made. If this be neglected, the fly will 
 as often as not be cracked off, and the line sent out in a slovenly 
 corkscrew fashion, or else both line and fly will fall in a heap 
 together in the water, the disadvantages of which will be ex- 
 plained later on. To make a cast in a workmanlike manner 
 the line should be sent clean out, down, and across stream 
 at an angle of not less than 45 (see D E, fig. i). As soon as 
 the fly touches the water, the rod, supposing the angler to 
 be standing at A, should be held in the position A D at an 
 angle of about 10 down stream from a line taken from where 
 the angler stands straight across to the opposite bank, and it 
 should remain in that position until the fly has reached mid- 
 stream, G, after which the point should gradually follow the
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 225 
 
 direction of the fly, H, until the cast is completed, A B K, which 
 will bring the rod into a favourable position, A B, to make a 
 fresh cast ; the dotted line, E F G H K, marks the course of the 
 fly from beginning to end of the cast. The advantage of making 
 the fly work in the manner I have explained is that every fibre 
 of the wing and hackle will be in their right position ; it will as- 
 sume a natural, lifelike appearance ; and, owing to the slow rate 
 and direction it is travelling, every fish in the pool will have 
 
 a fair chance of discerning its colour ; and if he rises, he will 
 be more likely to be well hooked than by any other method. 
 
 If the stream is of even rapidity from bank to bank, it will 
 be a comparatively easy matter to make the fly work in the 
 manner I have explained ; but should the stream run m<3re 
 rapidly at the middle than at the sides, which is generally 
 the case, a ' belly ' in the line must necessarily be made as soon 
 as the line touches the water. If this is allowed to remain, the 
 I- Q
 
 226 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 fly cannot work as it ought to, which will be explained in the dia- 
 gram, fig. 2. A B represents the rod, supposed to be in angler's 
 hands standing at A. B c, the line cast, as it should be, down 
 and across stream. B D represents the belly made in the line, 
 which will increase, D E F o H, until the cast is completed at 
 i. K the point of the rod meanwhile being shifted from B to L 
 The disadvantages of a fly working in the manner I have 
 
 shown when a fish rises, are, I think, obvious ; and I will 
 explain this more fully in describing a straight-across cast. 
 
 There is a way of taking the belly out of a line, which was 
 taught me by an old fisherman when fishing the Kirkcudbright- 
 shire Dee in my younger days. I dare say many of my readers 
 will recollect old Jemmy Gordon, professional salmon fisher- 
 man at Kirkcudbright, who was called the ' Emperor, 'and right 
 well he deserved the title, for he knew more about salmon 
 fishing than any professional I have ever met, and I acquired a
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 227 
 
 store of knowledge from him that I have found useful ever 
 since. He is dead and gone now, and the like of him I shall 
 never see again. It was Jemmie that pointed out to me the 
 evil of allowing a belly to remain in my line, and who taught 
 me how to rectify it. 
 
 -< & 
 
 To accomplish it is a knack which can only be acquired by 
 practice, but I think it of such importance that I will endeavour, 
 by the aid of the diagram, fig. 3, to explain how it is clone. 
 
 AC represents the rod and CK the line as first cast, in correct 
 position. CF represents the belly, almost instantly made. By 
 making a back-handed upward cast, the belly, c F, the outward 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 curve of which is facing down stream, is changed in its direc- 
 tion to D G ; the outward curve facing up stream, the posi- 
 tion of the rod being shifted from c to D the action of the 
 stream will then straighten the line, which will gradually get 
 into the position c H, the position of the rod being shifted back 
 to A c ; the fly will then work gradually across stream, the rod 
 following the direction of the fly until the cast is completed at 
 A B M. Few fishermen I have watched fishing take the trouble 
 to take the belly out of their line, and are content to let the fly 
 work in the same position as it was cast ; but if they would 
 look at it in the light I see it, I feel convinced they would be 
 of my opinion. 
 
 Many experienced fishermen advocate casting straight across 
 stream, and assert that by adopting this method many more 
 fish are risen than by any other ; they may be right, but I much 
 doubt it, and maintain that, even should more fish be risen by 
 the straight-across method, more fish are killed by casting 
 down and across. 
 
 A reference to diagram, fig. 4, will show how a fly works 
 cast straight across stream, ABC, from the time the fly touches 
 the water at c to when the cast is completed, ABE. The course 
 of the fly is represented by the dotted line c D E ; the position 
 of the rod cannot be altered, as it would make matters worse. 
 It will be seen that the fly is travelling from first to last head 
 foremost down stream, the cross action of the stream on the 
 fly will put all its feathers out of gear, the fish in the pool will 
 get but a momentary sight of it, and will have no time to dis- 
 cern its colour, and if they rise at it, by the time they reach 
 the surface of the water the fly will be a yard behind them down 
 stream, and the disappointment thus caused will be apt to scare 
 them to such a degree that they will not rise again. 
 
 That fish are thus caught I do not deny, but I maintain 
 that many more are caught by adopting the down and across 
 cast. 
 
 Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrams representing the two slovenly, 
 casts I have before alluded to. In both diagrams B c shows
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 229 
 
 where the fly should be cast, and B D where it should not be 
 cast ; in fig. 5 the line assumes the shape of a corkscrew, and 
 in' fig. 6 it is thrown all of a heap in the water, and it will be 
 seen that the fly cannot be got to work properly until it has 
 reached mid- stream, B E, thus losing the chance of catching the 
 rising fish in half the pool. 
 
 FIG. 4. 
 
 I am aware it will be impossible for anyone to follow my 
 directions to the letter, particularly, as is often the case, if there 
 is a foul wind all that can be done is to adhere to them as 
 nearly as circumstances will permit, and to endeavour always 
 to cast the fly in such a manner that the fish can see it before
 
 230 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 he sees the casting line. I believe the principle is a sound 
 one, and will guarantee no one is misled by adopting it. I 
 should have mentioned that the fly should begin to ' fish ' 
 directly it touches the water, and to insure this a foot may be 
 taken in with the hand through the rings when the forward cast 
 
 is made, which will have the effect of straightening the line in 
 case it has become slack, when the fly will begin to work at 
 once. 
 
 When a beginner has perfected himself in overhand casting 
 he may then begin his lessons in casting underhand, which it is 
 quite necessary he should learn, as he will find himself occa-
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 231 
 
 sionally having to fish streams where if he cannot make an 
 underhand cast he may as well go home. 
 
 Of all the various undercasts, the one as practised on the 
 Spey is the most pleasant and satisfactory to make, and, as far 
 as I can judge, a longer line can be got out with it than with 
 
 FIG. 6. 
 
 any other. It is generally believed this cast can only be 
 accomplished when wading, but if anyone knows how to do it, 
 it can be done with quite as great ease and to as great perfec- 
 tion, when standing on the bank ; but in the latter case it 
 requires a sharp stream to be running evenly close into the 
 bank which is being fished from. Until very recently I found
 
 232 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 I could not accomplish this cast from a bank, as in making a 
 cast in the ordinary position the line would invariably come in 
 contact with the bank, and the result was very often the loss of 
 my fly and casting line (see fig. 7). I, however, found out 
 afterwards, that if instead of standing in the ordinary position 
 
 |H 
 
 ^ ^ ~f"^ 
 
 D 
 
 FIG. 7. 
 
 F E. river bank ; A, where angler stands holding rod, fishing right-handed, in ordinary 
 position for casting facing stream ; A H u c, po.-ition of rod, line, and fly before making 
 forward cast : i>, where fly or line comes in contact with bank ; AG H, position of rod, 
 line, and fly when cast is made. 
 
 facing the stream, I made say, in military parlance, a right or 
 left about three-quarter face, down stream when making my 
 cast, almost with my back to the stream (see fig. 8), I could 
 keep the fly clear of the bank, and get out as long a line as I
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 233 
 
 could when wading. One of the longest underhand casts I ever 
 made was when fishing from a bank in that position, and I have 
 found it so useful that I recommend those who may not know 
 it to give it a trial. 
 
 To make a Spey cast successfully, the line should be allowed 
 to be carried well down the stream, straight and tight to its 
 fullest extent, the point of the rod following the direction of the 
 
 DE, river bank ; A, where angler stands holding rod, faced left about three-quarters from 
 ordinary casting position ; A H c, position of rod, line, and fly before making forward 
 cast, keeping line clear of the bank A F G, position of rod and line after the cast is 
 made. 
 
 fly and held very low. Before making the cast the whole line 
 should be lifted clear of the water. If it is allowed to drag 
 under the surface of the water the cast cannot be made. A rod 
 with a powerful top must be used, and one which has great 
 lifting power. The Spey fishermen, who I think are the finest- 
 underhand casters in the world, use rods made especially for the
 
 234 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 purpose. The upper portion, instead of being straight, is made 
 in a curve, and, when fishing, the curve faces the stream, which 
 gives a rod made in this fashion a greater lifting power than an 
 ordinary one, but I have always found I could make as good a 
 cast with the latter. 
 
 I have made these few remarks upon the ' Spey cast ' as it is 
 my favourite, although I find other methods useful at times. 
 To learn how to cast underhand can only be acquired by 
 practice, and in the course of an angler's experience he will 
 have every opportunity of becoming proficient in this branch 
 of the art. 
 
 HOW TO WORK A FLY. 
 
 There are differences of opinion as to how a fly should be 
 worked. Some fishermen shake their rod so as to make it saw 
 the water, as it were, but this method adds greatly to the fatigue 
 of fishing, and is, moreover, in my opinion, labour in vain. I 
 watched upon one occasion a man working his rod in this 
 fashion. He had out a pretty long line, and when his fly came 
 round close to the bank where I was standing I could see what 
 the effect was. I was rather surprised to see there was no 
 motion given to the fly more than that which was caused by the 
 action of the stream. The fact was the action of the point of 
 the rod did not affect the line at the distance at which the fly 
 was working. I have no doubt that when fishing with a short 
 length of line, shaking the point of the rod would give the de- 
 sired motion to the fly, although I maintain that in a stream 
 it is quite unnecessary to work a fly at all, the action of the 
 water being quite sufficient to give it a lifelike appearance. 
 
 I learnt a lesson when fishing with a cross line where flies 
 are sometimes almost stationary, and I feel certain anyone who 
 has seen the glorious rises which salmon make at flies on across 
 line would never think it necessary to work or shake his fly. 
 
 The method of working the fly in this fashion is generally 
 adopted by all professionals and many amateurs on the Irish
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 235 
 
 rivers, and a stranger who does not conform to their ideas in 
 this, _ as well as in the choice of flies, is put down as a ' duffer.' 
 The first time I wetted my line in the Shannon I worked the 
 fly in my own way, hardly moving the point of the rod. The 
 man in the stern of the boat watched me for a few minutes with 
 disgust written on his face ; at last he sprang up, and before I 
 knew what he was about, snatched the rod out of my hand, 
 saying, ' This is the way we fish in the Shannon, your honour,' 
 and then began to show me the see-saw method. I was rather 
 taken aback, as I fancied I knew how to do it before the man 
 was born. However, I had my own way, had very good sport, 
 and heard no more about it from my friend in the stern of the 
 boat. 
 
 The most deadly method of fishing is to hold the point of 
 the rod well down, letting the fly sink as deep as possible. If 
 the fly is worked at all it should be in dead sluggish water, and 
 then only by a very slow ' up-and-down ' motion of the top of 
 the rod. 
 
 But there is no accounting for the way a salmon will some- 
 times take a fly. 
 
 A short time ago, when fishing the Usk, a friend of mine 
 put down his rod on the bank to go and talk to his wife. The 
 fly was left in the water, and when he returned he found to his 
 surprise a fish was on, and after an exciting struggle he landed 
 him ; he had been fishing that pool for hours before this 
 happened. 
 
 HOW TO FISH A POOL. 
 
 The proper way to fish a pool is to commence at the head, 
 moving down stream about one yard, or step, before each fresh 
 cast, always taking care the old cast is completed before the 
 downward step is made. This is of greater importance than 
 might perhaps appear, for if the new cast is made first and the 
 downward step taken afterwards, it will make all the difference 
 in the working of the fly. The latter will have to travel all of
 
 236 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 a heap for yards before it begins to fish, the disadvantages of 
 which I have already stated. I have seen many salmon fisher- 
 men having taken- a downward step and made their cast, take 
 one or two more steps forward, without being apparently aware 
 of it. This is one instance of the bad habits a young fisherman 
 may get into, and which he may never be able to break him- 
 self of. These are small things in themselves, but, nevertheless, 
 are apt to mar his sport to a degree he is quite unaware of. 
 
 When a fish rises to a fly, it is best to wait about thirty 
 seconds before throwing over him again, and the angler should 
 remain stationary and shorten his line a yard or so, by pulling 
 it through the rings of the rod, and not by winding it up with 
 the reel. He should then commence throwing over the fish 
 again with the shortened line, letting out the slack until the 
 exact length is cast which rose the fish. If he does not rise 
 him again, a smaller fly may be tried of the same pattern, and, if 
 needs be, one of another pattern. If this should prove unsuc- 
 cessful, the fish may be left alone for a quarter of an hour or 
 twenty minutes, the angler continuing to fish the pool down and 
 returning to try his luck again in about that time. He should 
 first, however, in case he is fishing from a bank, make a mark 
 with his heel on the spot where he stood when the fish rose, 
 or, if wading, take some bearings by which he may recover the 
 place where he was standing. He should then try the fly that 
 rose the fish in the first instance, and if he is not successful 
 after one change, he may leave the fish for good. 
 
 If, when fishing a pool, several fish rise, but the majority of 
 them are only pricked and not hooked, it may be taken for 
 granted the fly is too large, and the pool should be fished over 
 again with a smaller one. It may be that the colour of the fly 
 is not suitable to the state of the sky, or that it is too easily 
 seen, and has made the fish somewhat shy. If this should be 
 the opinion of the angler, he can change his fly for one of 
 another colour. This is, however, all guess-work, and nothing 
 but long experience will be able to give any aid under such 
 circumstances.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 STRIKING A RISING SALMON. 
 
 There are different methods adopted for striking a salmon. 
 A great many experienced anglers advocate striking or hitting a 
 rising fish ' from the winch,' without the line being touched. 
 Others say it is necessary to strike with the line held tight 
 between hand and rod. Others, that if the line be held tight 
 between hand and rod, a fish will hook himself without striking ; 
 and this latter is decidedly my way of thinking, and I am con- 
 vinced that striking is a mistake. The question of striking or 
 not striking is of the greatest importance, and I will therefore 
 endeavour to explain the pros and cons of each system. 
 
 Striking from the winch has many advocates. The advan- 
 tage claimed for it is that, with a properly constructed reel, 
 a salmon can be hooked before the reel plate revolves, but 
 that it will revolve before the fish turns. This may be so,, 
 but I cannot understand how the point of the hook, particu- 
 larly if it is a big one, can be forced over the barb unless 
 .the line is held tight, or the winch a very stiff one, a very 
 unpleasant thing to use, and involving the utmost danger in 
 playing a lightly hooked fish. My belief is, that in the case 
 of any salmon struck from the winch, in whose mouth a 
 hook has been found fixed over the barb, the result is due 
 to the pulling and dragging he gets when being played, and 
 which must, sooner or later, have this effect. If an easy running 
 reel be used, which is in my opinion the proper one, the reel 
 plate will revolve the moment the line is tightened in a fish, 
 and, if the line be not held tight, the barb cannot get fixed, 
 unless the hook is a very small one. These remarks are 
 equally applicable to single and to double hooks. 
 
 Long before the question as to the advantage of striking 
 from the winch when using double hooks was discussed in the 
 sporting press, I had given the double- hook plan an extended 
 trial, but I lost so many fish with them, that I gave them up. 
 I did not strike from the winch, and I am told by advocates of
 
 238 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 this system that my not doing so was the cause of my want of 
 success. They may be right, but I cannot agree with them, and 
 I am convinced that striking a fish, in any form, is a mistake. 
 
 Many fishermen advocate striking with the line held tight ; 
 this is accomplished by a sudden upward jerk of the point of 
 the rod the moment the fish is seen to rise, or that it is felt that 
 he has taken the fly ; this is in my opinion the worst possible 
 method, and a very risky one, although it is the one generally 
 adopted. I think the habit has been acquired in consequence 
 of the majority of salmon fishermen having fished for trout in 
 their younger days, before they were allowed to handle a salmon 
 rod. Fishing for trout and grayling and fishing for salmon 
 are two very different arts ; the former are far quicker than a 
 salmon in their action when rising to a fly, and require great 
 dexterity to hook them, but even they do not require to be 
 what is called 'struck' at in the sense that is meant in striking 
 a salmon ; and a slight turn of the wrist, which may be called a 
 strike if it pleases anyone to do so, is all that is required to fix 
 the barb of a trout fly. If the rod was suddenly jerked up, as 
 when striking a salmon, the chances are, with a heavy trout, the 
 casting line would break, and perhaps the rod into the bargain. 
 I am inclined to the belief that striking from the winch would 
 suit trout fishing better than salmon fishing. The evil arising 
 from striking at a rising fish with the line held tight, is that 
 there is great risk, owing to the sudden jerk of the rod, of 
 either smashing the top or leaving the fly in the fish's mouth, or 
 should the fly be suddenly snatched away from him in the acl 
 of rising, the disappointment would most likely scare him to 
 such a degree that he would not rise a second time. I have 
 been told that it is necessary to strike at a salmon in order to 
 prevent him from ejecting the fly ; I have already stated my 
 opinion regarding the power of a salmon of ejecting his food. 
 It is only natural he should do so on finding that it was not 
 natural food, but I have myself seen many salmon come at my 
 fly with open mouth, and in such cases striking at him would be 
 most likely to defeat the object in view, and the chances of
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 239 
 
 hooking him would be far greater if he were allowed time to 
 close his mouth on the fly. It is highly probable that whether 
 he is struck at or not, he often succeeds in ejecting a fly with- 
 out being touched, having found out the trick that has been 
 played upon him, and it is for this reason that many salmon 
 which have been risen, cannot be tempted to rise a second time. 
 What is desired when a salmon rises is to fix the barb of the hook, 
 and to effect this the surest and safest way, in my opinion, is by 
 adopting the following method : When a fish rises at the fly the 
 rod must be held steady in the same position as before the fish 
 rose; if he has taken the fly he will hook himself by his own weight 
 on his downward course after the rise, and he will soon let you 
 know it. Nothing more is required to fix the barb of the hook 
 unless the fly used is of a large size, when, to make certain -of 
 doing so, it may be advisable to give one or two steady ' pulls,' 
 the force of which must be left to the angler's discretion ; if 
 the barb is not then fixed it will be in consequence of the point 
 of the hook coming into contact with a bone, when striking or 
 pulling would be of no avail. If, after a salmon has risen it is 
 found he has not taken the fly, the rod should still be held in 
 the same position, and the fly allowed to work as if nothing had 
 happened. By adopting this plan there will be a far greater chance 
 of his rising a second time than if the fly had been snatched 
 away from him ; and I have often seen fish that have risen at 
 my fly and not taken it, follow it and make two or three rises at 
 it befote the cast is completed, but I do not often remember to 
 have caught a fish following the fly in this fashion. I think it 
 is a sure sign that the fly is too big, and I should much prefer 
 his going back to his corner after the first rise, and giving me a 
 chance of changing my fly. I have also observed that a fish 
 that follows the fly will seldom be seen again. Ke finds himself 
 before he is aware of it in shallow water, and the chances are 
 he gets scared ; this is the only drawback (if it can be called 
 so) that I can suggest to my plan of hooking a rising salmon, 
 and I will now leave it to my readers to form their own opinion 
 on this very important question.
 
 240 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 PLAYING A SALMON. 
 
 Of all the delights of an angler's experience, there is nothing 
 to compare with that of ' rising ' and hooking a salmon. 
 
 The rise of a big salmon to your fly is electrifying in its 
 effect. There is a moment of intense uncertainty and suspense 
 as he disappears after having risen, and you are awaiting the 
 result. . . . He has missed it ! Your face is as pale as death, 
 and you sit down unable to stand from sheer excitement. 
 You have to wait a minute or two before you make another 
 cast. All cares and troubles, all thoughts of everything and 
 everybody, even of the wife of your bosom, are cast to the 
 winds during those glorious moments of uncertainty ; your 
 whole soul is bound up for the time being with the silvery 
 monster you have roused from his stronghold. Perhaps the 
 idea comes across you that your fly is too big, and with trem- 
 bling hands you change it for a smaller one. Watch in hand, 
 with an impatient longing to be at him again, you wait till the 
 allotted time has elapsed. ' Time is up,' and you rise to again 
 try your luck. You may be an old hand, and no outward sign 
 will betray the beating of your heart, as you proceed to cast 
 over your fish with the same unerring precision as before, as if 
 apparently nothing had happened, and you were only commen- 
 cing to fish the pool. Or perhaps the excitement will be too 
 much for you, and trembling from head to foot scarcely able 
 to hold your rod you will make your cast, but Jiow you will 
 never remember. With eager eyes starting almost out of their 
 sockets, you watch the progress of your fly as it comes nearer 
 and nearer to where you rose your fish. ' He should come 
 now,' is your mental ejaculation, and quick almost as the thought 
 a swirl or perhaps a scarcely perceptible wave in the water will 
 betray the presence of your prey. One more moment of 
 intense uncertainty and suspense ; you feel a slight pull, then 
 your line tightens, your fly of your own making, in which you 
 took such pride, has done it; 'you are in him! ' A thrill of
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 2.41 
 
 exultation and joy runs through your veins as those magic 
 words escape your lips. . . . 
 
 The foregoing description, however uneloquent, may give 
 those who have never experienced it a faint idea of what every 
 lover of the sport fe3ls on rising and hooking a salmon. 
 
 Anglers I have heard of who even consider that when once 
 they have hooked their fish, the sport is over, and hand the 
 rod to their attendant to play and land the fish ; but I prefer 
 as long an acquaintance with my salmon as he will vouchsafe 
 me, and nothing would ever induce me to give up the rod to 
 anyone to play a fish if I could avoid it ; besides, there is the 
 finish to look forward to. The few moments of uncertainty 
 just before the fish is being gaffed or landed particularly if he 
 should be a heavy one, perhaps the biggest you have ever hooked 
 are most exciting ; and the fishermen who forego this part of 
 the performance, lose, I cannot but think, a good deal of the" 
 pleasure of the sport. There is also a great risk in handing 
 over the rod to an attendant ; in the act of doing so, the line 
 must necessarily get slack, and, should the point of the hook 
 be only skin deep in the fish, as is often the case, ten to one 
 that the angler and fish will part company. Is there a salmon 
 fisherman of any experience who has not often seen his fly drop 
 out of a fish's mouth, the moment he was gaffed or landed, 
 when the point of his rod was lowered and the line slackened ? 
 It might probably not occur to him to ask himself the reason 
 why the fly had dropped out ; but if it did, the fact would tell 
 its own tale, and he would be made aware that if for one 
 moment he had given the fish a slack line, he would never 
 have been brought to bank. 
 
 If a fish is well hooked, no harm can come by the rod 
 changing hands ; the angler has often to scramble up a steep 
 bank when playing his fish, in order to enable him to follow 
 him, should he have taken a run up or down stream, in which 
 case he will have to hand his rod over for the time being to his 
 attendant ; but, as it is impossible to tell whether a fish is 
 firmly hooked or not, the rod should never change hands if it 
 
 I. R
 
 242 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 can be avoided. To keep a tight line from first to last is a 
 golden rule that should be always borne in mind by every 
 salmon fisherman when playing his fish. He should hold the 
 point of his rod well up, and keep it opposite to him if he can. 
 Should the fish take a run, ending with a leap in the air, he 
 must instantly lower the point of his rod, which ought to defeat 
 this effort to rid himself of the fly the object doubtless 
 intended.- 
 
 In lowering the point of the rod, a slack line must neces- 
 sarily be given ; but it is a case of kill or cure : if he is well 
 hooked, he will be brought to bank ; if lightly hooked, the 
 chances are against it. It is the 'glorious uncertainty' that 
 adds to the pleasure and excitement of the sport. If it was a 
 certainty, there would be none. 
 
 In playing a salmon, the amount of strain necessary to be 
 put on the line must be left to the judgment of the angler, and 
 should be proportionate to the strength of his tackle. It is not 
 generally known what amount of strain a rod can put on. I 
 may therefore mention that, in trying the experiment with a 
 very powerful rod, all I could do was to pull four pounds on 
 my steelyard, which, at first sight, seems very little ; and, if a 
 salmon remained stationary when being played, and the angler 
 were merely pulling dead against him, with a fairly strong 
 casting line, I do not think he could break it, do what he could, 
 unless he gave it a sudden jerk ; but, the moment the salmon 
 began to move and pull as well as the angler, a double strain 
 would be put on the line, and it would probably break, unless 
 of unusual strength. 
 
 The foregoing may be of some use as a guide to the amount 
 of strain to be used in playing a fish. If skilfully handled, he 
 will generally be brought to the gaff in from five minutes to 
 half an hour from the time he is hooked. It is not often he 
 will take longer to kill, unless he is hooked foul, when he may 
 keep on for hours. I myself hooked a salmon on the Kirkcud- 
 brightshire Dee about ten o'clock one morning, below the weir 
 at Tongueland, and he kept me the whole day playing him in
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 243 
 
 the same pool a deep hole above a fall, with a sunken rock in 
 mid-stream. He got fast in this rock twice during the day, and 
 I had the good fortune (being able to see what I was about) to 
 free the line ; but when it got dark and I could not see, I sent 
 for a lantern ; meanwhile, my fish got fast again in the rock, 
 and broke me ; he gave my attendant one chance of gafdng 
 him, but he missed it, and he never gave another. The fish 
 was plainly seen by the spectators, and he was judged to be a 
 red male fish of about forty pounds. He was hooked under 
 the chin. I put the utmost strain on the line my rod was 
 capable of during the whole day, but he did not show any 
 signs of giving in, and might have kept me all the night. I 
 could not pull him down stream owing to the fall, or it was 
 possible I might have killed him in ten minutes ; he sulked the 
 whole day, and never ran out a yard of line. I should like to 
 have had him on the bank, but, to tell the truth, I was not 
 sorry to part company with him, as I should have felt in honour 
 bound to hold on as long as I was able, which would not have 
 been very pleasant, as it was a cold night in the month of 
 October, and he was hardly worth the trouble. But to return 
 to my subject. If there is p'enty of room, and no danger of 
 being broken owing to sunken rocks, roots of trees, snags, &c. 
 &c., it will be as well to put only a moderate strain on the line, 
 and to let the fish run out as he feels inclined ; but there are 
 occasions when it is necessary to hold on at any cost, and not 
 to give an inch of line if it can be avoided. It is astonishing 
 how easily a fish can be cowed in this manner. On a river in 
 the south of Norway that I was fishing with a friend there was 
 a narrow rapid stream, in which salmon congregated in large 
 numbers, waiting to take the falls just above, where it was 
 a certainty to rise or hook a fish. We fished from a high rock 
 overhanging the stream, and there was only one place where a 
 fish could be landed, which was a backwater, about the size 
 of a large dinner table, on the side we fished fiom. Directly a 
 fish was hooked, it was a case of pull baker, pull devil, and we 
 tried to haul him into this bit of slack water ; and, if we once 
 
 K 2
 
 244 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 succeeded in getting him there, he seemed to lose heart, and 
 gave in at once. I dare say I shall not be believed ; but the 
 average time we took to kill any fish we landed in this pool 
 was about four minutes. A fish over fifteen pounds would 
 generally beat us, for, do all we could, we could not pull him 
 into the slack water. If once he got into the rapid below, 
 down he went, and, not being able to follow him, he invariably 
 broke us. We had to resort to these tactics in most of the 
 other pools in the river we were fishing, but this was the most 
 difficult of all to land a fish in. These are, of course, exceptions 
 to the orthodox methods of playing a fish ; but they show what 
 can be done with good single gut, which was what we used. 
 
 If a heavy fish is hooked, and makes a run down stream, 
 then suddenly takes up again, it will test the qualities of the 
 strongest casting line ; the strain on the belly of the line thus 
 made will in all probability, if the line used is a continuous 
 thick one, be fatal ; and it is under such circumstances that 
 the advantage of using a thin back line will be found out and 
 appreciated, the strain on the thin line being so much less in 
 proportion. If, however, any line stands such a test, there is 
 still great danger : for, should the fish take it into his head to 
 come down stream again, the line cannot be reeled in quickly 
 enough, and the slack will get fast in any stones, rocks, or 
 snags that may be at the bottom of the river. If the angler is 
 playing the fish from the bank, he will have little hope of 
 saving it under such circumstances ; but, should he be fishing 
 out of a boat, the chances are far greater against him, as he 
 cannot follow the fish, and is utterly powerless to help him- 
 self; all he can do is to get in the slack line as fast as he can, 
 and, this being a very slow process, reeling in with the rod in 
 hand, the best thing he can do is to put down the rod in the 
 boat, pull in the slack with both hands, and trast to luck to 
 secure his fish. 
 
 When playing a salmon from the bank, should the fish prove 
 more than ordinarily stubborn, and show no signs of giving in, 
 it is a good plan, if it is practicable, to coax him up stream as
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 243 
 
 far as is possible and then pull him down with a run ; if this 
 can be. repeated two or three times, he will generally give in. 
 
 There is another way of playing a fish that is stubborn : the 
 rod is laid down on the bank, and the fish is hand-played, and, 
 although it does not seem a very sportsmanlike method of pro- 
 ceeding, it is astonishing how quickly a fish will give in when 
 thus treated. I have seen fish that have been played half an 
 hour, showing no signs of giving in, landed in a couple of 
 minutes by hand-playing them. This is a common practice 
 on the Aberdeenshire Dee, particularly during the spring 
 months, when the spent fish, which run to a large size, get 
 recruited, give the angler a great deal of trouble, and waste a 
 great deal of valuable time in bringing them to bank. 
 
 GAFFING AND LANDING A FISH. 
 
 There is a great art in bringing a salmon to the gaff. It 
 should never be attempted in very shallow water if it can 
 be avoided. The gaffer should always keep a little below 
 where he expects the fish will be brought towards the bank, 
 and wherever he places himself he should remain stationary, 
 in a stooping position, with the gaff ready for action. Should 
 he move about the fish will probably get sight of him, and if 
 he does the chances are he will make a run out into mid-stream, 
 and will not allow himself to be brought within reach of the 
 gaff until he is quite exhausted, fighting it out to the bitter 
 end. What the angler has to do is to wait until the fish is 
 quiet, and if he can get his nose above the water bring him in 
 with a run to the gaffer, who will seize the opportunity, give 
 one clip, and all is over with him, On no account should he 
 attempt to put the gaff in should the fish commence to struggle, 
 nut wait patiently until he is quiet again. A fish will often be 
 brought within reach of the gaff over and over again, and just as 
 the gaffer is about to strike him he commences to struggle. This 
 is a trying time for the man who is playing him, but he must 
 not, as is often the case, lose his temper and abuse the gaffer, for
 
 246 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 if the latter is of a nervous temperament he will probably make 
 a bungle of the business, and the fish will reap the benefit. It 
 may be taken for granted that the gaffer is as keen and as 
 anxious as the angler to see the fish on the bank, and does his 
 best to secure him for his own reputation's sake. Should 
 he miss a chance and the fish get away, it is doubtless very 
 annoying, but it is one of the disappointments the salmon 
 fisher. will have to put up with. 
 
 There are few men who can gaff a fish as it should be done. 
 It requires great nerve and a great deal of practice. The Nor- 
 wegians are the best gaffers I ever came across, with the ex- 
 ception of the Shannon men, whose dexterity is wonderful. 
 To gaff a fish in deep rapid water is a more difficult thing than 
 it appears to be, yet the Shannon men never miss a chance ; 
 they use a gaff made of well-seasoned hazel wood, that will 
 give and take with the struggles of the fish, which run to an im- 
 mense size. A stiff handle to a gaff would be liable to break 
 when gaffing one of these monsters in a rapid stream, besides 
 being most unwieldy. An inexperienced gaffer will generally gaff a 
 fish anywhere he can put his gaff in, but an experienced man will 
 bide his time and gaff the fish somewhere below the back fin, 
 which will balance him as nearly as possible, and prevent his flesh 
 being torn in his struggles. In landing a fish with the net similar 
 precautions must be taken ; the man who has charge of the net 
 should remain stationary where he thinks it probable the fish 
 may be landed. The net should be held under water with a 
 stone in it, which will keep the meshes in their place. The angler 
 must run the fish in towards the net in the same manner that 
 he would when the fish was to be gaffed. If the fish is quiet he 
 will generally be able to run him in at once, but should never 
 attempt to do so if he commences to struggle. When the 
 head and shoulders of the fish are well into the net, the netter 
 should raise it sufficiently to get the whole of the body within its 
 meshes ; the hoop of the net should be then lowered, the farther 
 end downward, and the handle at the same time raised thus 
 forming the net into a purse from which there is no escape. The
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FL Y. 247 
 
 fish can then be drawn into the bank, net and handle in the 
 sartie- position. On no account must the net be raised high out 
 of the water ; if it is attempted to land fish in such a fashion the 
 weight of the fish will soon tell on the hoop of the net and make 
 it unfit for use. It must never be attempted to net a fish tail 
 first ; he may be got into the net, but he has an awkward habit 
 of using his tail, and would be out of it again before you were 
 aware. When once, however, his head and shoulders are in 
 over the hoop he cannot escape. 
 
 Many fishermen gaff their own fish, and will not on any 
 account delegate this office to anyone else. To accept aid would 
 deprive them of half their pleasure in fishing, and if they are of 
 this opinion I think they are quite right ; no doubt there is 
 much excitement in gaffing one's own fish, but it requires great 
 skill and practice to be able to do it artistically. There is, how- 
 ever, a certain amount of risk incurred, as when the line is wound 
 up so short as it necessarily must be to enable the angler to reach 
 his fish, if care is not taken to lower the point of the rod 
 and slack the line the moment the gaff is in, the chances are 
 the top will get smashed. This has happened to myself on 
 several occasions, and the object being to get the fish safe on 
 the bank, I prefer adopting the surer method of having my fish 
 gaffed by my attendant. 
 
 If it can be ascertained for a certainty that a fish is firmly 
 hooked, and there is a beach anywhere handy, he can be 
 stranded without the use of gaff or net, but this must not be 
 attempted until the fish is quite 'done' and has not a kick in 
 him. The angler must wait until he can get his head above 
 water, and he can then run him in high and dry without 
 a struggle. If he cannot completely ' strand him ' thus, he can 
 put down his rod and tail him ; this is done by grasping him 
 firmly just above his tail with the second finger and thumb. By 
 this means he can be pulled out of the water without risk of 
 escape, and carried to a place of safety ; but it is only salmon 
 that can be landed in this way ; the tails of all other fish, sea 
 trout included, would slip through the fingers, and this is an
 
 248 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 infallible test should it be doubtful if the fish caught is a salmon 
 or a sea trout. 
 
 Salmon fishing out of a boat in a lake should be carried on 
 on the same principle as when fishing on the river bank, with 
 the exception that a drop fly may be used in addition to the tail 
 fly. A drop fly is often used on a river, but I think it is objec- 
 tionable in consequence of the risk of its getting foul at the 
 bottom. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 There is no accounting for the humour of a salmon. You 
 do not know the minute he will take it into his head to rise ; he 
 will rise freely sometimes on the worst possible looking day for 
 fishing, when no sport is expected. The appearance of a day 
 is most deceptive. You may go out full of hope and certain in 
 your own mind you are going to have great sport, and you will 
 often go home blank without a rise ; but although as a rule it is 
 impossible to foretell in the morning what sort of fishing day it 
 will turn out, there is an exception. If the wind is in the east 
 with a blue ha/y atmosphere it seems to affect the fish in some 
 unaccountable way, and while it lasts a rise can rarely be got 
 out of them. I have noticed this hundreds of times, often when 
 the water was in splendid fishing order, and the river full of 
 new run fish, but whatever quarter the wind blows from there 
 is always a chance while the fly is in the water, and to insure 
 success the angler must make up his mind to have many blank 
 days. ?Ie must never tire of throwing his fly, and never be put 
 out by failure. 
 
 The time of day when I have found salmon take best is 
 between the hours of nine o'clock A.M. and one o'clock P.M., and 
 from four to dusk in the evening. In early spring if there is no 
 frost it will make little difference what hour one fishes, but in a 
 hard frost it is not often a salmon will rise until the afternoon, 
 and then only for a short time. In the latter part of the spring 
 months, when the weather gets bright and hot, the earlier the
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY, 249 
 
 angler is out the better, but if the sky is overcast I should pre- 
 fer \he hours I before mentioned for choice. I have frequently 
 known early risers to have flogged all the pools over all the 
 morning blank, and the man who appeared on the scene at nine 
 or ten o'clock to get sport in those same pools. Salmon will 
 often only rise at certain times of the day, and it is luck to come 
 across them when in the humour. There is one time of the 
 evening, however, when I should never despair of catching a fibh 
 if I had been blank all day. The time is about a quarter of an 
 hour after sunset, after a hot bright day in the spring months, 
 when the glare is off the water. There was a pool on the Kil- 
 murry water, on the Blackwater, county Cork, that hardly ever 
 failed me under such circumstances ; it was a sharp running 
 water, as smooth as glass, and a very good rising pool at any 
 hour of the day. When there was no wind, I used to commence 
 fishing at sunset, but although I had fished the pool once, twice, 
 or three times, I never could rise a fish until about a quarter of 
 an hour afterwards. It was then a certainty, but the fish were 
 only on the rise for about twenty minutes, and there was seldom 
 time to catch more than one fish. This was the only pool they 
 seemed to care about rising in at this hour, and the less wind 
 there was the more certain I was to get a fish. 
 
 When fishing private water the angler can choose his own 
 time for beginning operations, and will have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that his fly will be the first one seen by the fish in 
 the morning, but when fishing in club or open water those that 
 go out late will be considerably handicapped, and will very 
 often have to travel a long way to secure a pool. 
 
 A club or open water is a very good school for a beginner 
 to commence his salmon-fishing education. Here he will find 
 plenty of competitors, and lie will have a far better chance of 
 acquiring knowledge than if he were fishing in private water, 
 with no one but perhaps an inexperienced prejudiced person as 
 an attendant to advise him. In an open water he will come 
 across old and experienced anglers who, although they cannot 
 be expected to give him information that would mar their own
 
 250 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 sport, will be found as a rule ready to offer him good advice if 
 he will take it ; and he may soon learn the rudiments of the 
 art. He will have many opportunities of losing his temper, and 
 will find out that the best thing he can do is to keep it. Fish- 
 ing in club or open water is a series of 'sells' from morning to 
 night ; all sorts of dodges are resorted to to attain the desired 
 end, ' Sport for self.' I am reminded of the first sentence in 
 the daily prayer of a certain Scotchman, which ran as follows : 
 ' Gude Lord, tak' every thing awa' frae every mon, and gie it a' 
 to me ;' and this is what many salmon fishermen feel in their 
 hearts as far as sport is concerned. I am happy to say, 
 however, that such ' fish grabbers ' are exceptions. A salmon 
 fisherman, as a rule, is always good company and a jovial 
 fellow ; he is always ready to give a helping hand to a brother 
 fisherman, and however much his temper may have been tried 
 during the day it is generally all over at dinner-time, and by 
 the time he goes to bed after a convivial glass or two with 
 his friendly rivals, he has quite forgotten his ill-luck, deter- 
 mined to be up and doing next day. About two years ago I 
 was very cleverly done out of a good pool when fishing in a 
 club water. In consequence of the early risers being in the 
 habit of fishing all the pools over every morning before the hour 
 when reasonable men came out, a rule was made that no fishing 
 should commence before eight o'clock ; consequently the early 
 risers were always on the water long before this time waiting 
 at their favourite pools, watch in hand, ready to commence 
 operations the moment the clock struck. 
 
 Not being an early riser, I drove down one morning on the 
 left bank of the river to where there were three celebrated 
 pools almost running into each other, and one of which I hoped 
 to secure. The road I travelled came all of a sudden in sight 
 of the two upper pools, lying nearly parallel to them at a short 
 distance off; these were fished from the left bank, but the lowest 
 of the three pools was fished from the right bank, and the river 
 had to be crossed at the tail of the middle pool, in a boat, to 
 be able to get at it.
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 251 
 
 I saw that the upper pool was occupied, and, as I thought, 
 the middle pool also, as I saw a fisherman sitting down on the 
 bank reading a newspaper and apparently resting himself after 
 his labours. I passed down to opposite the lowest pool (which 
 was also close to the road, but hidden from the two upper pools 
 by an orchard) to see if it was occupied, and I saw what I took 
 to be an angler with his fly stuck in a tree on the opposite 
 bank, and the river watchers trying to free the line. I of course 
 took it for granted that the pool was occupied, and passed on 
 to look for a vacant pool lower down, and it was not until 
 afterwards that I found out the trick that had been played upon 
 me. The fact was that the man who was reading the paper on 
 the bank at the middle pool, had been fishing it since eight 
 o'clock blank, and as the lowest pool was a very good one, he 
 thought it just possible he could go and fish it and return to 
 the middle pool (which was by far the best in that part of the 
 water) before any other fisherman appeared on the scene. So 
 he went over in the boat, and while in the act of fishing the pool 
 his fly got fast in the tree. ' Oh, horror ! what shall I do ? the 
 Major will take my pet pool before I can get back, and I shall 
 be left out in the cold.' However, a plan of action soon sug- 
 gested itself, and he left his attendant with the rod, crossed 
 back in the boat and adopted the ruse I have mentioned, of 
 reading the newspaper in full sight of anyone who was driving 
 on the road, making it appear he was lona fide in possession of 
 the pool. The thing was so cleverly done that I could not be 
 angry, although the laugh was against me. 
 
 There is as much luck in salmon fishing as in any other 
 pursuit we are engaged in, and the most experienced angler 
 will often be beaten by the veriest tyro. It is very trying to the 
 temper of a man who ' fancies himself,' and who is going to 
 teach all the wo; Id how to fish, to go home blank. The man 
 who is lucky has no feeling of pity for his neighbour who has been 
 unsuccessful, and, if the truth is known, often chuckles at his 
 discomfiture, even though he should be his bosom friend. 
 Not long ago I was fishing some private water I had rented
 
 252 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 with a friend. We used to meet at lunch to compare notes. 
 One day when we met as usual, my friend produced five splen- 
 did new run fish, one of them over 20 Ibs., and I had nothing 
 to show. I could see that he had no pity for me, and that he 
 was highly pleased with himself, and although I pretended that 
 I rejoiced with him, I was in reality not at all happy and felt 
 very small. This was bad enough, but when, on our separating 
 to resume our sport after lunch, he said to me, ' Well, as you 
 are not getting any sport perhaps you would like to read the 
 newspaper (handing me one), instead of fishing this afternoon,' 
 it was almost more than I could stand. However, I declined 
 with thanks and said nothing more, but I hated him for half 
 an hour most cordially, and vowed I would pay him out some 
 day, and shortly afterwards I had an opportunity of doing so, 
 for I produced eight spring fish one day at lunch time, my 
 friend having only landed a kelt ; but knowing what his feelings 
 must be, I did not chaff him or offer him a newspaper to read. 
 May my forbearance be chronicled by the recording angel ! 
 That day I killed eleven fish, averaging 10 Ibs., the best day I 
 ever had spring fishing. 
 
 I have seen many strange incidents during my salmon-fishing 
 experience, but the cleverest thing I ever saw done was by the 
 above-mentioned friend. He was fishing a pool in the Blackwater, 
 co. Cork, a short distance above me. All of a sudden I heard 
 shouting, and when I went to see what was the matter, I found 
 that after a long play he had been broken by a big salmon, who 
 took away his fly and about forty yards of his reel line. He 
 had put on another casting line and fly and was fishing the 
 same pool down again when he noticed a fish rising two or 
 three times in a very eccentric manner, and the idea struck him 
 that it was the same fish that had broken him trying to get rid 
 of the fly and line. He was a man of great resource and never 
 at a loss what to do in any case of emergency, so he took off 
 his fly, put on a triangle weighted with a good bit of lead, and 
 casting this over the stream below where he saw the fish rise, 
 and dragging it across, in a little time he succeeded in recover-
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 253 
 
 ing his line, and the fish being quiet at the moment he was able 
 to pass the end through the rings of his rod, and attach it to 
 what was left on the reel. In a few minutes I had the pleasure 
 of gaffing the fish ; he was new run, and weighed 2olbs. The 
 pool he was fishing was a quarter of a mile long, and very broad, 
 and it was a hundred to one against his recovering the line. 
 On looking round after I had gaffed the fish I missed my 
 attendant, left in charge of my rod, who did not appear on the 
 scene until some time after the fun was over. The fact was he 
 had taken advantage of my back being turned to go into the 
 hut, which was close by, to eat my friend's attendant's share of 
 a very good lunch we had brought with us for an expected 
 visitor. He managed, however, to pick up a very good version 
 of the story, for shortly after we heard all over the garrison of 
 Fermoy how he had been the instigator and prime mover of the 
 whole thing from beginning to end, including the gaffing of 
 the fish. 
 
 There are stories of monsters that inhabit the deep holes in 
 the Blackwater, and the following may be amusing : 
 
 About twelve years ago a man of the name of Maurice 
 Hallahan was trailing a bait out of a boat at a place called 
 Hallahan's Rock, between Clondulane Weir and Fermoy, where 
 the depth of the hole is supposed to be at least forty feet. He 
 hooked a big fish, and having no one to help him put down the 
 oars and held on to the rod, the fish dragging the boat and 
 man after him down as far as Ballydoroon stream, up again 
 past the Rock as far as Mount Rivers, and back again to the 
 Rock, where after sulking for hours he took up the Funcheon 
 River hard by, when, getting into shallow water, Hallahan put 
 the gaff in him, but the fish was so heavy he could not get him 
 into the boat, and was obliged to let go. The fish in his 
 struggles broke the line, and made a bolt down the Funcheon 
 again to Hallahan's Rock, and was seen no more that year. The 
 year after a gallant Major quartered at Fermoy was fishing the 
 same hole and hooked a big fish, which was gaffed after a 
 long play Hallahan's gaff still in him, with enough wattling
 
 254 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 growing upon it to make a basket to carry him home. The 
 weight of the fish has never been ascertained, and it is justly 
 supposed never will be. I think it right to state that the 
 Major was not the author of the story. 
 
 I have made no specific reference in this article to fly 
 fishing for any of the Salmonidcz except the true salmon, Saline 
 salar. 
 
 Of the two other migratory species, the bull trout, Salnio 
 eriox, and the sea or salmon trout, Salnio trutta, the former 
 possesses very limited interest for the fly fisher, and in regard 
 to the comparatively few rivers in which it will rise to the arti- 
 ficial fly the general observations which are here offered on 
 salmon fly fishing will be found applicable. 
 
 Sea-trout fishing, on the contrary, takes, as a sport, rank 
 next to salmon fishing itself. In many parts of England and 
 Wales, and over most of the districts of Scotland and Ireland, 
 the sea trout, under this or some local name, is known and fished 
 for. As in its relative size standing in this respect between 
 brown trout and salmon so in the tackle, flies and rods em- 
 ployed in its capture, the bright gamesome Salino trutta occu- 
 pies a sort of half-way house between the two species. The 
 most convenient-sized rod, whether for lake or river fishing, 
 will be found to be what is known as a double-handed trout rod, 
 from 13 feet to 16 feet in length, and carrying a reel and line 
 similar to that used for salmon- fishing, but smaller and lighter 
 to suit the shorter and less powerful weapon. As to the mode 
 of using the rod, casting, &c., the instructions given in regard 
 to salmon fishing hold good almost in their entirety, as also those 
 on gaffing, netting, and so forth. 
 
 With respect to the flies used, which again stand midway 
 between salmon flies and brown trout flies ranging from the 
 ordinary sized lake trout fly up to a large grilse or small salmon 
 fly there can hardly be said to be any generally known or 
 accepted standard patterns. Almost every locality (I might say 
 almost every fisherman) has its own patterns and ideas. The 
 only point in which there can be said to be the smallest approach
 
 SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 255 
 
 to unanimity is in regard to a certain amount of silver or gold 
 tinsel being a desideratum in the construction, or rather deco- 
 ration, of the bodies, which otherwise may be dressed smooth, 
 with floss silk, or rough, with mohair ; and of all shades and 
 colours of the rainbow yellows, reds, and blues being, per- 
 haps, the most generally favoured. 
 
 All legal restrictions in regard to the times and methods 
 of salmon fishing apply equally to sea trout, the habits of which 
 are also generally very similar ; it is unnecessary, therefore, to 
 lay down any separate rules on the subject. 
 
 And so I say farewell, and wish all my brother sportsmen 
 our old greeting on the Conway ' A tight line ! ' 
 
 JOHN P. TRAHERNE.
 
 256 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 IF Salmon fishing be, as claimed by its devotees, the 'noblest' 
 branch of fly fishing, there can be no doubt whatever that 
 Trout fishing is the most popular branch ; and, indeed, good 
 Trout fishing appears likely soon to become as difficult to get as 
 Salmon fishing was twenty years ago. Comparatively, though 
 not positively, it is still, however, easy to obtain just in pro- 
 portion, in fact, as there are a hundred streams and lakes con- 
 taining the former fish for one that produces the latter. 
 
 As the taste for Trout fly fishing has increased which 
 is only another way of saying that the Trout is more fished 
 for so docs the difficulty of catching him become more 
 conspicuous, and success must be sought not alone in a high 
 degree of skill in the actual use of the fly rod and line, but also 
 in refining to the very utmost every item of tackle employed. 
 To keep well out of sight of the fish it is proposed to catch is 
 another golden rule, rarely to be neglected with impunity in 
 these days of enlightenment and progress. Clearly in this case 
 
 . . . Distance lends enchantment to the view, 
 
 so far as at least one of the parties to the transaction is con- 
 cerned. Tine and far off is, therefore, a maxim invaluable 
 in both Trout and Grayling fishing, and appropriately intro- 
 duces the reader to Mr. H. R. Francis' article, whilst indicating 
 at the same time its scope and line of practice. 
 
 II. C.-P.
 
 257 
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING: 
 
 OR 
 
 *FINE AND FAR OFF: 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 IT is a shallow as well as a dismal scheme of life which 
 ignores or undervalues the importance of recreation. Never, 
 I believe, was there an age in which it was more in- 
 dispensable ' For weary body and for heavy soul.' We 
 are living at high-pressure ; business has become more en- 
 grossing and the pursuit of what is called pleasure more 
 laborious. It is more than ever desirable to find occasional 
 change of scene and occupation which shall be really refreshing ; 
 which shall at once recruit our bodily energies and give free 
 play to faculties and feelings which are shelved during the 
 daily routine of working life. Mere locomotion is not enough ; 
 our thoughts must be turned into new and pleasant channels, 
 and we must seek places suited to new phases of agreeable ac- 
 tivity. It is told of one of the most eminent of English con- 
 veyancers that when induced for his health's sake to visit the 
 seaside, he carried with him, by way of light reading, ' Fearne 
 on Contingent Remainders.' Sea air may have done something 
 for him ; but where was his recreation ? His mind was kept 
 running in the old groove. 
 
 It is of course true that what is recreation to one man 
 might be mere weariness to another of different tastes and 
 habits, who feels the strain of over-work in different functions 
 i s
 
 258 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of body or mind. A well-earned holiday may be employed in 
 fifty different ways, each having its own fitness. But in com- 
 paring various recreations we may fairly give the palm to that 
 which suits the greatest number of cases ; that in which the 
 largest proportion of intelligent men can find healthful bodily 
 exercise combined with light yet interesting occupation for the 
 mind. And I know none which satisfies these conditions more 
 completely than angling. In its most refined form indeed 
 I need hardly add that I speak of fly fishing it rises to the 
 dignity of an elegant and ingenious art, combining in a singular 
 degree the active and the contemplative, the practical and the 
 scientific element. 
 
 I have had my fair share of other more violent, perhaps 
 more exciting field sports, and am not insensible to their attrac- 
 tions. Happily, Piscator in these days need not wage a wordy 
 conflict with Venator or Auceps, for the same men often excel in 
 several branches of sport, and the friend whose opinion on the 
 following pages of angling notes I shall value most highly is 
 not only well known in the hunting field but singularly success- 
 ful in the practice of falconry. 
 
 Instead of apprehending any lack of sympathy with the 
 zeal for my favourite recreation which leads me to add yet 
 another to the many contributions recently made to its litera- 
 ture, I rather fear that I shall be held to have done but scant 
 justice to its varied attractions and resources. . . . 
 
 But I will not open my case with an apology. An angler 
 from boyhood a fly fisher for more than fifty years, I will 
 rather 'assume desert,' so far as to claim a favourable hearing 
 for my experiences of an art which I can still practise with 
 healthy enjoyment, and in despite of age, with a fair measure 
 of success. 
 
 The very name of fly fishing carries back my fancy to many 
 a pleasant hour many a lovely scene. Once more afloat on 
 the still bosom of a Highland loch, I watch with eagerness the 
 dark line widening from its western shore, welcome herald of
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 259 
 
 the breeze that will soon break up the c mellow reflex ' of the 
 landscape around me, and refill the frame of the mirror with 
 rippled silver. The purple-robed, grey-headed hills seem closing 
 in upon me ; high overhead sweeps the eagle, watchful, yet 
 seemingly unterrified ; and see, by the foot of yon burnie the 
 roe has stolen forth to drink, from his green couch amid the 
 birches and brackens. Or, knee deep in a ford of the Teme, 
 where he lingers lovingly in many a circling sweep round the 
 ivied cliffs and oak- clad slopes of Downton, I wave a potent, 
 and in that well-proportioned stream, ' all-commanding wand ' 
 over the rough eddy, sentinelled with watchful trout, or where 
 the quieter run deepens into the haunts of the grayling. Now 
 I seem to hear the hoarse chiding of the Greta, as he chafes 
 along his narrow bed, or the roar of ' old Conway's foaming 
 flood' now the gentle murmur of some English stream, rippling 
 through sunny meads, is 'rife and perfect in my listening ear.' 
 
 The enjoyment of these local memories is heightened to 
 anglers by association with the stirring details of what is always 
 an interesting, often a most exciting sport. We remember 
 where the monarch of the brook, long coy and recusant, was at 
 length fascinated by the drop of the tiniest of midges over his 
 very snout ; and where, with our gillie's assistance, we contrived 
 to land three lusty trout together, like the elfin in the ballad, 
 ' a' dancing in a string.' We execrate the treacherous stake which 
 had well-nigh robbed us of a good fish and a cast of flies at 
 once, or bless the memory of the smooth sand bank, pleasant 
 to weary feet, where we at last headed, turned, and wound in 
 the salmon who had kept the lead for some three hundred 
 yards down a rocky channel, among stones loose, sharp, and 
 slippery perilous at once to shins and tackle. How have we 
 enjoyed the early breeze that crisped the stream on a summer 
 morning ; the well-earned rest on a mossy bank in the deep 
 hush of noon, and the homeward stroll through the pensive calm 
 of evening. 
 
 Independently of the fishes and insects with which the angler 
 is more specially concerned in themselves a little world of
 
 260 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 marvel and mystery his avocation gives him no common op- 
 portunities for observing some of the most beautiful and curious 
 forms of animal and vegetable life. Stealing along by the water's 
 edge, his footfall lost in the murmur of the stream, or muffled 
 by Nature's carpeting, he enters unsuspected the haunts of the 
 shyest creatures. He sees the otter glide down from his cairn, 
 or lift his sleek treacherous visage in the midst of the pool ; he 
 notes the general consternation of the salmonidae at the sinuous 
 rush of the seal, whom hungry pursuit has tempted beyond the 
 salt water ; ' doe and roe and red deer good ' slake their thirst 
 in his sight ; he surprises the blackcock's deserted mate and 
 progeny in their moist dingle, the wild duck and her brood as 
 they paddle through the sedges. Leaning back against the 
 trunk of a willow, he sees the kingfisher, a living sapphire, 
 shoot close to his dazzled eyes, or from her perch over his head 
 drop on a sudden plumb into the river, and as suddenly emerge 
 with her prey ; or hidden in the shadow of an overhanging 
 rock, he marks the water ouzel, glittering in a silver panoply of 
 air bubbles, run briskly along the sandy bottom of the burn. 
 Even the innocent gambols of the much-calumniated water rat, 
 joyous after his guiltless feast of grass and water weeds, or the 
 familiar wiles of the nesting peewit will find him not an un- 
 amused spectator. If a botanist, he will pick his choicest ferns 
 in the damp rocky hollows by the waterfall, his rarest lichens on 
 the bare slopes above some Alpine tarn, his favourite orchises 
 in the meadows watered by a well-peopled stream. He will 
 rejoice in the delicate beauty of the pinguicula along some 
 tiny moorland runnel, and admire the silver-fringed stars of the 
 bog-bean beside deeper and blacker waters, where the quaking 
 turf craves wary walking. Mr. Balfour's utmost indulgence 
 would hardly admit me to a degree in botany, yet it was with a 
 glow of pleasure that I first found myself throat-deep in a bed 
 of the Osmitnda regalis, on the banks of the Leven, or gathered 
 the ' pale and azure-pencilled ' clusters of the wood-vetch by 
 Greta-side, or discovered the fringed 1 yellow water lily on the 
 
 1 I'illarsia nymphccoides.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 261 
 
 Thames, gleaming like the floating lamp of a Hind6o votaress. 
 If a geologist, the angler may ply his hammer and fill his note 
 book along the very stream or tarn whence he fills his basket. 
 If an artist, his rambles will acquaint him with every form of the 
 picturesque, from the stern grandeur of Llyn Idwal to the tran- 
 quil beauties of Father Thames. 
 
 It is this many-sided character of the angler's art which has 
 united so many suffrages in its favour, and has made it attractive 
 to so many distinguished men of such dissimilar tastes and cha- 
 racters. It is this, finally, which has given to the art a litera- 
 ture of its own, abundant and various, in proportion to the 
 number of its votaries and the diversity of their minds, and 
 often highly enjoyable even by the uninitiated. 
 
 Writing as long ago as the year 1856 on a subject in which 
 I then felt, as I still feel, the liveliest interest that of the fly 
 fisher and his library I found a plea for my essay in the 
 national taste. We were, I remarked, a nation of sportsmen, 
 but the nation of anglers. 
 
 And now, after twenty-seven years, fresh from the attractions 
 of the Fisheries Exhibition, I feel that what then was a truth is 
 now almost a truism, and remount my favourite hobby in the 
 full belief that in spite of the lapse of years he is not yet 
 ' forgot.' 
 
 Both the art and the science of angling have made great 
 progress in the interval ; the education of our fish has advanced, 
 and it is only an equal progress on the part of the fly fisher 
 which can enable him to maintain his old mastery over the 
 salmonidce. And if I venture to believe that I can still offer 
 something worth a reader's notice on questions now better un- 
 derstood than ever, it is because I have retained my old taste 
 for fly fishing in all its freshness, have pursued the sport on 
 occasional leisure days both here and at the Antipodes, and 
 have preserved a careful record both of successes and failures. 
 
 I take my motto from Charles Cotton, whom even more 
 than dear old Izaac Walton I regard as the father of modern 
 fly fishing. In those bright Derbyshire streams which he loved
 
 262 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 so well and doubtless fished so skilfully, to fish ' fine and far 
 off' still gives the angler his best chance of success, and theie 
 are few waters fairly worth fishing where it may not be practised 
 with advantage. 
 
 But at the outset of remarks which are nothing if not prac- 
 tical, 1 ought to observe that even in following Cotton's admir- 
 able rule there may be mistake or excess. The rule is, in fact, 
 only one method of carrying out the great principle which 
 underlies all success in fly fishing. Unless under exceptional 
 conditions of weather, water or both, Piscator must above all 
 things keep out of sight ; must not allow Piscis to catch a 
 glimpse of himself, his rod or the shadow of either ; must show 
 him, in fact, nothing but the fly which is to ' lure him to his 
 own undoing.' This principle, it may be said, is too obvious to 
 be worth stating. Yet if generally admitted it is very insuffi- 
 ciently acted upon. Not long since I was chatting with a friend 
 near Wansford Mill, on the well-known ' Driffield Beck.' He 
 had been trying the lower water whilst I had fished down stream 
 to meet him. The day was bright with little breeze, but the 
 fish were feeding, and my brother angler's creel hung heavy at 
 his back, while the lad who carried mine seemed nowise sorry 
 to rest it on the bank. A third angler appeared on the scene. 
 He was striding along close to the water's edge, down stream, 
 making from time to time a long cast with a two-handed rod 
 across the open beck. He really did not cast badly, though 
 his tackle seemed rather coarse and his fly was of a size strange 
 and alarming to Driffield trout of the present generation, what- 
 ever it might have been to their remote ancestry. But my 
 friend and I were well aware that as he moved, there was ' fuga 
 et ingens solitudo ' in front of him ; that the fish were literally 
 scudding in shoals from his obtrusive presence. 
 
 This was no doubt an extreme case, but the same error in 
 kind, though less in degree, is constantly committed even by 
 practised hands. I do not find crawling or crouching till 
 within four or five yards of a ' shy ' stream quite as easy as I 
 did forty years ago, but I resort freely to each as my cast re-
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 263 
 
 quires, and often withdraw completely from the bank to move 
 again cautiously towards it without the risk of sending an alarm 
 along the stream. Yet I can never fish a bright water on a 
 bright day without saying to myself a dozen times, ' I might 
 have had that fish, had I only kept better out of sight.' 
 
 There are of course many streams, mountain and moorland, 
 where such cautious tactics are needless ; but in the best 
 English trouting counties Hampshire, for instance, or the 
 East Riding, Buckinghamshire, Salop or Devon concealment 
 is the first requisite for sport. In order to this, there are 
 many details to be studied. In the first place, if the day be 
 sunny, try as far as possible to look the sun in the face. To 
 feel his warmth on your back and shoulders is doubtless far 
 pleasanter than to be dazzled by his light, both direct and re- 
 flected from the water ; but if you want a heavy basket you will 
 disregard the inconvenience for the sake of remaining unseen. 
 Beginning by a short cast under your own bank, you will gra- 
 dually lengthen your throw till your stretcher drops in deep 
 shade close under the opposite shore, and each fish successively 
 covered will see your fly before any shadow from rod or line 
 falls over him. If the wind as well as the sun be in your face, 
 humour it as best you can by casting aslant, and working your 
 rod horizontally instead of vertically, but unless it blows great 
 guns, when the light from behind you will do little harm, per- 
 severe in defying both sun and wind. ' It's dogged as does it.' 
 
 Secondly, avail yourself of every scrap of cover. On no 
 account let a fish see your figure relieved against the sky. A 
 big bush judiciously employed as a screen may enable you to 
 do more with a short line than the best far-off casting could 
 achieve without its shelter. The apparent stupidity of fish 
 swimming high in a still sunny pool when thus approached 
 under cover is often most amusing. I have seen large trout in 
 the middle of a July day swim leisurely up to my fly and suck 
 it in without the slightest misgiving. If bushes are wanting, a 
 slight fringe of waterside plants and flowers willow herb, loose 
 stiife, figwort and the like often does good service by blurring
 
 264 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the outline of your figure. Even the colour of your clothing is 
 not unimportant. Black or white are on a bright day equally 
 objectionable, especially for your hat. It should be remem- 
 bered, too, that a screen is useful behind as well as in front of 
 you. When there is barely footing between a high hedge and 
 the water I have a few such spots in my mind's eye the fish 
 will hardly be aware of your presence unless you exhibit some 
 violent contrast of colour. But a far commoner illustration of 
 my meaning may be found in the neighbourhood of mills and 
 factories, where a dead wall lies near the margin of an inviting 
 stream or pool. Move cautiously with your back close to the 
 brickwork, and you often find to your surprise and satisfaction 
 that while you see the trout on the feed, they fail to see you. 
 Casting from such a position no doubt requires a peculiar 
 knack, but that difficulty once overcome the game is all in your 
 favour. The fish to whom you have thrown takes the fly in the 
 most confiding manner, and till repeated experience has fami- 
 liarised you with this result the whole affair seems almost un- 
 canny as though you had the fern seed and walked invisible. 
 There will, of course, be great danger of betraying your presence 
 when landing your fish, and I can only recommend you to keep 
 as close to the friendly wall as you can till you have led your 
 trout some way down the stream, and not to use the landing 
 net till he has made his last rush. 
 
 There is another aid to concealment which I think is not 
 generally recognised, but to which in certain waters (notably in 
 Foston Beck in the East Riding) I have owed many a brace of 
 heavy fish. Every angler has obtained some bold rises by 
 casting somewhat heavily so as to break through the coating of 
 foam 'beggars' 1 balm,' Walton calls it which forms over 
 eddies for some distance below a fall or strong rush of water. 
 But in calm hot weather there often forms over the shore-ward 
 
 1 I have always suspected a mis-spelling here on Walton's part ; there is 
 nothing suggestive of fragrance or healing in such scum. Beggars' barm must 
 surely be the true word yeast which costs nothing. [No doubt this is so. 
 En.l
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 26$ 
 
 surface of still and somewhat shallow water a fine oily film, due 
 partly to the sporules of water weeds, but mainly, I believe, to 
 the floating ova and larvae of minute insects, which is only 
 visible in particular lights, and yet very effectively dulls the 
 quick sight of the trout. When you see a patch of inshore 
 water dimmed by such a film, keep low within an easy cast and 
 wait till you see not a distinct break or rise but a slight dimpling 
 of the water caused by the suck of a fish. Drop a single fly a 
 little above him, and his capture is almost a certainty. The 
 value of this resource lies in its being most available in appa- 
 rently hopeless days, when there is a strong sun and no breeze 
 stirring. 
 
 Yet again, fish may often be taken, though at some risk to 
 your tackle, when they are lying in small open spaces among 
 weeds. Keep low for on bright days this is a sine qua Jion 
 and if your fish be but a few inches below the surface the re- 
 fraction will prevent his seeing you or your rod, and a long cast 
 up stream or across will take him off his guard. But in such a 
 case there must be no playing him ; ere he has recovered the 
 first shock of finding himself hooked he must be hurried down 
 stream along the surface till you have him in open water, and 
 can square accounts with him at your leisure. In this rough- 
 and-ready process the hold, of course, may give way, and pos- 
 sibly the tackle. The latter disaster is, however, less frequent 
 than at first sight would seem probable. The fish is taken by 
 surprise, and has no time for organising an effectual resistance, 
 while his forced march down stream quite upsets his ordinary 
 habits. It is when you are fishing a loch on a breezeless day 
 and are tempted to throw over a fish whose ' neb ' you have 
 seen quietly thrust up in a small opening among water lilies 
 that the ' deadly breach ' is most ' imminent,' and ' hair-breadth 
 'scapes ' only attainable by the happiest combination of caution 
 and audacity. There is no current to help you, and one turn 
 round a tough stalk will lose you both fish and fly. Yet I can 
 remember on a sultry July afternoon, when there was no other 
 possibility of getting a rise, killing in Loch Kinder by this
 
 266 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 perilous cast four or five brace of pretty fish with the loss of but 
 a single fly. 
 
 I am tempted here to give some instances from my own 
 experience of success attained under difficulties by keeping out 
 of sight in various ways. 
 
 There was a reach of the upper Itchin where I had more 
 than once found the trout, though sizeable and fairly numerous, 
 yet provokingly wary and suspicious. The bank on one side 
 was absolutely bare and very low ; on the other the southern 
 side it was steep and moderately high, by no means favourable 
 to ' keeping dark.' But parallel to the course of the river, and at 
 nearly the same level, there ran an irrigation cut, some two feet 
 deep with rather a muddy bottom, about five yards distant 
 from the main stream. Into this one day I lowered myself 
 having long legs and wading boots to correspond and worked 
 the stream with a double-handed rod by long casts. I could 
 only just see the opposite edge of the water, but was consoled 
 for losing my view of the fish by knowing that the deprivation 
 was reciprocal. The dodge completely succeeded. Though I 
 felt the rises instead of seeing them I rarely failed to hook my 
 fish and very seldom lost him when hooked. The difficulty 
 lay in scrambling out of my ditch and rushing towards the 
 river before my prisoner could bring me to grief by dashing 
 under the near bank. In this way I did considerable execution 
 on several occasions. I ought in frankness to admit that with 
 more fishable water within easy reach many anglers would have 
 thought the success hardly worth the pains it cost. This was 
 certainly the opinion of a dear old friend and fellow-sports- 
 man who witnessed my first sortie from the trench and landed 
 my fish for me. He laughed till he cried at the figure I 
 cut in scurrying towards the bank, and could never after- 
 wards be induced to exhibit himself in the like undignified 
 position. 
 
 I take my second instance from a lucky hit in loch fishing. 
 Some thirty years ago I was afloat with two friends on Loch 
 Treig, to the farther end of which we intended to fish our way.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 267 
 
 It was a hot forenoon in August, one of those tantalising days 
 
 when, 
 
 Instead of one unchanging breeze 
 There blow a thousand little airs, 
 
 and I soon perceived that there was little profit in hunting the 
 ' catspaws ' which supplied the needful ripple if you could 
 only catch them. So I induced my friends to land me some 
 three miles from the shepherd's hut at the end of the loch 
 where we were to find our luncheon. I was equipped for 
 wading, and had before me several reaches of fine gravel 
 where the water deepened very gradually towards the ' broo ' 
 that critical point, where, in this as in many other lakes, the 
 shoreward shallow rapidly shelves away into water too deep for 
 the fly. In fact it often happens that at this point a belt of 
 water from ten to twenty yards in breadth contains all the best 
 of the taking fish. Within this belt are mostly small fry, with- 
 out it lies the deep, only fit for trolling. The water before me 
 was smooth as glass, the bottom delightful for wading. Moving 
 cautiously to make the warning wave which must precede me as 
 small as possible, I advanced into the lake as far as I could, and 
 as I did so became more and more aware that fish were moving 
 just where the water deepened within a long cast of my two- 
 handed rod. I threw but one fly, and that smaller than the 
 size I usually preferred. Throwing as far as I could, I let my 
 whole cast sink before giving any movement to the fly, and 
 was repeatedly rewarded by finding that a trout had hooked 
 himself a foot or so under water. Every now and then, how- 
 ever, the fly dropped so close before the nose of a feeding fish 
 that he was fast on the instant. Briefly, when we met at our tryst 
 (where I confess to have been half an hour late) my friends had 
 three fish between them, whilst I had six-and-thirty. In this 
 case it will be seen the secret of success lay in keeping low, so 
 that the effect of refraction kept the unimmersed portion of the 
 fly fisher's figure practically out of sight. 
 
 My next illustration shall be one out of a thousand memories 
 of the famous Driffield beck. It was a July day some forty
 
 268 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 years ago when I drove over from Hull to enjoy a day's fishing 
 and dine with the club in the evening, which in those days 
 meant half-past six. I did the twenty-three miles in two hours 
 and a half, and before eight o'clock had stabled my horse at 
 the ' Bell' a cheerful, cosy inn, which I am happy to add still 
 flourishes, for the comfort of anglers, in the old country style. 
 Early as I was, however, the sun was yet earlier, and by the 
 time I had disposed of a substantial breakfast the day was 
 already sultry without the faintest promise of a cloud or breeze. 
 Having exchanged greetings and predictions of empty creels 
 with two or three members of the club who had slept at the 
 inn and were just making their first appearance, I strolled into 
 Dobson's for two or three special flies, and then started for the 
 King's Mill beck the uppermost and liveliest reach of water 
 near the town. Here, however, I found myself forestalled, and 
 fishing in the wake of an angler who ' scatter'd tumult and 
 affray ' along the stream by a lavish exhibition of his person. 
 Nothing went right, and at noon I found myself at Sunderland 
 Wick bridge, with a brace only of fish in my creel, surrounded 
 by still waters and with a blazing sun overhead. No look-out 
 could well be worse. But as I gazed up the beck I caught a 
 gleam of hope. Some thirty yards above the bridge a still 
 back-water joined the main stream, and over the junction 
 drooped a large willow. I missed the tree last year and 
 lamented it as Cowper did his felled poplars. But it was 
 then full of life and leaf, and just outside the sweep of its 
 boughs a legion of gnats were playing. Yes ! there was a rise 
 and there another and anon three or four snouts came to 
 the surface at once. In another minute I was lying on my face 
 by the sedgy bank within a long shot of the enemy, my rod 
 held low, while my single fly, a small black gnat, wavered in 
 the stream far below me. I lay low,' like Brer Fox, till I felt 
 sure that the trout had not taken the alarm, and then on the 
 first ruffling of the water by several consecutive rises dropped 
 my fly with a long horizontal cast just behind the willow. That 
 moment I was fast in a good fish, which I worked steadily
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 269 
 
 down stream, never rising from my knees, till I brought him 
 withih -reach of my boy, who was ambushed with the landing 
 net close above the bridge. No. i safely basketed, I resumed 
 my former position, and waited ten minutes before essaying 
 another cast, which proved immediately fatal to No. 2. In 
 brief, I continued these tactics till I had landed six brace of 
 good fish from that one spot, and then sauntered leisurely to- 
 wards my inn, intending to have my fish weighed at Dobson's 
 by the way. 
 
 I have already mentioned this name in the baldest fashion, 
 and ought to explain that the worthy watchmaker who bore it was 
 in those days a sort of factotum to the ' D.A.C.' An angler 
 himself, he well knew what part of the stream would promise 
 the best sport on a given day, and what fly was likely to be strong 
 on the water. Then he was purveyor-general of tackle, his 
 assistants tying not merely attractive but strongly built flies, 
 which might be trusted with the heaviest fish. Lastly, he kept 
 the register of captures, now left to the head keeper, and it was 
 the common practice after a day's fishing to take one's basket 
 to his shop to be weighed. My boy Keddey hurried on thither 
 before me, proud of his burthen, but on overtaking him at the 
 door I found him sobbing bitterly. He expounded his grief 
 in these broad words : The gentlemen will say yo' nobbled 
 'em, and ah know yo' didn't.' The fact was that there were 
 six rods on the water that day, and my fish weighed 18 Ibs. as 
 against 14 Ibs. to the joint credit of the rest. A novice, the 
 ' net proceeds ' of whose day had been nil, started between joke 
 and earnest the notion that I must assuredly have been plying 
 my landing net in the spring- ditches. Hence my poor boy's 
 sorrows. How well I remember the jovial club dinner of that 
 evening ! I had much los when the tale of my success was 
 told. But in truth there was little to brag of ; anyone might 
 have done the same who understood fishing ' fine and far off,' 
 and spared no pains to keep out of sight. 
 
 The question of fishing up or down stream is closely con- 
 nected with this part of my subject. There is now so general a
 
 270 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 consent amongst anglers in favour of up-stream casting that it 
 would seem superfluous to give the reasons which make it prefer- 
 able in most cases. I am rather inclined to remind brother 
 anglers that the rule must not be made absolute, and to point out 
 some cases in which the opposite course should be adopted. 
 And first, if in fishing up stream you would have a strong sun at 
 your back, you will betray your presence less by making your 
 beat downwards. This, however, must not involve the absurd 
 blunder of hauling your flies against the current, thus making an 
 unnatural ripple which cannot but alarm a trout of any experi- 
 ence. In fishing down stream, begin if possible from a stand 
 several yards distant from the margin, and throw lightly over 
 the in-shore water a little above you, lengthening your cast by 
 degrees till you have covered three-fourths of the width. Then, 
 and not till then, you may advance warily to the bank and try 
 the deadly cast under the opposite shore. From first to last 
 you must take care that the movement of your flies be natural ; 
 that they go down easily with the stream, with occasional slight 
 checks from the wrist to mimic the struggles of a drowning insect 
 and produce that play of legs and wings which is so irresistible 
 to a hungry trout. Retire from the bank after working out 
 your cast, and repeat the same process a dozen yards farther 
 down. If you hook a good fish, let him fight up stream as long 
 as he will, that you may avoid disturbing unfished water in 
 bringing him to the net ; but should he insist on a downward 
 rush do your best to keep ahead of him, showing yourself no 
 more than is absolutely necessary. The portion of the stream 
 which you are thus compelled to hurry by should be allowed a 
 good spell of rest before you move up again to fish it. 
 
 And here I must be allowed a brief digression. Fish get 
 an inkling of your movements in two ways by sight, and by a 
 sense of vibration which is equivalent to hearing, and you must 
 be on your guard against betraying yourself either way. If the 
 river you are fishing runs through a rocky bed, you need not 
 walk warily except for the safety of your ankles. But if it runs 
 through boggy soil, or between banks of loose and crumbling
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 271 
 
 pasture land, you must tread softly and cautiously. A heavy or 
 hasty footfall will be felt by the fish under the near bank, who will 
 rush out and spread alarm among their friends in mid-stream. 
 
 I remember finding myself in a ridiculous fix in some pasture 
 land of the ' crumbling ' character along the Leintwardine club 
 water. The favourite dog of a friend, who was busy with his 
 hammer among the neighbouring strata of old red sandstone, 
 deserted his master's company for mine, having found, as I verily 
 believe, trout more amusing than trilobites. Unluckily there were 
 sundry cattle about hideous white-faced Herefords who kept 
 charging after poor Crab, and driving him to my feet for refuge. 
 They always stopped within a few yards of me, but their tramp- 
 ling had a visible effect on the trout whom I wished to circum- 
 vent. There was a general hurry-skurry over the shallows. I 
 might as well have been casting from the deck of that bete noire 
 of Thames anglers, a steam launch. I felt, like the legendary 
 Cambridge Don when Frau Professorinn presented him with 
 twins, that ' I must put a stop to this.' So I hardened my 
 heart, filled my pocket with pebbles, and pelted poor Crab till 
 he found he must shift his quarters, and scuttled away to his 
 master with a train of bullocks stampeding in his rear. This 
 of course was an extreme instance of bank shaking, but many 
 a time and oft have I known a heavy and heedless footfall mar 
 the success of a promising cast from similar ground. And I 
 could point out several reaches of well-stocked water which 
 most of the local anglers have come to regard as scarcely worth 
 fishing simply from their not allowing for the 'quaking' cha- 
 racter of the ground. Experience alone will teach the necessary 
 caution, but where the buck-bean shows its silver stars, or ' the 
 wild marsh marigold shines like fire,' the fly fisher may at once 
 accept a notice to move gently and lightly. 
 
 To return to the question of ' up' or 'down.' In a very rapid 
 river, again, more, I think, is lost than gained by the up-stream 
 cast. The line is brought down so rapidly to the caster that it 
 is hardly possible for him to keep it taut enough for the fish to 
 hook itself, and ' striking ' is practically out of the question.
 
 272 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Moreover, as the fly gives more hold to the water than the gut, 
 and therefore moves faster, it is apt to be rolled back on the 
 footlinks, and presented to the eye of the trout with most sus- 
 picious surroundings. Yet again, there are some places, and 
 those often favourite haunts for fish, which must be fished 
 down stream or not at all. Let me give one example out of 
 many. There was a small bye wash, some 120 yards long, 
 leading down from the upper to the lower branch of a Hamp- 
 shire stream ; the near bank sedgy, the farther bank com- 
 pletely overhung with dwarf willows. It was scarce five feet 
 wide, but mostly deep, and presenting in miniature every variety 
 of stream and pool. But to throw on it was simply impossible, 
 and I shall never forget the face of the old keeper when he saw 
 me proceeding to fish it. He sat down and lit his pipe, ex- 
 pecting a quiet time till I returned to my right mind and the 
 open river. 
 
 Beginning at the top of the streamlet, and keeping the point 
 of my rod under the overarching boughs, I let my tail fly 
 float down the water, varying its descending movement by 
 wrist-play, while my dropper made dimples on the dark surface. 
 
 In half a minute I was shouting for old W and the net. 
 
 Luckily the fish chose to run up stream ; a powerful rod and 
 shortened line enabled me to keep him out of the willow roots, 
 and he was easily netted in the hatch hole. A second capture 
 followed very speedily, but the fish took down the watercourse, 
 and I disturbed fifty yards of promising water in my struggles 
 to keep him out of mischief. However, I managed to basket 
 a third fish before I reached the junction with the main river. 
 I tried the same unscientific but killing process on a dozen 
 subsequent occasions, never taking more than three or less than 
 two trout in that tangled thread of water. All these fish were 
 dark-skinned, owing to their shady habitat, and all pretty nearly 
 of a size, weighing from eleven to fourteen ounces, something 
 doubtless in the conditions of the water making it a suitable 
 feeding ground for middle-aged trout, though the cause of 'this 
 thus-ness ' I cannot pretend to explain.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 273 
 
 I may add to encourage the pursuit of fish under difficul- 
 ties^-that I do not remember to have lost more than one fish 
 off the hook in all my battles up and down that dangerous 
 reach. The rises were bold and sure, because the artificial fly 
 was a stranger there in fact I do not believe that anyone but 
 myself had ever risked his tackle in such a spot. With an ordi- 
 nary single-handed rod, however, success would have been im- 
 possible; I could neither have worked my flies nor controlled 
 my fish. I used in those days a fourteen-foot double-handed 
 rod of Eaton's, extra stiff and lengthened in defiance of all 
 symmetry to suit a fad of my own. I fancied that the original 
 hollow butt felt light and weak, and got the maker to shape me 
 one nearly a foot longer and powerful enough to bear boring 
 for a spare top. That rod, by the bye, is still forthcoming after 
 forty-five years' hard work in many waters, and I wish its master 
 were in equally good condition. 
 
 Thus far I seem to have proceeded without a due arrangement 
 of my subject. I was tempted by my title to plunge as it were 
 in medias res, and to show the purpose and conditions of fine 
 and far-off casting. But as fly fishing was my theme I might 
 as well, perhaps, have begun with the fly, the lure to which above 
 all others the true angler loves to resort. The mimic insect is 
 in every way interesting. The variety of materials now employed 
 in its structure exceeds in these days even the extensive range 
 suggested by Gay in his elegant description. Bodies of quill or 
 gutta-percha were doubtless unknown to him, and the endless 
 shades of pig's down and mohair. The many forms of gold and 
 silver twist or tinsel which seem to have so great an attraction 
 for the Salmonidcebolong to a later date than his. And though 
 he presses ' each gay bird ' into his service, I doubt whether he 
 would have known how to utilise the kingfisher's blue, the crest 
 and hackles of the golden pheasant, or the killing plumage of 
 the wood duck. 
 
 The Fisheries Exhibition brought out a wonderful dis- 
 play of artificial flies, English, Scotch, and Irish I crave 
 pardon of the judges for not having placed the Scotch flies first
 
 274 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of every size, build, and colour. Indeed, as I ranged from 
 case to case trying to form my own estimate of comparative 
 merits, I felt tempted to exclaim with Diogenes at the fair, 
 ' What a multitude of things are here of which I have no need.' 
 Still the beauty, the delicacy, and in many cases the imitative 
 skill of the work rendered the show very attractive. 
 
 Another source of interest in a well-tied fly, and notably in 
 the very smallest, is its extraordinary strength and durability 
 considering the materials employed. An angler must no doubt 
 have tied many a score of flies for himself ere he can fully 
 appreciate this excellence. In a case of flies set up for show it 
 is assumed rather than proved to exist ; but we may be sure 
 that the exhibitor did not attain his reputation for such ' marvel- 
 lous delicate ware ' as Queen Bess said of her first silk stock- 
 ingswithout producing an article capable of resisting both the 
 strain of a good fish fighting for his life, and the repeated 
 grinding and chewing of tiny teeth. 
 
 To build a salmon fly strongly is comparatively easy. There 
 is ample room and verge enough for the firmest lapping of the 
 hook to the gut, and for the tying-on in due succession of the 
 various materials which form the body, legs, and wings of the 
 highly composite insect, while the loop at the head, which was 
 almost unknown in my boyhood, gives the needful strength at 
 the point where the friction is greatest. But when we look at a 
 tiny olive-dun or quill-gnat, such as often plays havoc among 
 the heavy trout of our best chalk streams, we may well man-el 
 at the skill which has made a few turns of fine silk not only 
 join hook to gut indissolubly, but bind minute portions of 
 various material together in a firm and shapely whole. 
 
 A trout fly, be it remembered, needs above all tilings to be 
 strong. Neatness and finish may often be dispensed with, if 
 the colours be cnly right, but strength is indispensable. With- 
 out it, the more attractive the lure, the more grievous will be 
 the angler's disappointment. The points which are naturally 
 weakest in the fly ought to be especially looked to. Judging 
 from my own experience, I should say that four fish are lost from
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 275 
 
 the breaking or bending of the hook for one that escapes by the 
 gut giving way. It is mainly with sneck-bend hooks that 
 breakages occur, and these are apt to give way either just above 
 the barb, or at the angle nearest to it. With regard to the 
 number of flies to be used on a cast a rexata guceslio amongst 
 anglers no really general rule can be laid down. In fishing a 
 stream where the fish are large and the flies to be used small, 
 it will often be found the best policy to use one fly only and 
 that tied on a Limerick hook of the best make. Indeed, what- 
 ever the character of the stream, I prefer a hook of that class for 
 my stretcher. It swims truer, and as it carries its point in the 
 same vertical plane with the bend, seldom fails to hook your 
 fish in the lower jaw. But on the other hand, there are many 
 streams in which a second and even a third fly will greatly 
 assist your basket. 
 
 It is not merely that you may please the trout better by 
 offering them a choice, though this is obviously true, and 
 doubly so where the water often changes its character. The 
 motion of a dropper cleverly worked, especially over an eddy, 
 is essentially different from that of the tail fly, and imitates a 
 phase of insect life with which fish are familiar, that in which 
 the fly keeps dimpling the water in a series of short descents, 
 probably dropping an egg every time it touches the stream. 
 The nature of this motion is well recognised by the term ' bob 
 fly,' so often applied to the dropper, and the young angler will 
 do well to study it carefully till practice makes him perfect. 
 
 If it wasna weel bobbit, we'll bob it again ! 
 
 It is in this up and-down play of the fly that the sneck-bend 
 hook is so valuable, seldom failing to take hold somehow, 
 somewhere. When it strikes on a bone, however good the 
 temper, it is not unlikely to give way. But if care be taken to 
 test each hook beforehand these mishaps will be very rare. If 
 you have had a dozen flies dressed to your order, and cannot 
 feel sure that the hooks have been carefully proved, try one or 
 two by fixing the point in a board and giving a strong pull on 
 
 T 2
 
 276 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the gut. Twice in my life I have come to utter grief by neg- 
 lecting this precaution, the flies being in each case only too 
 attractive, but the hooks almost rotten. In one case I lost 
 seven fish in the course of an afternoon, which would, I 
 honestly believe, have weighed very nearly two pounds apiece. 
 The other case, though less disastrous, was even more remark- 
 able, as I was using a medium-sized fly on a Scotch tarn where 
 the trout ran small. I took above a hundred, which would 
 hardly have averaged five ounces, though they were strong and 
 red-fleshed. But the way in which they ' chawed up ' one par- 
 ticular batch of flies which I had had tied especially for small 
 rocky lochs was really extraordinary. It seemed as if they 
 crushed the hooks in their mouths. Full a score of my 
 favourites came home to me broken at the bend, and in many 
 cases I had scarcely felt the rise, so that several fish must have 
 had their wicked will of the defenceless fly. 
 
 As I have already said, my losses through the breaking of 
 the gut have been comparatively few, and almost always dis- 
 tinctly due to my own fault. The point of greatest danger is 
 of course close to the head of the tail fly, where a momentary 
 check takes place in the free unfolding of the foot links, even 
 when the cast is most carefully made. The friction at this 
 weak point is naturally increased when a fish is being played, 
 since if he is firmly hooked the gut is apt to be strained when 
 forming an angle with the wire. In dressing a large or a 
 medium-sized fly something may be done to obviate this mis- 
 chief by a few turns of fine silk set with copal varnish round 
 the gut just above the head of the fly. But in mere midges 
 and it is with these that the greatest execution is now done in 
 our best trout streams this precaution is impossible. 
 
 It only remains that the fly fisher look often and closely at 
 this critical point in his tackle, especially when the trout rise 
 boldly and the fun is fast and furious. It is a great bore, no 
 doubt, to have to change a killing fly at the first symptoms of 
 ' fraying ; ' but a far greater to put on a fresh one when the first 
 has been carried off by a good fish.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 277 
 
 The special danger here indicated is likely ere long to be a 
 thing of the past. The eyed hook is now in the field, and when 
 perfected will render what is now the weakest point in the deli- 
 cate gut required for trout fishing practically secure against 
 irregular friction. But thus far the ' eye ' appears too clumsy 
 for the tiny flies which most require it. Had I to design an 
 eye suited to the smallest hooks, I should borrow a hint from 
 the needle-maker, forming the orifice for the gut like that in a 
 small gold-eyed needle, though rounder, and lining it with some 
 soft metal. The lapping at the head of the fly would thus be 
 quite inconspicuous, while the shank of the hook would keep a 
 true line with the gut. For the present, however, the ' capital ' 
 danger must not be ignored. 
 
 Every knot, again, is a weak point in the cast ; especially if 
 tied in a hurry or not carefully soaked before use. A couple 
 of spare collars which have lain m the slop basin during your 
 breakfast may be carried round your hat with great advantage. 
 Apart from an utter smash by bough or root which is never 
 impossible if you are in a hurry it is often less troublesome to 
 change the whole collar than to repair a trifling damage. 
 
 Having now dismissed the preliminary question of strength, 
 I find myself face to face with the extensive and complicated 
 subject of flies considered as lures ; of the besfc flies for use, and 
 the circumstances under which these or some of these will be 
 found most useful. 
 
 To this subject no single essay can do justice, owing to the 
 number of flies which have a recognised value only within a 
 limited district. But in order to deal with it at all, one must 
 first encounter that qucesiio vexatissima Whether artificial flies, 
 generally speaking, are imitations of some particular insect, for 
 which they are taken by the fish, or nondescripts (to borrow 
 ' Ephemera's ' form of expression) which are seized only on 
 account of their general appearance of life. The former posi- 
 tion is generally maintained by English authors on fly fishing ; 
 the latter by brethren of the angle north of Tweed, or among 
 the mountains of North Wales. Now, that the artificial fly
 
 278 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 should in general be an imitation, and on clear and often-fished 
 waters a very close one, of some particular insect, I have no 
 shadow of a doubt ; nor do I believe that anyone who has 
 fished in the Derwent, the Driffield water, the Teme, or the 
 Itchin, will hesitate to agree with me. Again and again have 
 I found the ' March browns ' supersede every other fly early in 
 the season, when the natural insect, which I had imitated most 
 carefully, floated on the water by thousands ; nor do I doubt 
 that at such times Mr. Bainbridge's advice, to fish at once with 
 three March browns slightly varied in tint and size, is most 
 judicious. I have seen in like manner the little ' iron-blue ' on 
 a cold morning strong on the water, when I could not stir a 
 fin with any other lure. The day warmed a shower softened 
 the wind and the recent favourite was a useless appendage to 
 my line ; while a larger, gayer insect, visible on the water, 
 warned me, not in vain, that the ' yellow dun ' must now be 
 taken into council. How often, again, in July and August, do 
 the artificial fern fly and ant fly killing through the sultry 
 hours while the natural insects are also conspicuous give 
 place towards evening to that late- fluttering tempter the red- 
 spinner, whom I have dropped on the water scarce distinguish- 
 able among his living likenesses ! 
 
 The green-drake, 1 again (better known perhaps as the ' May 
 fly '), is a strong case in point. It is on the water little more 
 than a fortnight, a large and 'ken-speckle ' insect, and through- 
 out that time it is very difficult, during the hours of its appear- 
 ance, to induce a trout, in the streams where it is bred, to look 
 at any artificial fly save a palpable imitation of this beautiful 
 creature. To complete the argument, the same imitation is 
 utterly useless on those English streams which do not produce 
 the real insect. 
 
 Again, the experienced fly fisher will acknowledge the fact, 
 that what the initiated call ' palmers ' are taken, especially in 
 
 1 It may be worth remark that, on the lakes of Westmeath (in this point 
 very unlike those of Scotland), the May fly has its killing period, and, as in 
 England, kills almost to the exclusion of every other fly.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 279 
 
 swollen waters, in every river, and from the beginning to the 
 end of the trouting season. Surely it is more than a mere co- 
 incidence that the rough caterpillar, or palmer worm, which 
 these lures accurately resemble, should also be astir during full 
 six months of the year, and be continually sent down the stream 
 when a sudden rise of the water washes its margin ? 
 
 To these examples, which I cited in favour of the ' imita- 
 tive ' theory nearly thirty years ago, I will add two or three 
 more drawn from subsequent experience or overlooked at that 
 time. There are certain flies tied in deliberate imitation of 
 female insects carrying at their tails a ball of eggs to be dropped 
 one by one in the water. I will instance two of these the 
 ' Grannom ' or ' Greentail.' and the ' Governor.' The grannom 
 I speak now of the natural fly is a reddish brown insect, 
 not uncommon in the bushy reaches of many southern streams. 
 It flies high, however, and so rarely touches the water that no 
 artificial copy of it is in common use. But when the female 
 fly develops her ova and is about to shed them she hovers close 
 to the surface of the brook, with a green ball behind her, which 
 may in more senses than one be said to wait upon her latter 
 end. For as she drops egg after egg on the water, the eyes of 
 hungry trout are soon attracted to her movements, and in some 
 luckless moment of contact with the water she, with the portion 
 of her rising family not yet launched on the world, disappears 
 down a fish's gullet. 
 
 Now towards the end of April or beginning of May for 
 the breeding season of insects depends greatly on the weather 
 I often use the grannom fly, sometimes with signal success. 
 But I have never done any good with it except during the few 
 days when the female insect with her queer green appendage 
 was actually visible on the water. The 'Governor' again 
 which should rather have been styled the ' Governess ' with 
 its broad band of orange silk at the tail, represents another 
 female fly generally seen on the water towards the end of July, 
 conspicuous by a ripe cluster of orange-coloured eggs. Many 
 practised anglers know nothing of this fly, but I have had the
 
 280 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 luck to use it occasionally when the natural insect was strong 
 on the water, and it was taken in preference to anything else. 
 I may add that the heaviest take of large trout which ever came 
 to my knowledge though, alas ! I was not the captor was 
 made with this fly on the upper waiters of Foston Beck, now in 
 the hands of Colonel St. Quentin. 
 
 I might fairly rest my case on these two instances, in which 
 the peculiarities of the natural insect during one brief phase of 
 its existence are reproduced with such effect in the artificial fly. 
 But I cannot pass by the 'local value' to borrow an artist's 
 phrase of certain flies tied in imitation of insects unknown 
 beyond a limited district. Every Devonshire man knows the 
 virtues of the ' blue upright ' a dusky, smooth-bodied fly, 
 varying from pale slate colour to a dead black. It holds, in 
 fact, on Devonian streams much the same place as the mur- 
 derous ' blue dun ' with its downy body in a great majority of 
 our English counties. Now on my first introduction to a 
 Devonshire stream I noticed great numbers of a slender, active 
 insect which had no representative in my fly book, and which I 
 felt sure I had never seen before. But a local artist soon sup- 
 plied me with the imitation I wanted, and since that time I 
 have killed more trout in Devon with the ' blue upright ' than 
 with any other fly, and have seen the natural insect on every 
 stream I have fished in that land of brooks. Surely this is 
 more than a mere coincidence. 
 
 All this is so obvious, that my readers may ask how anyone 
 could ever propose to question it ? Yet in defence of the 
 Scottish ' nondescriptarians ' it should be said that they can tell 
 of experiences much at variance with those on which I have 
 built my inference. I have fished in some forty Scotch lochs 
 or tarns, rarely without fair success, sometimes with brilliant 
 results ; yet where the Sal mo fario alone is in question, I have 
 but half a dozen flies on my list for active service. Of these 
 half-dozen two only, and those by no means the best, resemble 
 any natural fly with which I am acquainted. I do not pretend 
 to explain this fact, nor what mysterious harmony between a
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 281 
 
 particular wing feather and a body of a particular colour renders 
 their combination irresistible to the trout in so many lochs of 
 the most dissimilar character. Still less can I tell why in one 
 loch there is a standing furore for smooth silken bodies, in 
 another for rough mohair and swine's down of the identical 
 colours. Yet I have seen this deliberate preference for one or 
 the other material proved beyond a doubt again and again. 
 These and the like problems continually recur, and contribute 
 to make fly fishing the intellectual amusement that many wise 
 and observing men have found it. At the same time they 
 warn us to beware of sweeping generalisations, and to gather 
 our facts from a great variety of sources, ere we generalise at 
 all. It is certainly curious that a dear relative, whom I 
 ' coached ' in the rudiments of fly fishing ere he became himself 
 an authority on the subject, lays his qualified rejection of the 
 1 imitative ' theory at my door. I recommended to him my 
 three favourite lake flies for use on a Scotch tour, and he found 
 them so effective that he had them reproduced in various 
 miniature forms for general use, and has certainly killed fish 
 with them in waters where, from my own experience, I should 
 have trusted to a very different cast. This, I admit, is curious; 
 but it does not really affect the argument. To give it any 
 logical weight we must beg the question of less or more ; must 
 assume that the system which was not tried would not have 
 proved comparatively successful. 
 
 With this remark which furnishes an answer to many fly 
 fishers whose practice is better than their theory I may dismiss 
 this first of piscatorial cruces. 
 
 Having been for many years the willing victim of numerous 
 applications for pattern flies on the part of friends, acquaintances, 
 and even strangers bound for this or that fishing district, and 
 having in a great majority of cases received the thanks of those 
 who consulted me for the success of my prescriptions, I may be 
 forgiven if I claim to speak with such authority as is due to 
 long experience on the subject of Trout Flies for lake and river. 
 For lake trout I have found, as already stated, that a very few
 
 282 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 flies will answer every purpose, and I doubt very much whether 
 three better patterns can be found than those recommended in 
 the first edition of ' The Moor and the Loch.' With two of 
 these I had been familiar before I read Mr. Colquhoun's work, 
 my knowledge of the third which has helped me to many a 
 heavy basket I owe entirely to his pages. 
 
 Without further preface, I will now describe six lake flies 
 which in my opinion will meet all the requirements of the 
 practical angler. They were all carefully dressed to my patterns 
 by Mr. Charles Faiiow. 
 
 N 2, 
 
 N 1 
 
 1. Brown drake wing and tail, dark red hackle, orange body. 
 This is, in fact, a ' professor ' with a warm wing. 
 
 2. Grouse winy and tail, slate-coloured hackle, dark green 
 body. 
 
 3- Jackdaw wing and tail, black hackle, claret-coloured body. 
 
 4. Strongly barred black and white teal wing and tail, bright 
 red hackle, pale green body. 
 
 [This fly if my memory serves me was named ' Green-mantle' 
 by the author of ' The Rod and Gun.'] 
 
 These four flies the first three being in my opinion 
 decidedly the best T consider indispensable for loch fishing. 
 The size of the hook, the material of the body, and the 
 amount, if any, of gold twist ribbed round the body or forming
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 283 
 
 a cushion for the tail, may be indefinitely varied, but the colour 
 of the .wings and legs needs no variation. I should class them 
 all as 'nondescripts,' because, though bearing a general resem- 
 blance to insects occasionally seen, I have never caught on or 
 near a lake a fly of which any one of the four can be fairly 
 called an imitation. 
 
 N 
 
 5. Bright red landrail wing, yellowish red hackle and body. 
 This fly is, I think, improved by a second hackle with some fine 
 gold twist carried palmer-fashion down the body. Without this 
 adjunct it closely resembles a red sand fly, larger and brighter 
 than usual. I employ it only in lochs such as Ericht or Fruchie, 
 where there is a fair sprinkling of char, for which loveliest of 
 Sahnonidce it seems to have a special attraction, particularly if you 
 sink it deep and move it slowly. 
 
 I was much struck a few days since by a passage in Mr. 
 Black's ' Yolande,' where his hero casts expressly for a brace 
 of char. He has perfectly worded the results of my own 
 experience. 
 
 6. A wingless fly ; black hackle, shoulders ostrich herl, body of 
 warm orange silk. This fly I have occasionally found most killing, 
 especially in rocky tarns, and in mountain streams with a bed of 
 rock and stony gravel. I believe it represents a black-sharded, 
 orange-bodied beetle frequent about such waters. I have named 
 it ' Chaloner's Pet, ; in honour of the inventor, a frequent angling 
 companion many can it be fifty ? years ago, and whom I still 
 rejoice to hear of as wielding a deadly rod on Loch Awe.
 
 284 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 A large alder fly, dressed as described at p. 289, might 
 perhaps be added with advantage to the above list. 
 
 So much for lake flies. 
 
 The flies required for our British rivers and brooks are far 
 more various, and depend for their success on minuter details of 
 colour and material. Nor can any amount of general experience 
 make the fly fisher perfectly at home on a new river, though it 
 will prevent his feeling quite strange. I have killed trout in 
 130 streams (to say nothing of 50 lakes) ; but still, on water 
 which I visited for the first time, I should be glad to take a 
 hint as to the style of fly to be used for the nonce from any in- 
 telligent ' local practitioner.' The man of one stream, like the 
 'homo unius libri] is a formidable person within a limited range. 
 On the same principle constant readers of sporting papers 
 may benefit greatly by the recorded experiences of brother 
 anglers on particular rivers. And I would recommend fly 
 fishers, who have sufficient leisure, to ' book' accurately not only 
 their captures but a brief record of the flies which on each occa- 
 sion served them best, in order to prevent the results of their 
 own experience from eluding their remembrance. Such a record 
 is not the formidable affair it might appear at first sight. Three 
 minutes at the close of the day will answer every purpose. I 
 have been a working man all my life, and have, I believe, at 
 least an average memory ; yet I do not regret the time which, 
 after every anglers holiday enjoyed during something like hall 
 a century, I have given to brief entries such as the following : 
 
 Jiily 5. Upper Ledditch. Warm day light S.W. breeze. Red 
 sand fly; orl fly (hackle) and dark coachman. Weight io| Ibs. 
 Best fish 15 oz. 
 
 By keeping such records one guards against false impres- 
 sions as to the season and the weather when a particular fly 
 did execution on a given stream ; impressions which will often 
 lead us wrong in our choice. 
 
 I shall not attempt any scientific classification of flies. But 
 though I do not pretend to the character of an entomologist, it 
 may be useful to beginners to remark that there are two great
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 285 
 
 families of flies to which the fly fisher's imitations chiefly belong : 
 (i) Epliemera, (2) Phryganex. The Ephemera include a. great 
 variety of species, from the May fly to the tiny Jenny Spinner. 
 They have a long life in the water as larvse in the form of little 
 green dragons, crawling about the roots of sedges and water 
 weeds ; and a very short one as perfect insects, having their 
 ' little day of sunny bliss,' during which the sexes mingle and 
 the females drop their ova on the stream. 
 
 Under certain conditions of the weather they ' hatch out ' 
 from the larva state in prodigious numbers, leaving their empty 
 skins, like insect ghosts, on rushes, flags, or waterside grass. I 
 was once witness at Bray Weir early in July to a singular 
 phenomenon in the shape of a countless swarm of ' Yellow 
 Sallies.' They gathered over the Thames shortly before dusk, 
 and formed a dense yellow cloud extending some 150 yards in 
 length, 30 in breadth, and 3 in depth ; only a slight undulating 
 movement in the mass, and the restless flashing up of scale fish 
 from below to secure the stragglers who dropped out of the 
 ranks, showing that what I saw was a prodigy of insect life 
 and not an atmospheric phenomenon. 
 
 The artificial flies which represent the Ephemera are very 
 various in size and colour ; but they are all alike in attempting 
 to represent by the most delicate feathers for the most part 
 mottled the gauzy wings of the natural insect. They are also 
 alike in having three 'wisps' behind- -single strands of hair or 
 feather to imitate the delicate filaments at the tail of the 
 natural fly, which seem designed to steady and regulate the up- 
 and-down movements of the insect, especially in the act of 
 dropping its eggs. The feathers most used in dressing flies of 
 this family are those of the wild drake (dark brown, pale grey, 
 or dyed yellow) ; of the starling, landrail, snipe, and dotterel. 
 
 The Phryganete are a less numerous family, nor, as far as 
 my own observation goes, do they ever appear on the water in 
 such amazing swarms. They often, however, muster pretty 
 strong, and certain species are continually 'hatching out' 
 during a great part of the year from the bundles of vegetable
 
 286 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 matter whence their name of ' faggot insects ' is derived. The 
 maggot-like larvse form for themselves cases for shelter or 
 security in which they dwell for many months before they quit 
 the water and take the air as flies. They carry their wings 
 when crawling which they do much more freely than the 
 Ephemera not raised in pairs above the thorax, but folded 
 pent-house fashion above the abdomen. The larvae are com- 
 monly known as ' caddis ' or case worms, and the abodes they 
 construct for themselves, partly by the use of their strong 
 nippers and partly by the aid of some natural glue furnished 
 by their own bodies, exhibit a curious and interesting variety. 
 These ' cases ' ascend by a graduated scale from the simplest 
 to the most complicated forms. First we have an inch of 
 slender rush ; then a more solid tenement formed from a piece 
 of stick, in which the grub takes the place of the pith ; then 
 two leaves gummed together at the edges. Anon we find a 
 fasciculus of tiny twigs, or a small clustered pillar of rush-rods, 
 cut accurately to one length and curiously joined together. 
 The most beautiful of all are cylindrical grottos, sometimes 
 nearly two inches in length, formed of small fresh-water shells. 
 A studious entomologist who was also a fly fisher might do 
 worse than to make a collection of these ingenious dwellings 
 and figure the ' imago ' hatched from each. It would, I presume, 
 be found that each class of dwelling belongs to a different 
 species. I have found many kinds together in one spring 
 ditch or sedgy backwater, so that there must have been a choice 
 of material, though I cannot affirm that when I have dislodged 
 the inmates for bait I have noticed any marked differences but 
 those of size and colour. 
 
 It would be a curious experiment to transport a large 
 number, say of the rush worms, to a stream where they would 
 find no rushes, and then to observe whether, after the flies had 
 hatched and bred, their progeny would disappear or would 
 protect themselves by adopting some new building material. 
 
 But I am digressing. Let me return to my fly book, and 
 say that the artificial flies representing the PJiryganea, have
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 287 
 
 mostly mottled brown or dusky wings, with dark legs and brown 
 or yellowish bodies. 
 
 A third class of artificial flies taking the term in its popular 
 acceptation, without regarding the palpable misnomer in- 
 cludes the palmers or rough caterpillars and the beetles. These 
 may be usefully classed together, as they are formed of similar 
 materials (the cock's hackle being generally dominant in both), 
 and used in much the same states of the water. To these 
 three distinct classes I would add for convenience a fourth or 
 ' miscellaneous ' class, comprising a great variety of insects not 
 distinctively aquatic but occasionally attractive to trout and 
 grayling. 
 
 I begin my list with the flies which I have found most use- 
 ful all through the year on a great variety of waters ; purposely 
 limiting the number, in order that anglers who trust the results 
 of my experience may, in the stocking of their fly books, avoid 
 that embarras de ricJiesses which will lead them to perplexity 
 at the outset and useless changes in the course of a day's fishing. 
 It should always be remembered that the f / is often blamed 
 for the mood of the fish, and altered perhaps just when they 
 are beginning to feed. 
 
 1. The Yellow Dun, This fly is good throughout the 
 trout season, and is taken freely by gracing in August and 
 September. 
 
 2. The Hare's Lug. This is the form of the blue dun 
 with which I have done most execution through the year. 
 In Wales, Scotland and the northern counties of England 
 I prefer it to No. i. 
 
 3. The Marlow JBuzz, or Cockabundy (a corruption of 
 ' Coch-y-bonddu'). This not only makes the best of droppers 
 in rough mountain and moorland streams, where it is indis- 
 pensable, but if tied very small and dark may be depended on 
 in the clearest streams - those of Hampshire, for instance> or 
 Derbyshire especially when there are but few Ephemera on 
 the water. 
 
 4. The Red Sand Fly. I have found this fly very killing
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 from April to September in various rivers ; more so, however, 
 in the midland and northern than in the southern counties. 
 There is a small ephemera closely resembling it in colour, for 
 which no doubt it is often taken. It kills best when tied with 
 a body yellower than the landrail wings. 
 
 5. The Black Gnat. This is generally considered a sum 
 mer and autumn fly, and it is certainly most deadly just when 
 the May fly has gone off. But if it be dressed, as I would 
 have it, either with a dark wing or simply with black hackie 
 
 BLACK GNAT 
 
 YELLOW DUN 
 
 SAND FLY 
 
 MARLOW BUZ? 
 
 PARTRIDGE HACKLE 
 
 and ostrich herl, it will take well in spring passing doubtless 
 for Walton's ' black hawthorn fly.' 
 
 6. The Partridge Hackle. This fly is rarely noticed by 
 writers, but I have found it most useful throughout the season : 
 especially as a drop fly. 1 tie it with a soft-stemmed, dark- 
 mottled feather and an orange silk body ; but I can hardly call 
 it an imitation. It most resembles a large grey-winged gnat, 
 like a miniature daddy-long-legs, which is often to be seen on 
 waterside herbage ; but it is certain that good trout take it 
 freely in all weathers, whatever they take it for !
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 289 
 
 7. The Olive Dim. I have used this fly less than its 
 excellence deserves ; but I know that it is A i in the chalk 
 streams in any but very cold weather, and believe that there 
 are few English waters in which it will not take. 
 
 8. The Alder ./Ty. This fly kills well after the leaf is out 
 especially where the alder grows freely. The body is always 
 of peacock's herl the legs should be of a dark dun hackle. 
 When it is tied on a large hook it wants a dark mottled wing, 
 for which I prefer a brown drake or night-jar feather. 
 
 BARK COACHMAN 
 
 RED SPINNER 
 
 9. The ' Dark" 1 Coach/nan. As far as I know (but my study 
 of books on Angling ceased some twenty-eight years ago) this 
 is a hardly recognised fly ; but it is very useful, especially in 
 western counties, and where trout and grayling are found 
 together. It is simply the ordinary coachman much used on 
 summer evenings with a starling's feather substituted for the 
 white wing commonly in use. It is deadly in brooks through- 
 out the year. 
 
 i. u
 
 290 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Add to these flies a Red and a Black Palmer (the former 
 ribbed with gold, the latter with silver twist), for use when the 
 water is beginning to clear after a spate, and you will be 
 ' armed and well prepared ' under ordinary conditions in an 
 immense majority of British streams. I speak with some con- 
 fidence on this head, as for many years I noted the flies with 
 which I killed on each angling holiday, and still continue to 
 record any new experience. The eleven flies named above 
 adding the Red Spinner (whereof hereafter) to make up the 
 dozen have certainly been answerable for fully three-fourths 
 of my captures in brook and river. 
 
 MARCH BROWN 
 
 Let me now say a word of the flies which, unlike those 
 numbered above, have but a short reign, though fora time they 
 can hardly be dispensed with. Of the March Brown and the 
 Green Drake, which at once suggest themselves under this head, 
 so much has been written, and in such detail, that I might 
 fairly say, in the words of the briefest epitaph I ever read, 
 'Silence is wisdom.' I do not profess to be an authority in 
 either case as to the much-discussed niceties of feather or 
 colour, and will merely remark that in my own experience I 
 have found both insects work better as hackles than as wing 
 flies, and prefer them tied a shade under the natural size. 
 
 The little ' Iron Blue ' is a very killing fly on cool April
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 291 
 
 mornings, and will take occasionally on cold days up to Mid- 
 summer. 
 
 The 'Jenny Spinner,' a still smaller and more delicate insect, 
 appears at odd times on warm evenings, and will then kill in 
 the lowest and clearest waters. 
 
 The Fern Fly I have found very taking, even at noon on 
 sultry days in July and August ; but rather in still pools than 
 in streams, and only in the neighbourhood of bracken. 
 
 The Red Ant Fly comes in very late generally in Sep- 
 tember, when emmet flights are commonest and is therefore 
 rather a grayling than a trout fly. This fly, as also the Fern 
 Fly, is figured in the list of grayling flies. In spite of its peculiar 
 form, I have found the ' Dark Coachman,' tied small, an effec- 
 tive substitute for it. But of all flies which are not 'per- 
 manent,' like Miss Nipper, but ' temporary,' commend me to 
 the Red Spinner. In warm evenings, far into the dusk, I have 
 found it the deadliest of lures from June to September. Its 
 whirling flight and its colour make it conspicuous ; but it 
 figures in my evening cast whether I have seen it on the wing 
 or not. Oddly enough, I killed my best fish with it in Tas- 
 mania. The fault of the ordinary imitations is that the bodies 
 are of too crimson a tint. If you qualify the pure red, let it be 
 with a little golden brown. 
 
 I might add to this list, but, after all, the real question for 
 the practical angler is not so much how many flies he can 
 utilise as how many he can safely dispense with. I have now 
 only to notice a few important flies which have a purely local 
 value, killing in one district, but being of little use beyond it. 
 Lists of this kind are dry reading at the best, so to avoid 
 tediousness I will name only three. The Blue Upright men- 
 tioned already is absolutely indispensable in Devonshire. It 
 varies much in the tying as to size, build, and shade of colour ; 
 its one constant characteristic being the hard smooth body. 
 For general use I prefer it without wings, tied with a black 
 hackle, not too stiff, and a slate-coloured body. 
 
 The Silver Horns I have found very deadly in Salop and
 
 292 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Herefordshire from the beginning of June. The natural insect 
 is a small moth, glossy black, with very long black-and-white 
 horns, easily imitated with a strand of a teal feather. It is 
 very conspicuous on rank waterside herbage, and I rarely fail 
 to use the imitation along sedgy reaches. Finally, there is the 
 Derbyshire ' Bumble.' Of this queer fly I know nothing, save 
 that I have killed with it, and have seen it successful in the 
 hands of local anglers about Bakewell, Rowsley, &c. I have 
 seen it tied with all manner of colours, but always with a fat 
 body of smooth floss silk, ribbed with some bright short- 
 stranded hackle. Its special oddity lies in its plumpness. 
 
 'I 
 DERBYSHIRE BUMBLE 
 
 Seen in contrast with the ordinary Derbyshire flies slender 
 and almost midge- like things it looks like Major Monsoon 
 among a squad of light horse. What is it taken for? Not the 
 veritable bumble, surely, which a trout rarely meddles with, 
 and if in a whimsical mood he sucks it in, eschews without 
 chewing. The 'great representative principle' seems quite at 
 fault. Can it be meant for one of the local Cokoptcra ? Beetle 
 beadle Bumble ! A plausible derivation. 
 
 Having now given some general hints as to the best mode 
 of fishing a stream, with some practical suggestions as to the 
 choice of flies, I find that there is a good deal yet to be done 
 ere the 1 particular fish whom I have in my mind's eye takes up 
 his proper quarters in the basket. My fly or flies are such as
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 293 
 
 ought to kill whether they will do so, or be wasted as good 
 meat 'is by a bad cook, depends on the handling of my rod. I 
 have yet to throw over the fish, to hook him, and to play him 
 when hooked. I would say a word on each of these processes, 
 and do not despair of advancing under each head something 
 at once new and true. This would be scarcely possible had 
 writers qualified their general rules by drawing the requisite 
 distinctions. We are told, for instance, to throw a perfectly 
 straight line, that we may reach the farther and strike with the 
 greater certainty, and I admit the general principle. But on a 
 bright day and in a much-fished stream, such casting will not 
 serve your turn, unless you aim at reaching an individual fish. 
 Rather shake out your flies loosely, with a quivering motion of 
 the rod, and let your links of gut drop lightly, in irregular un- 
 dulations. The greenest trout, under such circumstances, takes 
 alarm at a ' straight line ' drawn across the surface of the water. 
 Bear the same consideration in mind when working your flies 
 down and across the stream. 
 
 Again, in throwing for a fish whose exact position you know, 
 all the books tell you to cast two or three feet above him, and 
 let the stream carry the fly down to the expectant trout a 
 good rule doubtless, for the general guidance of a tyro, but for 
 the more advanced piscator, in sultry weather and bright shy 
 waters, in place of ' feet ' he may safely read 'inches.' It will 
 not do then to let an old trout scan and study the insect ap- 
 proaching him. Drop the fly 'reet ower his neb,' as a young 
 familiar of mine at Driffield used to phrase it, and ten to one, 
 having no space for reflection, he will ' take the death ' on the 
 impulse of the moment. 
 
 Connected with the first dropping of the fly is the working 
 of it on and in the water. Drawing it straight along, especially 
 up stream, though common, is a ruinous error. In salmon 
 fishing this is well known : the line is slackened at short 
 intervals between the sweeping movements of the fly across 
 and against the stream ; and the lure is made lifelike and 
 attractive by the alternate contraction and expansion of the
 
 294 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 fibres forming its wings and legs. Let your trout flies be 
 played upon a similar principle, but more variously, and more 
 down stream. Let the tail fly seem struggling in vain to resist 
 the current which carries him down, and the near dropper dip 
 enticingly as if in laying eggs. A tremulous motion of the 
 wrist is sometimes most alluring. In the stillest waters, on a 
 warm day, I have killed good fish by throwing far, and then 
 suffering my whole cast to sink ere I moved my flies. Trout 
 will take them thus sunk if they do not see the ripple of the 
 line at the surface. 
 
 We will now suppose your fish to have risen the next 
 point is to hook him, if indeed your line is not so taut that 
 you feel he has hooked himself. To do this you must ' strike,' 
 as the common term is ; which has been correctly, if not satis- 
 factorily, explained as ' doing something with your wrist which 
 it is not easy to describe.' Is this 'something' to be done 
 quickly or slowly, sharply or gently ? Not to distinguish too 
 minutely, we would say, strike a salmon more slowly than a 
 trout, a trout than a grayling, a lake fish than a river one, and, 
 generally speaking, a large fish than a small one. As to the 
 degree of force, a gentle twitch generally suffices at all events, 
 more is dangerous with any but very strong tackle. 
 
 Note especially, that in order to strike quick, you must 
 strike gently. This requires illustration. Lay your fly rod on 
 a long table, place a cork eighteen inches in front of the top ; 
 grasp it as in fly fishing, and strike hard, making the butt the 
 pivot. The cork will be knocked off by the forward spring of 
 the upper half of the rod before any backward action can take 
 place, and thus much time will have been lost before the line 
 can be in the smallest degree tightened. 1 Remember, too, the 
 great increase of risk to your tackle when the line is thus 
 slackened before sustaining a severe jerk. Nine fish out of ten 
 
 1 The remark naturally suggests itself that, if so, a strong forward move- 
 ment from the butt of the rod, by producing a reverse action at the point, 
 would be the quickest mode of striking. And this is mathematically certain ; 
 but a trout so hooked would be immediately released by the slackening oi the 
 line when the backward reaction took place.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 295 
 
 that are said to break the casting line are in fact lost by the 
 eager violence of the striker, acting upon dry or ill-tied knots. 
 I could say more on this subject did space permit. Thus 
 much, however, as a parting precept. Never be in a hurry, 
 especially when you see a good fish rise. Take your time, as 
 he will take his, and the result will not disappoint you. 
 
 Our fish is now hooked, and the next question is how to 
 deal with him. Some of our angling friends call this ' working 
 a fish,' some ' playing ' the former term, perhaps, having an 
 objective, the other a subjective reference. Nevertheless, 
 Halieus must sometimes work very hard, or Salmo will have 
 the play all to himself. Two general principles may be laid 
 down : first, the strain kept up on the fish should be the 
 greatest attainable without overtaxing the strength of the tackle 
 which should be a known quantity or the hold of the hook, 
 which the most experienced angler cannot always calculate 
 accurately ; secondly, the direction of the butt should never 
 make an obtuse angle with the line in most cases a decidedly 
 acute one. As for ' showing a fish the butt,' it is very desirable 
 in general. But if you do so when fishing with a single-handed 
 trout rod in a deep stream with hollow banks, you only aid 
 that inward rush of your fish which is but too likely to wreck 
 your tackle. Never bring your fish to the surface till he is 
 quite spent ; he may break the hold, if not heavy enough to 
 break your tackle. Don't go trouting without a landing net, 
 whatever certain writers of the rough-and-ready school may 
 say. And if you have an attendant, 1 don't let him land your 
 fish till you know that you can fully trust him. 
 
 Thus far I have dwelt wholly on what may be called the 
 destructive side of the fly-fishing question, and have tried to 
 show how the accomplished professor of ' Fine and far off' may 
 
 1 [In many places, especially in Ireland, it is most difficult to get an atten- 
 dant to stand slill and allow the angler to Lring the fish to him. Rushing 
 down to or into the water with landing net or gaff is fatal, and loses many 
 tish. ED.]
 
 296 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 surmount obstacles and profit by opportunities in the filling of 
 his creel. But as the number and the skill of our fly fishers 
 are continually increasing, the question still remains how the 
 breed of British Salmonida can be kept up to meet the grow- 
 ing demand. Every true brother of the angle who pursues his 
 pastime in a liberal and unselfish spirit ought, therefore, to 
 direct his attention to the breeding and feeding of these fish, 
 valuable as they are at once for sport and for the table. And 
 it is important at the outset to draw attention to some condi- 
 tions of this twofold problem which seem to be but imperfectly 
 understood. 
 
 In the first place, the fact must be recognised that it is 
 easier to keep up the number than the size of the trout in our 
 best streams. Modern agriculture with its demand for thorough 
 drainage tends to diminish the ordinary volume of water in our 
 brooks and rivers. Fifty years ago, when there came a heavy 
 spell of wet weather a great extent of spongy moor and meadow 
 land along the watercourses imbibed and held up a large pro- 
 portion of the rainfall. The spate came less suddenly and 
 lasted longer, and in ordinary weather the banks continually 
 gave out water to keep up the stream. Now it is either ' a 
 feast or a fast.' The well-laid drains flush the rain water 
 rapidly into the streams ; the floods come down sooner and 
 last for a shorter time, and the ordinary level of four-fifths of 
 our trout rivers is very much below what it used to be when 
 agriculture, though more thriving, was less scientific. 
 
 This diminution in the volume of water means, of course, a 
 reduced supply of insect food for our trout. Nor is this all. 
 Farmers and millers combine in many districts to keep the 
 weeds close cut, and every weed-cutting destroys by wholesale 
 the larvee of those insects on which the trout depends most for 
 his ordinary food. As I walk along some well-known beck and 
 see huge heaps of water weed drying in the sun, I feel sorely 
 tempted to use a naughty word when I think of the millions of 
 possible Ephemeraviliich have 'closed their little being without 
 life,' hopelessly entangled in the ruins of their green abodes.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 297 
 
 I know more than one trout stream where the May fly has dis- 
 appeared within the last ten years, and have heard of sundry 
 others. Of course this implies a diminution of the average 
 weight of the fish in such streams, supposing their number the 
 same. A fortnight's steady feeding on the grey and green 
 drake used formerly to produce a marked improvement in the 
 weight of the trout as well as in the colour of their flesh, so that 
 those taken in the latter half of June with the black gnat or 
 red-spinner were altogether a 'superior article.' Now, the 
 larger fish are not at their best till the end of July or beginning 
 of August, and the number of those which never get into con- 
 dition during the fishing season, but remain, like the Ancient 
 Mariner, 'long, and lank, and brown,' is steadily increasing, 
 except in a few favoured reaches where there is a good depth 
 of water with a strong sedgy border. I may remark by the way 
 that the Phryganea appear to suffer less from excessive weed- 
 cutting than the Ephemera ; doubtless because their larvae crawl 
 about more in open spaces, and, from the protection afforded 
 by their ' cases,' are better able to extricate themselves when 
 hauled ashore in a mass of weed. The orl flies and caperers, 
 for instance, keep their ground better than the more delicate 
 flies of the Caddis family. 
 
 Reverting now to what I have called the twofold problem 
 of breeding and feeding an increased stock of trout to meet the 
 increased demand, I may state without hesitation that the 
 difficulty in breeding fish in sufficient numbers will be far more 
 easily overcome than that of feeding them up to a respectable 
 size and condition. No doubt the shrinking of our brooks 
 already alluded to has damaged many of the best spawning 
 grounds, and exposed others in an increasing degree to the 
 depredations of that worst class of poachers who destroy the 
 fish on the redds. But, on the other hand, artificial breeding 
 has for some years past been better understood and more ex- 
 tensively practised in the United Kingdom ; and though we 
 are still far behind the United States and probably behind 
 Canada in this department of pisciculture, yet I think the
 
 298 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Fisheries Exhibition certainly gave a stimulus to trout breeding 
 which will not only keep up the tale of fish in well-stocked 
 waters, but restore a fair head of trout in streams whence they 
 have almost disappeared. An interesting article published in 
 the ' Standard,' on the breeding establishment at Howietown, 
 shows that by the judicious outlay of a very small capital, 
 millions of small fry may be yearly brought into the market at 
 moderate prices and yet with a handsome profit to the breeder. 
 We may, I think, assume that for the future there will be 
 little difficulty in obtaining any reasonable quantity of stock 
 trout from this and similar establishments. The chief question 
 for the purchaser will be what size of stock will pay him best. 
 
 For a preserver who has, in connection with his own trout 
 stream, the requisite appliances for ' hatching out ' eyed ova, 
 or feeding baby fish just freed from the umbilical sack, trout, in 
 one of these two stages, will probably be the best investment. 
 But for turning directly into the river the stock should be 
 yearlings not less than five inches in length. They are easiiy 
 moved if two conditions be borne in mind. First, the vessel 
 in which they are carried should be smooth within, to prevent 
 bruising, which is apt to set up fungoid disease ; and, secondly, 
 the water should be kept in motion, aerated, in fact, to suit 
 the breathing of the fish. This, indeed, is the one indispens- 
 able condition for keeping the trout, in north-country phrase, 
 ' wick and heerty ' on their journey. The late angling editor 
 of the ' Field ' told me, as the result of his own experience in 
 transporting fish, that he knew no better vessel for the pur- 
 pose than the ordinary glass carboy used for chemicals. Its 
 merit, I presume, lies in the perfect smoothness of the interior. 
 Such a vessel, however, is fitted only for a small live cargo. As 
 the removal of trout in large numbers becomes a more familiar 
 process, we shall doubtless see in general use travelling tanks 
 much like a modern watering cart, but provided with mechanical 
 means for keeping the water in motion. 
 
 My attention was first drawn to this subject many years ago, 
 long before I had discarded the spinning minnow for the fly.
 
 FL Y FISHING FOR TRO UT AND GRA YUNG. 299 
 
 I used to carry about a score of live minnows in a common 
 soda-water bottle just the glass carboy on a small scale which 
 I planted neck upward in my creel, with a notch in the side of 
 the cork to permit free change of air. They never ailed any- 
 thing l as long as I kept moving ; but if I sat down for a medi- 
 tative weed and where can this be better enjoyed than in a 
 shady nook by the waterside, ' Propter aquas rivum sub ramis 
 arboris altas ' ? every minnow out of pure cussedness as it 
 seemed would sicken in five minutes, and if I failed to notice 
 the first symptoms would be ' an unpleasant demp body ' in a 
 quarter of an hour. Like minnow, like trout. 
 
 Some twenty years later, when I had been long familiar 
 with the causes which made repose so fatal to my bait fish, I 
 was actively engaged in a society for preserving the Thames 
 about Marlow. Systematic poaching had made such havoc 
 with those fine streams that a Thames trout had become a rare 
 and almost legendary fish ; and when we had put down our 
 poachers and properly staked the ' ballast holes,' where they 
 murdered our fish with the casting net, we found it necessary 
 to restock the river. I obtained a goodly lot of trout from a 
 Buckinghamshire stream some twenty-five miles distant, and had 
 them brought to Marlow by no better conveyance than open 
 tubs in a common cart, with floating boards to check splashing. 
 The road was luckily a rough one, and the driver had strict 
 orders to say nothing of an extra fee to keep continually at 
 a jog trot, that the water might not stagnate. The fish all 
 arrived at the Anglers' Inn, Marlow (long may it flourish !) in 
 perfect health, though sundry of them were large fish, weighing 
 from two to three pounds. Our committee were then sitting, and 
 after a glance at the tubs I went back to join them, taking it for 
 granted that the trout would be at once turned in below the 
 weir, according to instructions previously given. But after 
 
 1 This is not strictly correct. They did occasionally though why on one 
 day and not on another I could never ascertain turn red, in \\hich state they 
 were less attractive. But I found that by putting a little river mud into the 
 bottle I could prevent this change, or cure it when it had begun.
 
 300 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 some ten minutes it struck me as odd that I had not seen any 
 of the tubs carried past the window. Jumping up and calling 
 to the rest to follow me I ran to the cart not a minute too 
 soon. Half the fish and all the large ones had already 
 sickened and were gasping side up. We hurried them in hot 
 haste down to the water, and the fresh stream just saved their 
 lives, one fish only proving past recovery. Five minutes more 
 of still water, and the whole cargo would have been lost ; as it 
 was, the introduction of those trout restored the breed which 
 had become almost extinct in that fine reach of the river. 
 
 They were turned in, if I remember, about the end of 
 August, after a season during which I could only hear of three 
 trout killed by fair angling from Marlow Weir to Spade Oak. 
 In the fourth season after, I took some forty myself, though 
 hardly visiting the river twice a week. 
 
 I have told this story at some length to illustrate the necessity 
 of keeping the water aerated by motion when stock trout are 
 being transported ; but it may point another moral, viz. that it is 
 desirable to use sizeable fish for restocking exhausted streams. 
 
 Let me add here, that I am by no means fanciful about 
 stocking water, whether pool or stream, with what is called a 
 ' fine breed ' of trout. Such a breed results from centuries, 
 perhaps, of superior feeding, and trout of such a race, if removed 
 to waters where the dietary is less generous, will be apt to 
 ' dwindle, peak and pine,' or at best will lose their distinctive 
 superiority. On the other hand, fish taken from a hungry 
 water and turned into one where the bill of fare is more liberal 
 cannot fail to thrive. I have seen many notable instances 
 where tiny brook fish, which at home would never have exceeded 
 four or five ounces in weight, have been removed into a large 
 sheet of deep water, and have there become large and good 
 worthy of an angler's respect and affection. I will mention two 
 examples. On a high moorland beside Lartington Hall, on the 
 borders of county Durham, runs a small burn the same which, 
 after gathering its dark peat- stained waters, plunges down 
 romantic Deepdale to join the Tees above Barnard Castle;
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 301 
 
 'scenes sung by him who sings no more.' On this moorland a 
 large-' pool was formed, of perhaps thirty-five acres, its forma- 
 tion aided by the course of the burn. The moss-hags which 
 had quaked along the winding banks of the streamlet were 
 scooped away till the gravel below was reached, and the peaty 
 soil was used to form a raised barrier round the extensive 
 hollow, so as to deepen the waters still further. About five 
 years after this artificial lake had been formed and stocked 
 from the bit burnie that fed it, I had the permission of the 
 owner, George Witham, Esq. a name then well known in the 
 scientific world, but my tale is some forty years old to try the 
 fly one summer's evening on its waters. I was very fortunate, 
 either in my day or my choice of flies, or both ; for though 
 I had been told that the fish could larely be coaxed to rise, 
 I killed in a short evening's fishing, with my Scotch lake flies, 
 eleven trout, of which the smallest weighed above a pound, the 
 largest two and three-quarters. 
 
 I made a yet heavier basket in a rough afternoon the following 
 year. Finer fish I have rarely seen, small-headed, hog-backed, 
 and strong on the line. They took the fly in the grandest 
 style ; showing snout, back fin and tail, and coming down on 
 their prey with such certainty that I missed but one fish in 
 each day. The water, as well as parts of the bottom, being 
 darkish, and the depth considerable, their outside hue was 
 clouded gold rather than silver, but they cut as red as trout of 
 the Thames. 
 
 I know a similar instance in a deep reservoir on the Brown Clee 
 Hill, fed by a petty brooklet. The fish in the pool are Patagonians, 
 and not more large than good those of the brook of the small 
 dimensions suited to their residence. Thus there is but one step 
 between the two questions of breeding and feeding. A well-fed 
 trout will, generally speaking, be a good trout, and a large 
 range of water will supply its inhabitants with at least a respect- 
 able dietary. In this way mills do the angler good service; the 
 fish in the mill clam have, so to say, a larger pasture, and mostly 
 weigh heavier than those in the shallow reaches of the Thames.
 
 302 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 The first and most obvious method, then, for counteracting 
 the causes to which I have pointed as tending to reduce the 
 volume of our streams and the amount of trout food which 
 they supply, lies in deepening and widening portions of those 
 streams. This can be easily done in many of our brooks, by 
 raising barriers to hold up the water, and by enlarging and 
 deepening portions of their courses at the small sacrifice of a few 
 square yards of poor soil adjoining a natural hollow in their beds. 
 The fish in the artificial pools thus formed will be better fed and 
 consequently larger than those in the ordinary shallow course 
 of the brook or ' pelting river ' to borrow Shakespeare's phrase 
 which favours the multiplication of trout but fails to supply 
 them with abundant food. 
 
 Of course we must remember that trout water, whether pool 
 or river, may easily be overstocked. In the course of a 
 ramble through an unfrequented part of Lochaber, I once came 
 upon a tiny tarn, fed by a burn which, though of the smallest 
 size, afforded excellent gravelly bottom for ' redds.' I made a 
 few experimental throws over it, and each time landed a fish 
 on every fly. I added two small hackles to my ordinary cast 
 of three, and had five troutlings hooked in as many seconds. 
 I made a dozen more casts, and each time took five fish. They 
 were so greedy that they would have the hook, so small that I 
 had no difficulty in sending the whole quintett flying. Had I 
 had any object in further slaughter a feud with the cook at 
 Inverlair, or an extensive contract for potted trout I could 
 easily, with the aid of my gillie to unhook the fish, have taken a 
 thousand brace of these hungry fry in a day. Mine were 
 perhaps the first artificial flies they had ever seen, for the tarn 
 in question lies quite off the beaten track, though near Lochs 
 Treig and Ouchan, which would have naturally attracted any 
 wandering angler in those regions. But such a case of over- 
 stocking I never witnessed. 
 
 Within a mile or two, and on the same stretch of moorland, 
 but at a lower level and where the depth of peat was far greater, 
 lay another tarn of four or five acres in extent, which had no
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 303 
 
 'feeder' or possible breeding ground, and must have been 
 casually stocked by some violent overflow of a neighbouring 
 burn. I had heard of large trout in this, and tried it from 
 mere curiosity, having never seen anything more drear}' and 
 unpromising, less like a Christian tarn than a reach of the Styx. I 
 basketed five or six only ; not that the fish were shy, but simply, 
 as I fully believe, because they were few. They were all nearly of 
 a size, above a pound and under a pound and a half ; their out- 
 side colour pretty much that of a red Indian, and not unhand- 
 some. But when sent up to table they proved simply uneatable, 
 having the ' peat reek ' so strong that I tasted one merely from 
 a sense of duty, and dealt with the mouthful as Dr. Johnson 
 did with the hot pudding ' A fool might have swallowed it. ' 
 Nothing better in flavour could have been expected from a 
 mere turf hole, but the weight of these fish may illustrate what 
 I have said of ' range of water ' as conducive to size. 
 
 There are many large pieces of water, either altogether un- 
 used or given up to baser fish, which would carry a good head 
 of trout. It is always assumed that these require running 
 water, or at least a pool fed by a stream or spring. But if turned 
 out young they will grow surprisingly in water absolutely stag- 
 nant but for a passing breeze or shower. I know a small 
 pond in the East Riding with no feeder or outlet, much 
 resembling the chalk ponds on the Hampshire Downs. It is 
 irregular in shape, but in area about equal to a circle of thirty 
 yards' radius ; shallow at the margin, but deepening to a small 
 island in the centre ; the ground shelving towards it for some 
 distance, so that a heavy rain soon tells on its level. Its ordi- 
 nary inhabitants are numerous tench and gold-fish, with a few 
 minnows of extraordinary size. Into this pond the owner, who is 
 not only a skilful fly fisher but much interested in pisciculture, 
 turned a few small trout from the Drififield Beck as an experi- 
 ment. Two or three years after I often saw a good fish rising 
 near the little island, and about four years after the stock were 
 turned in one of them was taken weighing 4 Ibs. 7 oz. I did 
 not see the fish, but was assured that he was in good condition.
 
 304 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 He was turned loose again after a hasty weighing ; but he had 
 seen his best days, and in the following season was finally 
 drawn out a mere living skeleton. Under the circumstances 
 we can hardly ' wonder a great trout should decline.' The 
 wonder lay in the dimensions he actually attained. 
 
 In another case I stocked with tiny trout, caught with the 
 hand from the very smallest of Kentish brooks, a little pool of 
 about twelve yards by five, formed merely for picturesque effect 
 in the beautiful grounds of ' The Hollands,' near Tunbridge 
 Wells. Here there was a sort of feeder, but so small that an 
 ordinary pitcher might during nine months of the year have 
 received all that flowed in the course of a minute from the 
 1 little Naiad's impoverished urn.' In the third year afterwards 
 I tried the pond thus fed with extemporised tackle a hazel 
 stick, a line of Irish thread, and a glass minnow which happened 
 to be travelling in my portmanteau. In less than half an hour 
 I took two trout weighing i| Ib. each ; both well fed, handsome 
 fish, firm and pink-fleshed. 
 
 I mention these facts because I would fain see trout more 
 generally introduced into ornamental waters. For instance, I 
 feel assured that the sheet of water in Battersea Park, if judi- 
 ciously stocked with small fish from a small stream, would carry 
 a good head of trout, whose movements would divert many a 
 toiling artisan, unused to any nobler fish than a half-grown 
 rudd. There are many of our canals in which trout might thrive. 
 Within a few fields of the Driffield Beck a notable example 
 may be seen in a canal connecting the town of Driffield with 
 the Humber. Oddly enough, the natives always call it ' the 
 River.' 
 
 Some forty-five years ago, in very bad fishing weather, I 
 wanted to carry home to Hull an extra lot of fish, and thought 
 I would try the river head at an hour when, according to my ex- 
 perience, brook trout are hardly awake. I took a fair stock of 
 minnows with me, and made my first cast in the morning twi- 
 light, soon after four o'clock. Between that hour and seven I got 
 three and a half brace of trout, averaging more than a pound and
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 305 
 
 a half, and decidedly better fed fish than those usually caught in 
 the Club water even at that date, when minnows and May flies 
 still abounded. A finer dish I have rarely seen ; but I was 
 grievously vexed at not being able to beguile one ' most delicate 
 monster, 'weighing, I am sure, full nine pounds, who more than 
 once followed my minnow but was too wary to take it. Two 
 years ago I saw a seven-pound fish from the same water, in 
 perfect condition, and I suppose a score or so of heavy fish are 
 caught there yearly ; but there has been a great falling off in 
 numbers. The size and flavour of these fish I attribute to the 
 abundance of food. 
 
 All along the course of the canal, and especially about the 
 locks below which the trout are mostly found, the small scale 
 fish seem to crowd the water, and one might fancy a trout 
 revelling without effort in one perpetual feast. 
 
 If the Driffield folks had only enterprise enough to turn in, 
 say, three hundred brace of stock fish every year, there would be 
 more first-rate trout first-rate both as to size and condition 
 caught in that short stretch of inland navigation than in an 
 equal length of any English river with which I am acquainted. 
 
 There are doubtless other canals in which similar, though 
 not equal, results might be attained. I remember formerly 
 hearing of some good baskets made in one near Chirk. Of 
 course, where there is a strong head of pike trout will stand 
 but a poor chance ; otherwise, a canal carried through a good 
 trouting country ought itself to be ' troutable.' It is, I repeat, 
 a mere question of food, which will generally abound in large 
 bodies of fairly clear water. 
 
 No doubt the angler in a canal, or in one of those waste 
 reaches of water which border so many of our railroads, must 
 forego the poetry of his craft. Not for him are the ' liquidi 
 fontes et mollia prata' the gushing streams and flower- 
 enamelled meadows which contribute so largely to the enjoy- 
 ment of a fly fisher's ramble by brook or river. Yet to an 
 artisan escaped from the weary town on a long summer's even- 
 ing or a rare holiday, his sport will bring its own enjoyment. 
 i. x
 
 306 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 and even its surroundings, if not distinctly picturesque, will 
 have a- certain rural charm. The level line of water along 
 which he plies his craft has at least its green fringe and its 
 border of fields to rest and refresh his eye ; and if along with 
 a few fish for the ' missis ' he can carry home a bunch of 
 marsh marigolds or forget-me-nots, a yellow iris, or a spike of 
 purple loose-strife for the 'kids,' he will be well pleased with 
 his humble trophies. 
 
 Philanthropy in our England takes a thousand forms ; an 
 association for stocking the open waters nearest to our towns 
 with the best fish they are capable of feeding would be a bene- 
 ficent and popular novelty. And I feel sure that if ever the 
 experiment be tried on a large scale, no little surprise will be 
 felt even by experienced anglers at the ease with which trout 
 will adapt themselves to waters apparently unpromising. 
 
 I have pointed out, under the general head of ' Flies,' the 
 chief ingredients of that insect diet on which trout so largely 
 subsist. But as that diet is, for reasons already mentioned, 
 becoming scantier in many of our best streams, we should do 
 well to study the means of supplementing it with other kinds of 
 food. It is, I am afraid, useless to attempt restoring the larger 
 Ephemera in waters whence they have died out, drainage and 
 weed cutting remaining the same. The flies are too delicate 
 to be fit for breeding after a long journey, and it would be 
 difficult to obtain the larvae in sufficient quantities to give the 
 experiment a fair chance of success. As regards the Fhry- 
 gane<z, there are some neighbourhoods where a few sharp lads 
 might gather ' caddis ' almost by the bushel for turning out in 
 the adjacent trout stream. But this could only be worth while 
 in a land of spring ditches and shallow drains, and even then 
 it is by no means sure that the stock of flies could be perma- 
 nently increased. 
 
 In streams where the trout run large much might, I think, 
 be done by providing them with cheap fish dinners. A trout 
 over two pounds weight generally becomes ' piscivorous ' if he
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 307 
 
 has a chance, and never attains so large a growth as when he is 
 abundantly supplied with minnows or other small fry. It is 
 true that a kind of ' stall feeding ' may be pursued with great 
 success. About the year 1840, a distinguished officer informed 
 me that at a Waterloo Banquet which he had recently attended 
 there were served up two trout nearly of a size, from the pre- 
 serves of Sir Home Popham, near Hungerford, which together 
 weighed 36 Ibs. These fish had been fed on chopped liver, 
 and my informant assured me that no salmon could be better 
 eating. But a few years afterwards I heard of a still heavier 
 specimen, weighing 23 Ibs. 7 oz., sent up to London from the 
 same neighbourhood. 
 
 This, as far as I know, was the largest specimen of Sal/no 
 fario on record in the British Isles. 
 
 A fish of twenty-one pounds is said to have been caught in the 
 river Exe. I remember the capture with pike tackle of one 
 over fifteen pounds in Marlow Pool, and have heard of other 
 fish from the Thames that weighed eighteen pounds. The Drif- 
 field Club used to exhibit a stuffed seventeen-pounder, caught 
 in days when there was a periodical migration of countless 
 minnows up the various feeders of the 'Beck,' pursued by flights 
 of the small black-headed tern or 'carr-s wallow.' But till I 
 hear of a rival candidate for first honours, I shall still say to 
 that noble trout of Hungerford, ' Tu maximus ille es? 
 
 The system of feeding which gave him and sundry other 
 stately 'bulks' like Arac's brethren to the market was briefly 
 as follows. Two adjacent tanks for the eaters and the eaten 
 were supplied by a running stream, and now and then a 
 large hooped landing net with small mesh was dipped into the 
 reservoir of bait, and its contents handed over to the cannibals 
 hard by. Then ensued a grand scene : a dozen speckled 
 giants appeared, rushing, plunging, gulping, walloping, till the 
 last victim had disappeared, when tranquil digestion became 
 the order of the day. Under this system of training, a trout 
 on a large scale, caught lank and lean after breeding, might 
 easily double his weight in the course of the season. It should, 
 
 X 2
 
 308 SALMON AND TROUT, 
 
 however, be remarked that much will turn on the smallness of 
 the fry. Trout are sadly indifferent to family ties, but they will 
 thrive on their infant grandchildren or great-grandchildren, 
 whereas the occasional assimilation of an adult son or daughter 
 will not keep them in condition. The heaviest meal will not 
 fatten when it takes ten days to digest. Hence the great value 
 of a good supply of minnows in a trout stream. Easily caught 
 and greatly relished, they tend to check the practice of infan- 
 ticide among elderly trout, while they are fattening from being 
 readily digestible. 
 
 I have roughly guessed at two pounds as the weight be- 
 yond which a trout should not be wholly dependent on insect 
 diet ; but they sometimes take to the minnow very early. I 
 remember watching a fish on the upper waters of the Frome 
 extremely busy among some fry just where a small drain joined 
 the stream. I was fly fishing, but, failing to raise him, I caught 
 a tiny stickleback, clipped off the spines, and threw it to him 
 on a double worm hook like a fly minnow. He took it in- 
 stantly, and on landing him I found that, though weighing little 
 more than three-quarters of a pound, he had actually forty-six 
 small minnows in his maw, the uppermost freshly swallowed,while 
 those farthest down were more than half digested, and perhaps 
 more numerous than I made them out by the tale of backbones. 
 This fish, though he had taken to a minnow diet so young, 
 was very thick and firm-fleshed. 
 
 But it is for keeping up the condition of really large fish 
 that an abundant supply of minnows is especially desirable, and 
 I would strongly urge proprietors and angling clubs to lose no 
 opportunity of obtaining additions to the local stock. There 
 are plenty of small streams and spring ditches where minnows 
 abound, with no trout to keep their numbers down, and it will 
 be best to obtain them from a great variety of waters. Care 
 must of course be taken that no fry of ' scale fish ' find a place 
 among them. 
 
 Next to the minnow in value as food for trout comes that very 
 delicate little fish, the stone-loach, or ' beardie,' the delight of
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 309 
 
 every urchin who has ' paidlit in the burn,' where it is found 
 cuddling cannily under the shady side of a stone. Elderly 
 trout pursue the loach most greedily, and seem to prefer it even 
 to the minnow. I have never known the experiment tried of 
 introducing it into a trout stream, though I have known several 
 in which it was quite at home. But from the great variety of 
 brooks in which it thrives, ranging from Scotland to Devon- 
 
 3 O O 
 
 shire, I think such an experiment would be well worth trying. 
 It would succeed, I feel assured, wherever there are plenty of 
 gravelly shallows, broken by stones from the size of a fist to 
 that of a brickbat. 
 
 The ' miller's thumb,' or ' bull-head,' has nearly the same 
 habits as the loach, and is relished by trout in spite of his spiny 
 shoulders. 
 
 Again, there are certain small crustaceans, popularly known 
 as 'fresh- water shrimps' (Cammarince, I think, is their learned 
 r.ame), which are found in fine sand in sundry streams known 
 for the firmness and flavour of their trout. But of the habits 
 of these queer little wrigglers I know nothing. I have merely 
 a general impression that they ought to be classed among 
 ' movable feasts ' for trout, with a vague hope that some 
 brother angler with equal zeal and more knowledge will succeed 
 in introducing them to new waters for the fattening of under- 
 fed fish. 
 
 It is well known that small shell fish form a large part of 
 the diet on which fish thrive in many celebrated lakes. Loch 
 Leven may be mentioned as a case in point, though the area 
 of the weed beds from which its trout pick their favourite food 
 has been greatly reduced. The gillaroo seems to owe his 
 ppecial excellence to the same ' hard meat,' and I have little 
 doubt that his distinctive gizzard is merely an organ developed 
 in the course of many generations to aid in the crunching of 
 shell fish. But I have never seen it suggested that the trout of 
 our brooks and rivers have the same taste for these rough mor- 
 sels. There is, however, one genus that of Limnaus several 
 species of which might, I think, do good service in a trout
 
 3 io SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 stream. One ' especially looks as if it would be c catawampously 
 chawed up ' by any trout of good taste. The shell is very frail, 
 with a wide transparent lip ; and in warm weather you may see 
 them by hundreds floating over the surface of a weedy pool 
 with this lip upwards, surmounted and overlapped by a tempt- 
 ing expanse of soft, fat body, most inviting to any hungry fish. 
 They are, it is true, chiefly found in still pools, but would 
 thrive in the slow sedgy reaches and quiet backwaters of large 
 streams. 
 
 This is not a mere conjecture of my own. A valued friend, 
 the late Mr. Morton Allport, of Hobart Town, to whose judg- 
 ment and energy Tasmanian pisciculture owed much of its 
 success, imported a number of these shell fish soon after the 
 introduction of English Salmonidie into the island, and watched 
 their multiplication with great interest. He found that they 
 would thrive in quiet streams, and showed them to me cluster- 
 ing round a bed of the English water lily. They were, in his 
 opinion, excellent food for both trout and perch. 
 
 I have yet one more form of trout diet to mention which 
 may surprise many of my readers. I speak of a certain very 
 small leech, never, I believe, found in rivers, but abundant in 
 sundry lochs. I must confess myself utterly ignorant of the 
 laws which determine the habitat of these delicate crawlers, but 
 I have found trout literally gorged with them who were far 
 above the common standard in colour and flavour ; and were 
 I about to establish a normal training school for Salmonidcz, I 
 would stock my lake or reservoir with a few hundred of these 
 liirudines, obtained, e.g. from Llyn Manwd, near Festiniog. 
 
 I have gone into these details from a conviction that the 
 trout fishing of the future must turn in great measure on the 
 question of food, and that any and every means should be tried 
 to increase the supply. In dry seasons, the upper waters of 
 OUT streams require especial looking to, when they are too much 
 shrunk to attract the fly fisher. It is occasionally necessary to 
 move large numbers of the fish down the stream as its sources 
 
 1 Palustris 1
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 311 
 
 fail^; but, short of this extreme case, a palliative may be adopted 
 more wholesome, I admit, than savoury by a keeper who 
 will condescend to details. A few of the crows, magpies, stoats, 
 or cats, that have fallen victims to his professional zeal, may be 
 hung on branches overhanging the water holes in which the fish 
 are gathered to keep their enforced Lent, and a goodly shower 
 of gentles will greatly soften the rigour of the fast. In fact, no 
 source of supply should be overlooked. 
 
 Few anglers are unacquainted with the annoyance of fre- 
 quent wasps' nests along the bank of the stream they are fishing. 
 I have myself more than once been driven to ignominious 
 flight from a promising pool, and the thought has come into 
 my mind, ' I hope when that nest is taken its fragments may be 
 thrown into the stream.' If anyone asks, ' Why, what's that 
 good for ? ' I reply with Shy lock, ' To bait fish withal ! ' 
 
 GRAYLING. 
 
 I have thus far spoken almost exclusively of trout. The 
 grayling, however, deserves more than a mere casual notice, 
 and Cotton's ghost might haunt me if in writing of ' fine and 
 far off ' I ignored the fish he loved so well. 
 
 And indeed, 'for my own particular,' I greatly admire the 
 grayling, who, I think, is less prized than he deserves. His 
 beauty is the least of his merits yet how beautiful he is ! 
 Taken out of season in June, for instance, or early July the 
 dull yellow-brown of his back and sides is not attractive ; but 
 when he has recovered his condition, and adds the charm of 
 colour to his always graceful shape when he shows a rich 
 dark tint down to the mesial line, and silver mail as bright as 
 that of the salmon in level lines below, while his lofty back 
 fin, like some 'storied window, richly dight,' transmits the 
 sunshine through purple, red, and gold, no lovelier prize, save 
 the rarely caught red char, can grace an angler's creel. The 
 curious vegetable fragrance, again, whence he draws his name
 
 312 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of Salmo ThymaUiis, contrasts agreeably with the ancient and 
 fish-like smell which clings to other finny captives. 
 
 For the table, I should place a well-grown grayling in 
 autumn or winter above the average of river trout, while the 
 ' shetts,' or two-year-olds, are in season all the summer through, 
 and if judiciously fried are nearly equal to a smelt in flavour. 
 
 Cotton is in a measure right when he calls him ' the deadest- 
 hearted of fishes,' making 'no great stir' on the hook. He 
 bores steadily down toward the gravel, working mostly up 
 stream, but rarely making a sudden rush or attempting to weed 
 himself. Yet even this dispraise needs some qualification. In 
 small streams I have several times encountered grayling who 
 fought for their lives with all the dash as well as the dogged- 
 ness of lusty trout, though I have never met with the like in a 
 large river. I might make a fair guess at the cause of this 
 difference, but prefer to record the simple fact. 
 
 I have seldom fished for grayling with any lure but the 
 artificial fly. To me, indeed, the crown of all fly fishing is a 
 bright breezy day on the Teme or Lug about the middle of 
 August, when the grayling are coming on and the trout not yet 
 gone off. The sport is varied but almost continuous ; there is 
 seldom a reach to be 'skipped ' on your river-side beat. From 
 the dashing rapid haunted by trout you ascend to the steadily 
 running ford, from two to four feet deep, in which you know 
 that the grayling lie thick ' not single spies, but in battalions.' 
 At the top of this again you come on a deep pool, with foam- 
 flecked eddies where the trout reassume their sway, while on 
 the confines of these different reaches you may hook either 
 trout or grayling or both together. A brace of the former with 
 one of the latter, or vice versa, make rather an exciting compli- 
 cation. 
 
 This delightful chapter of 'dual' captures ends with the 
 first week of September ; but there still remains a good spell of 
 grayling fishing pur et simple. They draw together more and 
 more in the quiet fords, and feed more boldly and continuously.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 313 
 
 Sunshine sometimes appears to improve the sport, and on ' a 
 glorious day in the golden-bright October,' with the most 
 ordinary care in casting towards the light, you may not only 
 take fish after fish along sixty yards of water, but on reaching 
 the end may retrace your steps and fish it over again with equal 
 success. When grayling are rising freely you may fill your basket 
 in perfectly smooth water by a long cast with the finest gut. 
 
 A few words as to the style of casting which should be 
 adopted may not be amiss. 
 
 In the first place, I care very little for up-stream or down- 
 stream fishing when grayling are my object. I cast right across 
 the ford, with just a shade of upward tendency. Whether in 
 working the stream I shall move up or down its course will be 
 matter of convenience depending principally on the sun and wind. 
 Grayling being chiefly found in the lower and broader reaches 
 of the river, and affecting the mid-channel rather than the sides, 
 cannot be reached by the up-stream cast unless you are wading 
 deep, and not always then. If you wade you had better move 
 up stream yourself to avoid disturbance, but you will still, I 
 think, succeed better by throwing across than ahead. Grayling 
 being, as I have said, gregarious, you will of course greatly im- 
 prove your chances by fishing with at least two flies, and in a 
 lair-sized river I seldom use less than three. Here the cross- 
 throw has an obvious advantage. I have killed doublets a 
 dozen times a day, with now and then three fish at a cast. 
 
 ' Fine and far off' should be the fly fisher's maxim with 
 grayling even more than with trout. But not the less must he 
 study to throw as little shadow as possible. The grayling lies 
 chiefly in the open, and is easily to be approached under cover, 
 so that everything may depend on youi being on the right or 
 wrong side of the water. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the grayling shoots upwards 
 at the fly almost vertically, and, if there is any eddy, often 
 misses it. Throw over him again and again no matter how 
 quickly; you will have him at last I remember killing a good 
 fish at Leintwardine at his eleventh rise. As to the life-like
 
 3H SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 working of the fly I have already said my say, and I will only 
 add that in grayling fishing I repeat my cast more frequently, 
 ctfteris paribus, than when throwing for trout. 
 
 Of flies I have but few on my list, some of which I have 
 named already as favourites wjth trout. Generally speaking, 
 grayling flies should be small and of a marked character. 
 Wren-tail with an orange body a grand killer in Derbyshire 
 the fern fly, ant fly, silver blue and orange tag, with a small but 
 showy red spinner for the evening, are all that I should specially 
 recommend. 
 
 ORANGE TAG 
 
 SILVER BLUE 
 
 Though I care little for grayling fishing except with the fry, 
 I ought fairly to mention that the heaviest fish are caught with 
 other lures. I have heard of very large fish out of season taken 
 with trout flies in summer in the Test and Avon. But, putting 
 aside these worthless captures, grayling of the very largest size 
 are chiefly taken by 'sinking and drawing ' with the artificial 
 grasshopper, or with worm or gentle. For myself and I 
 think I have scored pretty heavilythe largest grayling I ever
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 315 
 
 took with the fly weighed but two pounds and three-quarters, 
 nor do I remember to have ever raised a larger. They run 
 much in sizes, and in the streams of Shropshire and Hereford- 
 shire, where I am most at home, the September fish, represent- 
 ing the well-grown ' shetts ' of the previous year, run close upon 
 three-quarters of a pound, while those a year older weigh about 
 a pound more. These latter are really noble fish, and give 
 excellent sport with fine tackle ; yet they fall far short of those 
 killed with the gentle, especially when combined with that 
 attractive lure, the 'artificial grasshopper.' 
 
 The heaviest basket I ever heard of was made at Leintwar- 
 dine by the late Sir Charles Cuyler a sportsman who had, I 
 believe, no superior with the gun and very few with the rod. 
 The exact weight, taken at one bout with the ' pointed ' grass- 
 hopper, I cannot recall, but the best nine fish weighed twenty- 
 seven pounds. 
 
 The grasshopper, as I tie it, has a plumpish body, ribbed with 
 alternate strands of green and golden floss silk, with a narrow 
 strip of fine quill or straw laid lengthwise on each side. The 
 hook is about the size of that used for a small green drake, and 
 along the back of it is lapped a small slip of lead, to facilitate 
 sinking. Care should be taken that the bulk of the grasshopper 
 may be chiefly at the back of the hook, in order not to interfere 
 with the hold, and there should be room for a couple of gentles 
 or a small worm-tail. 
 
 As the large fish suck this in after a most gingerly fashion, it 
 is usual to have an inch or so of a small-barrelled quill, some- 
 thing like a miniature float, sliding along the line, just far 
 enough from the hook to be always kept in sight during the 
 process of ' sinking and drawing.' When a fish takes, this 
 is seen to make a slight but sudden downward movement, so 
 that the angler's eye gives him warning before his hand can 
 feel the touch. 
 
 [Diagrams of the artificial grasshopper and float will be 
 found in Mr. Pennell's article on ' Bait Fishing for Grayling.'] 
 
 Were I deliberately pot fishing without regard for the
 
 316 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 daintiness of my favourite sport, I could easily especially in a 
 bright low water increase my take of fish by ' pointing ' my 
 fly hook. An ant's egg serves the purpose well, being both 
 cleaner and lighter than a gentle. 
 
 I remember early on a July morning mentioning this to a 
 
 friend who was driving me over to Leintwardine. W had 
 
 little hope of sport ; the river was low, the fish shy ; the gray- 
 ling especially, he told me, were sulking in shoals at the bottom 
 of the deep pools. 'Were it not for your club rules,' said I, 
 ' which you tell me are so very strict, you might pick out a few 
 of those fellows by pointing your fly hook with an ant's egg.' 
 He replied that it was not to be heard of, yet methought was 
 rather curious as to the forbidden process. 
 
 We parted shortly after at the water-side, and before we met 
 again in the afternoon I had a grand basket of trout. The 
 river was so low that every stake showed ; the fish came strong 
 on the feed, and behind every stake I could see the suck of a 
 goodly snout, so that a long cast up stream with my two-handed 
 
 rod was absolutely murderous. W had done very little with 
 
 the trout, not having fished so ' fine ' or so 'far off,' and having 
 been unlucky in his choice of water. But there were two or 
 three really handsome grayling in his basket, against which I 
 had nothing to show. I had killed the only one of decent size 
 which I had seen rise during the day, and even he was no great 
 tilings. Could it really have been viea maxima culpa that I had 
 
 taken no fish like those before me? W answered my 
 
 questions as to the fly he had used with an admirable steadi- 
 ness of countenance ; but when ' still I gazed, and still my 
 wonder grew,' he could stand it no longer, and burst into that 
 cheery ringing laugh which his many friends round the Clee 
 will recall so well and so regretfully. It was impossible not to 
 join chorus as he just articulated, ' Ants' eggs.' 
 
 The gentle, used by itself on a very small hook and thrown 
 like the fly, is very killing, especially after Christmas, when 
 breeding time draws near, and the grayling grow sluggish and 
 dainty. The worm will kill through autumn and winter, and is
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 317 
 
 easier to manage than the grasshopper, as you may give your 
 fish more time. But, after all, give me an open ford, a clear 
 cast, and the artificial fly. 
 
 This irregularity of ' location ' is very puzzling, especially 
 when we consider how closely some of the streams whence they 
 are absent resemble others in which they abound. The hypo- 
 thesis which regards the grayling as a foreign fish, imported by 
 the monks at some unknown date, seems quite untenable. It 
 is, however, more to the purpose to inquire whether these valu- 
 able fish might not with advantage be introduced into many 
 waters where they are hitherto unknown ; and on this question 
 I have no doubts. Let us have grayling in as many counties 
 as the nature of the streams will permit at all events, in many 
 more than at present. There are some first-rate trout streams 
 into which, on the principle of ' letting well alone,' I should 
 hesitate to introduce them, for fear of seriously reducing the 
 supply of trout food. It should, however, be remembered that 
 in shallow, rapid reaches of water, and wherever the stream is 
 violent as well as deep, grayling will not rest. Nor do they ever 
 work up stream, having (unlike the trout) a tendency to drop 
 down from the upper stretches of water when these grow 
 shallower till they reach the fords, when they find themselves 
 at home calm, even-flowing reaches, of moderate depth and 
 speed. Thus the effect of their competition for food is neces- 
 sarily limited, while the advantage of their neighbourhood to 
 the trout as, for instance, in the best Derbyshire streams is 
 found not only in the possession of two game fish for sport or 
 the table instead of one, but in the extending the legitimate 
 angling season through the autumn and winter months. 
 
 I have myseh had no experience in the artificial breeding 
 of grayling, and cannot pretend to say whether their introduc- 
 tion to new waters would be best achieved by this method 
 or by moving a considerable number of moderate-sized fish. 
 But with our present knowledge and appliances either plan 
 might surely be carried out with little difficulty. If the fish 
 are to be transported alive, the best time for their compulsory
 
 318 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 migration would probably be the very close of the year, that 
 they may have the advantage of cool weather for travelling, and 
 time to settle down in their new quarters before the breeding 
 season. 
 
 Had I the direction of a ' Grayling-extension ' scheme, I 
 should wish above all things, without prejudice to the claims of 
 humbler streams, to have the experiment tried on a large scale 
 in the Thames. If my memory serves me, a few were turned 
 in near Reading some fifty years ago, but nothing came of it, 
 though a solitary fish was captured three years after. To be 
 successful, the attempt should be made in several successive 
 years and in three or four well-chosen places. I have seen 
 little of the Thames of late years, but having once known the 
 river thoroughly from Streatley to Richmond, I can recall every 
 feature of sundry reaches which formerly struck me as suitable 
 for grayling. For instance, there is a fine ford immediately 
 below Maple-Durham lock ; another about a mile above Spade 
 Oak, where the old buck stage formerly stood at the meeting of 
 the streams ; and miles of likely water between Maidenhead and 
 Monkey Island. Penton Hook, again, though not clear in my 
 mind's eye, occurs to me as fine grayling water, neither too 
 brisk nor too dull. No doubt the pike in the Thames are a 
 serious obstacle, though not, I think, an insurmountable one ; 
 but, on the other hand, to introduce a new and valuable fish into 
 the river beloved by the millions of London would be no trifling 
 public service. 
 
 There are however plenty of other streams, from the low- 
 lands of Scotland to Kent and Sussex, where the grayling might 
 be introduced with every prospect of success. Among those 
 nearest to London I should name the Stour, and perhaps the 
 Darenth. The Driffield Beck below Wandsford Mill seems 
 exactly fitted to carry grayling side by side with trout 
 
 But I do not pretend to enumerate the streams in which the 
 experiment should be tried. I wish rather to set angling clubs 
 and riparian proprietors to work in what seems to me a most 
 promising field. Especially let it be remembered that the
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 319 
 
 grayling is rather a northern than a southern fish, and beyond 
 the British Isles thrives best in high latitudes. I do not see 
 why we should not have our finest specimens from the north of 
 Scotland. At present I know but one stream where ' Thymallus ' 
 has been naturalised during the present generation the Corve, 
 a small tributary which joins the Teme at Ludlow. There 
 may, however, well be others, as in a conversation a few years 
 since with the Editor of the ' Field,' he told me of some gray- 
 ling which he had recently transported by rail with perfect 
 success. These fish, however, were destined for a southern 
 stream. 
 
 Here I might fairly lay down my pen ; but age has its privi- 
 leges, and holding with Cicero that the greatest of these is 'au- 
 thority,' I am tempted to add a few miscellaneous hints on 
 matters interesting to the angler, trusting that with a few, at 
 least, of my readers, to whom I shall not be, like one of my an- 
 cestors, a mere nominis umbra, they will carry some weight. 
 
 And, first, as to tackle. Never buy a cheap rod ; it may 
 be admirably finished, but the chances are against its being 
 thoroughly seasoned. It is only the great houses that can 
 afford to keep their staves long enough in stock to insure dura- 
 bility. Green-heart, and some American 'arrangements in cane 
 and steel,' are now much in fashion, and I believe on report 
 that you may now obtain a rod of greater power especially for 
 throwing against the wind than those which have contented 
 me. Still, sound hickory is not to be despised. 
 
 If you wish your rods to last long and the two on which I 
 depend have been in use fifty and twenty years respectively 
 look carefully to them at the end of the season. Let them be 
 revarnished and relapped in the winter, and have all the rings 
 save those on the butt moved some points round, so as to shift 
 the strain and obviate any tendency to a permanent bias or 
 ' cast ' in the wood. A splice rod has more perfect play than a 
 jointed one, and is worth setting up if you live on a river ; but 
 otherwise the jointed rod of the present day, with ends care-
 
 320 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 fully brazed to prevent swelling in the socket, and patent 
 ferrules to save the awkward process of lapping the joints 
 together, is a handy tool enough for practical purposes. On 
 a wet day it is a good precaution to rub a little oil or deer's 
 grease round the rim of each ferrule. 
 
 As for the reel, good ones are now as plentiful as blackberries. 
 The circumference should be large and the barrel short, so that 
 a single turn may gather in or release many inches of line. 
 Multipliers might be pronounced an abomination, did not the 
 proverb forbid our speaking ill of the dead. Anglers generally 
 place the reel with the handle on the right, but I suspect the 
 opposite practice is preferable ; the control of the fish will thus 
 be left to the ' better hand,' while the left will suffice for ' pirn- 
 ing in ' and ' pirning out.' 
 
 With regard to reel lines, I still adhere to the old silk and 
 hair, but I can well believe that oiled silk, sufficiently tapered, is 
 better in a high wind. Its weight, moreover, is a constant 
 quantity, while that of silk and hair varies unpleasantly in rain 
 and towards what I heard a Lancashire keeper call ' t' faag 
 eend o' t' dey.' 
 
 As to the gut collar, the question of 'tapering' is yet more 
 important ; in fact, perfection in casting cannot be attained un- 
 less this be ' fine by degrees and beautifully less.' I have 
 never bought any as perfectly adjusted as those I have tied for 
 myself. But the graduated arrangement of the links is delicate 
 and laborious work more trying, I think, to the sight than even 
 the dressing of flies, and the difficulty of the task of course in- 
 creases with years. It is a good plan to have the gut sorted 
 beforehand into distinct sizes thick, medium, fine, and finest 
 and to tie a good many collars at one sitting when your eye 
 and hand are in. Be very careful with your knots, and never 
 attempt to make one till the gut has been thoroughly soaked in 
 tepid water. Pay a high price for the best gut, particularly for 
 picked samples of the finest. Engine-drawn gut is generally 
 worthless ; single hair is far preferable indeed, were not the 
 docking of horses so universal, it might be often used with
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 321 
 
 advantage, as it falls more lightly, reflects the light less, and 
 when, taken from an undocked stallion is of such a length as to 
 reduce the knots to a minimum. 
 
 The best chance of obtaining first-rate hair would, I think, 
 be from some of the dray teams of great brewing firms. In some 
 of our open northern streams good hair is invaluable. But it 
 must be used with caution. Hair is very elastic, but will not 
 bear a continued strain like gut. Leave it tied at a stretch, and 
 it will shortly break. Hence, with even the strongest hair you 
 must play your fish with a lighter and, so to say, a more variable 
 hand than when using gut tackle. As for creels, a small one may 
 do for brook fishing, but for use on good waters let it be roomy 
 enough so to hold at least twenty-five pounds of fish. I have 
 not been specially privileged in access to the very cream of trout 
 streams have never, for instance, fished at Stockbridge or in 
 the renowned Lathkill have never had a day in the water 
 at Cheynies, immortalised by that genial sportsman, Anthony 
 Trollope, or in the upper waters of Foston Beck, admirably 
 preserved by Colonel St. Quintin. Nor, again, have I ever had 
 leisure to pick my days, but have taken my chances of a 
 holiday or half-holiday when they offered. Yet I have not 
 unfrequently filled a basket of the size recommended till it 
 overflowed into my pockets. 
 
 By the bye, I think the form of the creels in general use a 
 great mistake. They should be made much longer at bottom, 
 so that a good weight of fish may be laid out without their 
 pressing on each other, or being disfigured by bending. In 
 an ordinary basket, the undermost fish on a good day are 
 grievously crushed by the last comers a sorry sight when 
 laid out. 
 
 Questions of dress come near to those of tackle. A broad- 
 brimmed stiff felt hat is your best thatch for all weathers. 
 Wear woollen from head to foot, and knickerbockers with the 
 thickest Inverness hose rather than trousers. If you have to 
 wade, you must clothe your nether man accordingly ; but do 
 not wade oftener or longer than is absolutely necessary, espe- 
 
 i. y
 
 322 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 cially when there are other anglers on the stream. If you 
 ' establish a raw ' on your foot, don't lay it up and ' swear at 
 large,' but wash the place carefully, and clip away the loose 
 skin. Then mix the white of a fresh egg with a few drops of 
 brandy, and lay it over the bare place with a feather. When 
 the spirit evaporates as it will in a few minutes a fine trans- 
 parent film will be left. Repeat this process three or four 
 times, and you will have a perfect artificial skin, which will 
 neither wash off nor rub off. I have done a long day on the 
 moors with such a false cuticle en heel and toe without pain or 
 even inconvenience. 
 
 But your fly fisher must be fed as well as clothed ; and 
 though by virtue of his healthy calling he ought to make a sub- 
 stantial breakfast, somewhere towards 2 P.M. (generally the 
 slackest time of the day) he will feel that Nature abhors a 
 vacuum. Something he must have in his pouch 
 
 Quod interpellet inani 
 Ventre diem durare. 
 
 What that something shall be must depend on his taste and 
 the state of the sideboard. But if he inclines to the sweet 
 simplicity of sandwiches, let him make them of ham sliced very 
 thin, and overlaid with marmalade. The combination may 
 seem startling, but will be found most palatable, particularly 
 in warm weather. A layer of unpressed caviare, again, with a 
 squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of mustard and cress, though 
 less substantial, has a pleasant relish. 
 
 As for fluids, during many years, when I was well up to the 
 mark as a pedestrian, I found nothing better in a long day by 
 moor or river side than an occasional mouthful of cold tea. 
 But I would mention for the benefit of those who, like myself, 
 are in the down-hill of life, that I have found a great resource 
 agrvnst fatigue in a pocket flask of the 'Vin Mariani.' It is an 
 extract of the 'coca leaf/ ' the sustaining power of which (see 
 Kingsley's ' Westward Ho ! ') has been for centuries known to 
 
 1 Erythroxylon coca.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 323 
 
 labouring men in Central and Southern America. There are 
 many preparations, but I find this the best and pleasantest. It 
 is procurable from Roberts, the Bond Street chemist. 
 
 The luncheon disposed of, there remains a high and doubtful 
 question shall Piscator smoke ? I think the ayes have it. 
 For myself, in spite of King Jamie and his modern supporters, 
 I cannot dispense with my water-side cigar, especially on a hot 
 afternoon. No one, I think, can fully appreciate the effect, at 
 once soothing and restorative, of a well-timed weed, who has 
 not enjoyed it in a tropical climate. Often after a weary ride 
 through Australian bush, the glass standing at nooreven 
 120 in the shade, my pulses throbbing and every nerve ajar, 
 I have thrown myself from my horse, set my back against the 
 shady side of a huge gum-tree bole, and after a few whiffs of a 
 ready cheroot have felt myself calmed and refreshed ' beyond 
 the Muse's painting.' 
 
 Even in England there is many a sultry afternoon when the 
 fly fisher, after four or five hours on the water, will enjoy the 
 fragrant leaf with similar zest. And, luckily, the hottest part of 
 a summer's day is usually a time when the fish are little on the 
 move, so that he may have his smoke out without sacrificing 
 his sport. Indeed, if he means to make a long day in July or 
 August, he will often do well to prolong his rest, and while away 
 an hour or two with a well-chosen pocket volume of Horace, 
 for instance, or Boswell's ' Johnson,' or Percy's ' Reliques '- 
 anything that may be engaged by snatches, without continuous 
 reading. There are times of sultry stillness when to offer a fly 
 to the sulky low-lying trout is as useless as whistling jigs to a 
 milestone. Nevertheless, the angler at rest will do wisely to 
 keep his ears open, and to cast an occasional glance out of the 
 ' tail of his eye ' up and down the stream. Three or four heavy 
 rises seen or heard in succession may give him unexpected notice 
 that the fish are astir again. 
 
 And here let me remark, that there are few questions con- 
 cerning trout at once so interesting and so difficult of solution 
 as that which touches the times of their feeding ; the hours and
 
 324 . SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 days when they are likely to take freely. To the first part of 
 the question it is easy to return a general answer ; subject, 
 however, to frequent exceptions, due to what seems like pure 
 caprice or ' cussedness ' on the part of the fish. As a rule, from 
 the beginning of April to the close of the season the surest 
 hours for sport are those from nine to twelve. In spring, 
 however, the fish often continue rising freely far into the after- 
 noon ; whereas in summer, unless strong wind or heavy showers 
 come to freshen them up, they mostly go off the feed between 
 one and two, coming on again after a longer or shorter interval, 
 and rising boldly from an hour before sunset to an hour after 
 as long in fact as you can see to throw. This, however, is only 
 in warm weather ; if a dry cold wind comes up late in the after- 
 noon your evening cast will disappoint you. Yet this only 
 holds good as far as the Border ; in the northern counties of 
 Scotland trout are almost invariably astir on a good ford 
 towards dusk in July and August. 
 
 Looking far south again, I may remark that in Devonshire 
 during the spring months something may always be done 
 between 2.30 and 4 P.M. 
 
 So much for the 'happy hours.' I have still to inquire 
 what constitutes a good fly-fishing day ; and my attempt at 
 an answer must involve a sweeping confession of ignorance. 
 Most anglers indeed will agree in praising a day of chequered 
 cloud and sunshine, with a strong yet soft breeze from the west 
 or south-west ; and there is no doubt that on such a day good 
 sport is generally attainable and the fly fisher's craft is plied 
 under the pleasantest conditions Yet on shy waters I think I 
 have made my heaviest baskets in a stiff nor'-wester with a 
 dark sky and frequent bursts of heavy rain. The fish are 
 thrown more completely off their guard and take the fly with- 
 out misgiving as a battered and half- drowned insect. Larger 
 flies, too, and stronger gut may be safely used. 
 
 Yet this only brings us to a conclusion which might have 
 been taken for granted a priori ; viz. that roughened waters 
 and dimmer light make it more easy to deceive the fish. But
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 325 
 
 an^east or north-east wind very rarely produces the same satis- 
 factory results. This may in part be due to the smaller show 
 of the fly when the wind is ' snell and keen ; ' yet this explana- 
 tion hardly meets the case, as trout often take very well when 
 flies are scarce. We may, however, assume it is a general 
 though unexplained rule that a moist air is better than a dry 
 one. 
 
 In waters with which we are familiar something may be 
 learned from the colour of the surface. I was fishing long ago 
 with my brother in Loch Fruchie, and taking fish, such as they 
 were, very fast. Suddenly the old boatman said, ' Ye may pit 
 cloon yer gaud noo.' My brother to humour him at once laid 
 down his rod. I being, rather what Mrs. Tabitha Bramble calls 
 an 'imp-fiddle' in such matters, merely asked why? 'She's 
 the wrang colour' was his brief answer ; and certainly, though 
 the breeze continued, the aspect of the loch had become dull 
 and sullen. I fished on, however, and in the course of the 
 next hour caught one small fish, when the veteran very pointedly 
 said to my brother ignoring me as unteachable ' Noo, Mr. 
 fohn, ye may tak yer gaud again.' And sure enough, the hue 
 of the lake had grown brighter and livelier, and the fish came 
 on the feed again. 
 
 I have borne this lesson in mind ever afterwards, and have 
 certainly found that when the wavelets on a rippled pool show 
 a blue or blue-black tint, there is sport to be had, but when 
 they wear a dull leaden colour the fish sulk. Why they do so 
 is another matter, as to which this deponent sayeth not. Again, 
 after a rough stormy night, trout seldom rise well before eleven 
 o'clock ; this, however, is probably owing to their having been 
 on the feed all night. 
 
 The worst of all days, undoubtedly, is one when a thunder- 
 storm is threatening but delays to burst. The clouds are piled 
 in heavy masses, and every break in their array shows a lurid 
 light gleaming through, of an indescribable tint between amber 
 and lilac ; the air is hushed and still but for an occasional hot 
 gust, which seems to come from nowhere in particular. You
 
 326 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 feel oppressed yourself, and hardly wonder that ' the springing 
 trout lies still.' Indeed it 'is a common apology for an empty 
 creel that ' there is thunder in the air.' 
 
 But in truth when the storm actually breaks over you it 
 gives you a grand chance of sport. I shall never forget a short 
 bout of fishing which I enjoyed one evening just above Wans- 
 ford Bridge. I had been early on the stream, though well 
 aware from the aspect of the sky that my cake was dough till 
 the threatened elemental war was fairly let loose. I worked 
 my way doggedly down the beck, casting from time to time, as 
 on Sam Weller's theory I might have eaten oysters, 'out of 
 sheer desperation.' A few little fish I certainly took they 
 always will come when you have to put them back and one 
 solitary pounder, who must have been either eccentric or life- 
 weary to rise on such a day. 
 
 But it was tedious work the heat oppressive, the air dead. 
 Even my attendant boy lost his faith in my star took short 
 cuts and long rests. I spun out my luncheon, smoked more 
 than was good for me, and though I still held on for the 
 heavier water below, I often doubted my weather forecast, and 
 wished myself ' taking mine ease in mine inn.' But the still- 
 ness was at last broken by distant mutterings of thunder ; the 
 clouds banked up higher and higher, and just as I had reached 
 the open water between Wansford mill and bridge the storm 
 was upon me, with deafening peals and a slanting deluge of 
 rain. Luckily I was waterproof, having one stiff cape over my 
 shoulders and another buckled round above my hips and pro- 
 tecting me as far as my knee-boots. 1 
 
 The wind was too furious to permit casting, but as it blew 
 directly on my back I had simply to let out as much line as I 
 wanted and let it fall as I could. Never did I see good fish 
 rise so fast. The fly was seized as soon as it reached the water, 
 and the only difficulty in killing the fish lay in the violence of 
 the wind. In less than an hour and a half I basketed twenty- 
 
 1 I recommend this plan to all anglers ; it is cooler than one long overcoat, 
 and throws off rain without confining the perspiration.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 327 
 
 one fish weighing twenty-eight pounds. This could not have 
 been done within the time had I not, in anticipation of the wild 
 weather, been armed with stronger gut and a larger fly than 
 usual. Four-fifths of the fish were taken with the blue-bottle, 
 an excellent fly towards the close of summer, when the natural 
 insect goes daft (to use the Yorkshire phrase) and cannot keep 
 itself from ' the drink.' 
 
 Many similar experiences have led me to the conclusion 
 that in bright, shy waters a thunderstorm sets the big fish 
 feeding ' owdaciously.' And it seems probable that the sudden 
 changes in the mood of the fish which every angler must have 
 noticed are due to the electrical condition of the atmosphere. 
 It often happens that trout all at once cease rising, the river 
 which just before was alive with rises becoming absolutely 
 dead. In such a case an old hand will sit down and wait. 
 Days may be better or worse, but there is hardly ever a day, 
 except on a thick, rising water, when the fish do not come on 
 the feed at some time or times which the wary angler will not 
 let slip. ( Tout vient a. qui sait attendre.' 
 
 Even odder than the sudden sulking of trout is the fit they 
 occasionally take of 'short rising,' when after every promising 
 break you feel only a slight twitch, and never succeed in 
 hooking your fish. Whether this is due to some ocular decep- 
 tion which makes them miscalculate their rise, or whether for 
 the time they are merely amusing themselves with the fly, 
 like ' MacFarlane's geese, that liked their play better than 
 their meat,' I cannot pretend to decide. The fit seldom lasts 
 long, and while it does it tries the angler's temper sorely. I 
 remember once in a Devonshire brook raising from twenty to 
 thirty fish in succession without a single capture. The sky 
 changed, and I took seventeen without a miss. 
 
 This may show that after several failures a fly fisher should 
 not conclude too hastily that he has 'tailored ' his fish. They 
 may never have had the hook in their mouths. When trout 
 rise short, it is a good rule to give up striking altogether, and 
 be content with keeping a taut line till some determined fish
 
 328 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 hooks himself. If your fly be not hastily plucked away, a trout 
 who has merely nibbled at the wings or tail may at a second or 
 third rise 'go the entire animal.' 
 
 If you hook a fish foul and the symptoms are not to be 
 mistaken risk your tackle rather than slacken your hold. He 
 will never dislodge the hook unless by your timid handling. I 
 once hooked a three-pounder near the tail luckily on an open 
 stretch of water and held on to him till in his struggles down 
 stream he swung in to the shore and was cleverly netted by a 
 friendly looker-on, who had continually shrieked to me to 'give 
 him line.' He dropped off the hook the instant he was netted, 
 and I showed my friend with pride that there was a small scale 
 on the point of the hook below the barb. The fish had been 
 literally killed by the hold of the mere tip of the steel on his 
 tough skin. 
 
 But I am running riot in old reminiscences. Happily, 
 they are at least cheerful and blameless records, and raise no 
 ' accusing shades of hours gone by.' No doubt, the fly fisher 
 has what Mrs. Ramsbottom calls his ' little Piccadillies ;' he does 
 sometimes fish a little beyond his liberty, and perhaps on a 
 very bad day when he has landed a trout barely up to the mark in 
 point of length gives the benefit of the doubt to the creel and not 
 to the fish. But on the whole I have found my brother anglers 
 worthy men and pleasant companions, with whom acquaintance 
 readily ripened into friendship. Their quiet converse with 
 nature seems to smooth down asperities of character, and they 
 move 'kindly men among their kind.' There arc few of them, 
 too, who have not during their devious rambles noted some- 
 thing in the field of Natural History which they can impart in 
 conversation. Speaking as one of the fraternity, I think the 
 caution we most need is the time-honoured Ne quid niinis. 
 The fly fisher's art is so interesting and so many-sided that its 
 votaries are too apt to fancy themselves justified in making it a 
 business instead of a recreation. I have known very clever 
 men who devoted some eight months of the year to a series of 
 ' fishings,' ' and to salmon gave up what was meant for mankind.
 
 FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 329 
 
 I am by no means sure that I should not have fallen into the 
 same error myself but for the blessed necessity of work, early 
 laid on me and scarcely abating with years. But I am very 
 certain that had I done so I should have penned these pages, 
 the records of my experience as a fly fisher, with regret instead 
 of pleasure. 
 
 If I may venture a few ' more last words ' to my brethren of 
 the angle, they shall be echoes of a farewell uttered long ago. 
 
 Finally, pursue a liberal sport in a liberal spirit Help a 
 brother angler freely, especially when less able than yourself 
 to afford a well-stocked fly book. Neither poach yourself nor 
 encourage poachers by purchasing fish procured by doubtful 
 means. Spare small fish (except in those over-stocked waters 
 where all are small) and large fish when out of season, but not 
 past recovery. 
 
 Abjure lath fishing, cross fishing, netting and spearing, and 
 renounce salmon roe except to thin the trout near the spawning 
 beds of salmon. And when you have filled your creel, main- 
 tain the old repute of the brotherhood by a liberal and not 
 exclusive distribution of your booty. 
 
 So may your intervals of well-earned relaxation by lake or 
 stream be welcome and fortunate. So may genial skies and 
 soft showers add freshness to the air and beauty to the land- 
 scape. So may hand and eye work truly together, whether you 
 wield the fly rod or lay it aside for the pencil. So may you 
 return home unjaded from your sport, with a light heart and a 
 heavy basket happy, above all, 
 
 To know there is an eye will mark 
 Your coming, and look brighter when you come. 
 
 II. R. FRANCIS.
 
 330 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH THE 
 JDR Y FL Y. 
 
 THAT different rivers require different styles of fishing, or, in 
 other words, that the highest art as practised in one locality 
 is occasionally almost useless in another, may now, I think, be 
 laid down as an angling axiom ; certainly it is a rule recognised 
 in practice by, at any rate, most fly fishers of experience. On 
 one river trout will take the fly 'wet,' on another it is almost 
 essential to use it 'dry ;' whilst on some waters, like the well- 
 known lakes of Westmeath, for example, the only time when 
 anything ^orth calling sport is to be had is whilst the ' fly is up,' 
 that is, during the season of the appearance of the May fly, and 
 then the lure must be the natural insect itself used with a blow 
 line. The extent to which these differences may exist in dif- 
 ferent streams is often only found out by the fly fisher through 
 the disagreeable experience of empty baskets, on first visiting a 
 new locality. Many and many a time has an angler, skilled in 
 all the niceties of trout fishing in his own Highland streams, 
 been utterly baffled when he first essayed his luck with the 
 well-fed, not to say pampered, fish of Test, Itchen, or Kennet. 
 And it is not difficult to find the explanation. The character 
 of the clear chalk streams of the south is entirely different from 
 that of the rocky mountain rivers and peat-stained torrents of 
 the Highlands, and consequently the habits of the fish are also 
 widely different. The chalk-streams are wonderfully prolific 
 in insect life, far and away beyond anything of which the trout 
 of Scotland or Ireland have for the most part any experience,
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY. 331 
 
 and besides the numberless flics bred in our southern streams, 
 there is always an abundant store of larvae, shrimps, water 
 snails and other trout food which find their habitat among the 
 weeds, to say nothing of minnows and small fry on the gravelly 
 shallows. So that, with a large choice in their feeding, the fish 
 soon wax fat and dainty, and while a trout in a rapid mountain 
 or moorland stream has to be on the look-out all day long for 
 anything edible which comes within his ken, and even then 
 has hard work at times to keep himself in respectable condition, 
 a chalk-stream fish is always picksome and hard to please, and 
 will only take the fly when the natural insects are sailing down in 
 goodly numbers. At other times he is eithei sheltering among 
 the weeds, or else busy with bottom or mid-water food. 
 
 In many streams a judicious cast of three flies thrown into 
 likely spots with a light and skilful hand will bring fish to the 
 creel fast enough, but this kind of fly fishing for chance fish is 
 seldom productive of any sport on a chalk stream. When, 
 however, there is a heavy rise, and every trout is busily engaged 
 in taking fly, it will be noticed that the fish take up a favour- 
 able position just beneath the surface of the stream, and 
 feed steadily and persistently in the most quiet and deliberate 
 manner possible. A movement of a few inches, a careful 
 scrutiny, and a gentle unobtrusive 'suck' describes exactly the 
 usual manner in which a chalk-stream trout takes his surface 
 food. It is quite unlike the rush and the splash with which a 
 Scotch or a Devonshire trout leaves the shelter of a submerged 
 rock to secure the passing fly, and everything combines to 
 make it difficult for the angler to keep out of sight, as well as 
 to put the fly over the fish in an effective and natural manner. 
 When a chalk-stream fish is feeding at the surface, the angler's 
 fly is always brought into comparison with the natural insects 
 floating down, and little sport is to be expected unless the 
 artificial fly is most skilfully made and skilfully handled. It 
 must be sufficiently neat and natural in appearance to deceive 
 any fish, and it must be thrown so as to float 'cockily' like the 
 real fly it is intended to imitate.
 
 332 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Frequenters of chalk-streams fish almost exclusively with a 
 single dry fly, and only when the fish are visibly feeding at the 
 surface. The angler selects his fish, gets behind him (that is, 
 below him), and prepares for a cast up stream. Then taking 
 two or three false casts in the air to judge the exact distance, 
 the fly is thrown with the intention of making it alight gently 
 a foot or two above the rising fish and exactly in his line, for a 
 well-fed chalk-stream trout will rarely go even a few inches out 
 of his way for a passing fly. If the fly falls short or wide, it 
 should be left till the line has floated some distance to the rear 
 of the fish, when it must be picked off, whisked through the 
 air two or three times to dry the wings and hackle before a new 
 cast is made. If there is no clumsiness several trial casts may 
 be made before the exact distance is found, and the fish will 
 go on rising undisturbed ; but the slightest bungle on the part 
 of the angler is fatal and puts the fish down for the next half 
 hour. If it be remembered that most of the best fish lie close 
 to the bank and that the fly has to be sent down floating natu- 
 rally correct to the very inch, it will be seen that there is room 
 for great exercise of skill, and to succeed even moderately well 
 requires a vast amount of practice. 
 
 It will always be a moot point how far it is necessary or not 
 to present to rising fish an exact imitation of the fly on which 
 they happen to be feeding. And the greater the experience of 
 an angler the less will he be inclined to lay down the law on 
 this and kindred questions : he will have learnt that his pre- 
 conceived notions, based on extensive observation and practice, 
 have frequently been completely upset by some sudden and 
 unintelligible caprice on the part of the fish. 
 
 The anglers one meets on a chalk stream generally have 
 some interest in entomology, and it is the exception for a skilful 
 fisherman not to know something of the natural flies which 
 tempt the trout to the surface. On the other hand, it is gene- 
 rally admitted that with a shy fish it is half the battle to put the 
 flv right at the first cast ; in other words, a fish is often thrown 
 oil his guard completely by a well-directed fly, no matter what,
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY. 333 
 
 SQ long as it comes down exactly in the right spot before his 
 suspicions are aroused by seeing a foot or two of glittering gut 
 pass over his nose half a dozen times. So that there is a certain 
 amount of truth in the saying, ' It is not so much the fly as the 
 driver,' though the originator of this Hampshire maxim is him- 
 self quite as famous for his practical knowledge of flies and fly 
 tying as he is for his skill in handling a rod. 
 
 But the angler who really desires to get the most enjoyment 
 out of his sport will never be contented with the utilitarian view 
 which measures a day's sport solely by the weight of the basket; 
 he will always have powers of observation keenly developed, 
 some at least of the instincts of the naturalist will be present, 
 and the marvellous profusion of insect life which is the pecu- 
 liar characteristic of the chalk streams cannot fail to excite 
 his interest. And, other things being equal, there can be no 
 doubt that the entomologist always has a great advantage over 
 the man who knows nothing and cares nothing about the habits 
 and life history of the flies of the streams he frequents. More- 
 over, there are some days, as all experienced anglers will admit, 
 on which any efforts however skilful appear to be useless until 
 the right fly is found. Then possibly, after an hour or more of 
 fruitless whipping, the spell appears to be broken, and fish after 
 fish falls a victim to the attractions of a single fly, the only 
 pattern in the angler's store which for the time possesses any 
 charm. 
 
 A certain amount of fly-fishing entomology may, of course, 
 be learnt from books, but the only knowledge which can be really 
 useful is that which the fisherman acquires for himself by his 
 own habits of observation. The novice should, therefore, make 
 a practice of studying the flies by the water-side ; he will soon 
 learn to recognise some flies at a glance, but, however proficient 
 he may become, it is hardly likely that he will ever be able 
 wholly to dispense with the useful habit of dipping up from the 
 water a few of the natural insects, rather than fish for a moment 
 in doubt or hesitation. To readily recognise the fly on which 
 the fish are feeding, and to be able to match it with a good
 
 334 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 imitation of his own making, gives a peculiar pleasure and con- 
 fidence : if to this the angler can add the consciousness of 
 skill and dexterity in the use of his rod, he may wander from 
 stream to stream independent of local fancies and piscatory 
 heirlooms, but with a good prospect of sport wherever he may 
 find a rising fish. 
 
 The following is a list of the most useful flies for chalk- 
 stream fishing. It does not profess to be exhaustive, but it 
 will be sufficient, I think, to guide one who is strange to this 
 style of fishing, and to enable him to equip himself with such 
 flies as most southern anglers consider necessary. Several of 
 these flies have already been described by me in the ' Fishing 
 Gazette,' but recent experience has suggested slight modifica- 
 tions in a few cases. However, the patterns here given have 
 all been put to frequent trial by experienced anglers on the 
 Test, Itchen, Kennet, and other streams, and may all be 
 relied on. 
 
 The numbers refer to the eycd-hook scale, which will be 
 found at p. 20. 
 
 I begin with several dressings of the best of all chalk-stream 
 flics: 
 
 I. THE OLIVE DUX. 
 
 (1) Body : Olive silk. I know nothing better than Mr. Aldam's 
 
 'gosling green,' but it wants most delicate handling, 
 and great care should be taken not to have too much 
 wax on the tying silk, or it will darken the floss and 
 spoil the fly. A ribbing of fine gold wire is an improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Win^s: Dark starling. 
 
 Legs and Whisks: Hackle stained olive not too yellow, 
 but a dull brown olive. 
 
 (2) Body: Quill dyed olive, with or without gold tag. Wings 
 
 and hackle as before. This pattern admits of several 
 shades, and is, perhaps, the best all-round pattern that
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY. 335 
 
 can possibly be used in Hampshire, from one end of the 
 season to the other. It is always worth a trial. It is 
 sold in thousands, and slays its thousands every year. 
 
 (3) The same pattern as the last, with light brown fibres of 
 
 hare's fur tied in for legs. Very good in April, and an 
 excellent floater. 
 
 (4) Body: Leveret's fur dyed olive, ribbed with gold wire. 
 
 Hackle and wings as before. This is known as the 
 ' rough spring olive.' A useful variety. 
 
 Hook, o and oo. 
 
 I.(5.) OLIVE DUN. ffl. RED QUILL. "VI. RED SPINNER. 
 
 (5) THE INDIA-RUBBER-BODIED OLIVE Dux. This is a 'de- 
 tached-bodied ' fly (figured in the illustration annexed, 
 the numbers corresponding with the numbers of the flies 
 in this list), and if carefully made is a most killing pat- 
 tern in April. Every year since I first discovered its 
 merits on the Winnal Club water at Winchester I have 
 found it useful, frequently killing with it when the usual 
 favourites have been tried in vain over rising fish. The 
 rubber body was not my own idea, though I believe I 
 was the first to try it and prove its value. 
 
 The fly is made lighter or darker according to the 
 colour of the rubber, and wings and hackle must be 
 chosen to match the body. The hackle should be of a 
 brownish olive to harmonise with the body, which, when 
 held up to the light, has a translucent appearance, as 
 like to the body of a natural dun as it is possible to
 
 136 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 obtain. It is only in the early spring that I ever do 
 much with this fly, and then I use it on a No. oo hook. 
 It is extremely difficult to tie it small and delicate 
 enough for summer use, but I have killed with it in 
 August on a ooo, the smallest size made. For late 
 summer and autumn I generally adopt horsehair bodies, 
 as the hair can be dyed different shades, and can be 
 used of a pale watery hue which cannot be got in india- 
 rubber. I am never without a few of these detached- 
 bodied duns, and they have again and again procured 
 me sport when all else failed ; but it must be distinctly 
 understood that they are only killing because of their 
 close resemblance in colour and transparency to the 
 natural insect. Some people seem to think that it is 
 the detached projecting body which makes the fly at- 
 tractive, and so they tie detached bodies of quill and 
 silk, which are, of course, dull and opaque, and very 
 inferior to hair or rubber. In fact, I consider it is 
 labour wasted to tie detached bodies except of trans- 
 lucent material ; and if silk or quill be used, it is far 
 better to use it on the hook in the ordinary way. 
 
 II. HARE'S EAR. 
 
 Body : Hare's fur ribbed with gold, and fibres picked out for 
 legs, winged with dark starling. This fly is a great 
 favourite on the Test. 
 
 Ifuok, o or oo. 
 
 III. THE RED QUILL, GREY QUILL, AND GINGER QUILL. 
 ( Vide engraving. ) 
 
 These flies are always useful, and they only differ in the 
 
 colour of the hackle and whisks, though there is room for 
 
 variety, if it be desirable, in the choice of quill. The red one 
 has
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY, 337 
 
 Body : Undyed quill. 
 
 egs and Whisks : Red hackle. 
 
 Wings : Darkish starling. The grey and ginger are generally 
 
 dressed with lighter wings. 
 Hook, o or oo, usually the smaller size. 
 
 The Red Quill is, perhaps, the best all-round evening fly 
 that can be used in the summer months. 
 
 IV. THE IRON BLUE. 
 
 This fly comes out thickly on some parts of the Test ; it is 
 less common on the Itchen, and in some places it is rarely seen 
 at all. When it does come out the fish generally refuse every- 
 thing else. It varies a good deal in colour, but I believe the 
 best general dressing to be : 
 
 Body : Quill, dyed a dark blue with a violet shade. Some prefer 
 
 mauve silk with mole's fur. 
 Legs and Whisks: Dark honey dun, the natural fly having 
 
 yellow tips to its dusky blue legs. 
 Wings : From the breast of a water hen, or from the tail feather 
 
 of the greater titmouse. 
 Hook, oo or ooo. 
 
 V. THE 'LITTLE MARRYAT.' 
 
 This is a fancy fly well known at Winchester, and indeed it 
 is a prime favourite all over Hampshire: It bears a close 
 resemblance to some of the pale watery duns which are always 
 to be seen in warm weather. It begins to be useful at the end 
 of April, and if dressed of suitable size it will do well from May 
 to September, and will often kill the best grayling in October. 
 
 Body: Very pale buff opossum fur spun on light yellow 
 
 silk. 
 
 Wings : Medium starling. 
 Legs and Whisks: The palest feather from a buff Cochin China 
 
 cockerel. 
 Hook, o or oo. 
 
 I. 2
 
 333 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 VI. THE RED SPINNER. 
 
 (Fig. vi. p. 335.) 
 
 Of all the numberless patterns which have been devised to 
 imitate the gauzy transparency of this fly, I believe this to be 
 the best ; of late years it has been most successfully used in 
 Hampshire, and is known as the ' Detached Badger.' 
 
 Body : Detached, made of reddish brown horsehair, and firmly 
 whipped to the hook with strong well-waxed silk. 
 
 Legs and Wings : A ' badger hackle ' dressed buzz. This hackle 
 is difficult to obtain, and is of a rusty grey in the centre 
 (almost black), with bright shining golden tips. 
 
 I look, o or oo. 
 
 VII. WICKHAM'S FANCY. 
 
 One of the most useful flies that can possibly be used, 
 whether for trout or grayling. It is always worth a trial, though 
 what the fish take it for it is impossible to say. It is a very 
 attractive, bright looking fly, and an excellent floater, but it 
 sometimes does wonders in rough, wet weather, when dry fly 
 fishing is hopeless. It should be made as follows : 
 
 Body : Gold tinsel ribbed from tail to head with red cock's 
 
 hackle. 
 
 Wrings : Dark starling. Landrail makes a nice variety. 
 Hook, oo to i or 2. 
 
 VIII. FLIGHT'S FANCY. 
 
 This fly hails from Winchester, and it is very useful towards 
 the end of April, when the olives are beginning to get lighter 
 in shade ; and all through the summer months a small ' Flight ' 
 may be resorted to with confidence when delicate duns are 
 about. 
 
 Body : Pale yellow, or primrose, floss silk ribbed with fine flat 
 
 gold tinsel. 
 Wings: Light starling.
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING IVITH DRY FLY. 339 
 
 Lfgs and Whisks : Pale buff, or, for a change, honey dun. 
 Hook, oo or ooo. 
 
 With this list of flies a fisherman may consider himself well 
 equipped for the first two months, of the season, and there are 
 many days in every month of the summer and autumn when 
 these same flies tied smaller would be found sufficient to insure 
 the best of sport. 
 
 I do not believe in dividing artificial flies according to 
 months, and a good comprehensive assortment of spring pat- 
 terns will, with slight modifications, always be of general use 
 at all times and in all weathers. Still, there are some very 
 favourite flies which do not appear before May, and as these 
 sometimes entirely monopolise the attention of every feeding 
 fish, they must be added to the list. I leave out the green and 
 grey drake, as they are not found on every water, and almost 
 every angler has his own special pattern ; but, in my opinion, 
 May flies are frequently tied too large, and I believe, whatever 
 pattern be adopted, the best sport will be obtained by small flies. 
 
 IX. THE BLACK GXAT. 
 
 ( Vide engraving). 
 
 The natural fly has a long, thin, shiny black body, not a bit 
 like the fluffy little lump usually seen in the imitation. Then 
 
 [X. BLACK GXAT. XVIII. THE INTERMEDIATE 
 
 XVII. JENNY SPINNER 
 
 the wings are long and lie folded quite flat (not sloped like 
 those of a sedge or alder), and projecting over the tail end of 
 the body, showing a shiny, metallic, gauzy film, in strong con-
 
 340 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 trast to the black body, and which cannot be imitated by 
 
 feather. 
 
 This is how I make my pattern. On a oo or ooo 
 hook I put a longish body of black ostrich herl, which 
 has first been stripped. Then I cut a strip of pike 
 scale the proper length and shape to represent the two 
 folded wings and tie it flat on the top of the hook, 
 taking care to show the projecting bit above mentioned. 
 Then over and in front of the wing I take two or three 
 turns of a small black starling's feather, and the fly is 
 finished. It does not float very well, but in fine still 
 weather it is very effective ; and the pike scale, tied as 
 I have described, will stand a great deal of whipping. 
 
 Those who object to the pike scale wing can substi- 
 tute starling feather, but the fly will be less lifelike, and 
 on a hot August day certainly less killing. 
 
 X. THE SEDGE. 
 
 The last two or three seasons this fly has not preserved its 
 reputation as a standard pattern for late fishing on a summer's 
 evening. It has been a mystery to many who used to look 
 upon it as a never-failing resource. A few years ago it killed 
 splendidly at Winchester ; and I remember seeing a man come 
 to the Old Barge stream, at eight o'clock one evening in 
 August, and kill five brace of good trout with his favourite 
 sedge. He rarely used anything else in the evening ; and 
 I, myself, at that time fished it with more confidence than 
 any other fly. But I have done very little with it lately, and 
 my stock of sedges has not wanted replenishing for a long 
 time. 
 
 When the trout and grayling return to their old tastes, the 
 following will probably be found the best dressing for the sedge 
 and its variations : 
 
 (i) THE SILVER SEDGE, which I believe is no sedge at all, but
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY, 341 
 
 an imitation of the small grass moth which flutters about 
 
 in the meadows by the riverside. 
 Body : White floss silk, ribbed with silver ; hackled all over 
 
 with buff or light red hackle. 
 Wings: Landrail. 
 Hook, oo to i. 
 
 (2) THE RED SEDGE (or, Sedge proper). 
 
 Body : Red fur from hare's face, or fox's ear, or from the 
 reddest part of an opossum skin. Rib it with gold 
 thread and wind on a red hackle from tail to head. 
 
 Wing: A ruddy feather from a landrail's wing, 
 
 Hook, oo to i. 
 
 (3) THE BIG SEDGE, This is the local name, but I prefer to 
 
 call it the ' Cinnamon.' It is a fat, toothsome morsel, 
 nearly an inch long, and answers capitally on a moon- 
 light night, when it is warm, still, and free from mist. 
 I have killed many heavy fish with it, especially in Sep- 
 tember, during the harvest moon. 
 
 The dressing I prefer is the same as that given for 
 the red sedge, on a No. 2 hook, and winged with the 
 reddest part of a cock landrail's wing, or, better still, 
 with one of the under covert feathers of the peahen, 
 which are very faintly mottled with a darker shade of 
 brown. 
 
 Though true to nature, I think it is a mistake to 
 dress the body thick, for the fly is apt to be heavy and 
 lumpy, and so float badly. 
 
 XI. THE ALDER 
 
 Is very useful in June, and on some rivers will kill in the 
 May-fly season better than the drake itself. It is in great 
 favour with the Fairford anglers, and the natural fly is very 
 plentiful on the Colne. 
 
 Body : Bronze-coloured peacock herl.
 
 342 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Hackle : Black, or a dull-coloured feather, with black centre 
 
 and ruddy tips. 
 Wings : From the tail feather of a hen pheasant. 
 
 There is another very good variety known as the ' Button,' 
 or ' red-winged alder,' which should be dressed as before, only 
 that the wing should come from the red tail feather of a 
 partridge. 
 Hook, No. 2. 
 
 XII. THE BROWN QUILL. 
 
 Very useful in August and September. 
 
 Body : Some light quill dyed in Judson's light brown. Very 
 good imitations have been produced by taking ordinary 
 peacock quill and bleaching it. 
 
 Legs and Whisks : Ginger. 
 
 Wings : Medium starling. 
 
 Hook, oo. 
 
 XIII. THE INDIAN YELLOW. 
 
 fiody : A delicate brown silk ribbed with bright yellow. 
 Legs and Whisks : A rich buff. 
 
 Wings : From the under wing-feathers of a young grouse. 
 Hook, oo. 
 
 This fly has a very prominent reddish brown head, 
 
 which may be imitated by a couple of turns of dark 
 
 orange silk. 
 
 The grouse feather is the right colour exactly, but it 
 
 is very soft, and makes a poor wing for floating. It is 
 
 a pity some other blue feather cannot be found suitable 
 
 for this fly and the next. 
 
 XIV. THE BLUE-WINGED OLIVE. 
 
 This fly is larger than most of the duns of the summer 
 months, and generally makes its appearance just at dusk, when 
 it sometimes comes out in myriads. 
 
 At Winchester in September I have seen the river covered
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY. 343 
 
 with it, and rising fish only a few yards apart as far as one 
 could see. Some of the heaviest fish I have ever killed in 
 Hampshire have been taken with this fly ; still I have never 
 been satisfied with any of the imitations I have yet devised. 
 
 The body is of delicate greenish olive, legs a pale 
 watery olive, and the wings distinctly blue, like those of 
 the Indian yellow. I have made the body of silk, wool, 
 dyed fur, ribbed with gold, and with quill of different 
 sorts. I hope some day to hit off the right shade in 
 dyeing fibres of the condor's wing feather, and also to 
 discover what will make the best wing. Possibly the 
 blue feather from a merlin hawk's wing might do, or 
 perhaps the coot's wing might solve the mystery. It 
 must not be a soft feather which sucks up water and 
 gets sodden directly, for the natural fly sits up and rides 
 cockily on the water, and no half-drowned imitation can 
 ever do much execution. I am convinced we have not 
 got the right pattern yet. 
 
 Hook, o or oo. 
 
 XV. THE LITTLE SKY BLUE. 
 
 This is a splendid grayling fly in August and September ; 
 in fact, all free-rising fish take it well in the warm autumn 
 mornings from ten to midday. 
 
 Body : Pale straw colour, of silk, quill, or fur. I have killed 
 well with all three, but silk I like least, as it changes 
 colour after it is wet much more than other materials. 
 
 Legs and Whisks : Light honey dun. 
 
 ]Vings : A pale delicate blue, best imitated with a jay's wing 
 feather. 
 
 Hook, oo or ooo. 
 
 XVI. THE RED TAG. 
 
 This is generally regarded as a grayling fly, but at times it 
 does wonderfully well among trout. The brighter the day and
 
 344 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the hotter the sun the better does this fly succeed. It is not 
 generally known that when trout are ' smutting' i.e. feeding on 
 that tiny black midge which baffles all imitation they will 
 often take a small red tag ravenously. On one of the hottest 
 days in August 1884, fishing at midday, I hooked eight large 
 trout with the red tag, and this on a piece of water which it 
 was usually considered hopeless to fish before dusk. As for 
 grayling, when they are lying basking on the gravel in about 
 two feet of water, the red tag will almost always bring them up. 
 I have had splendid sport with it on many occasions. This is 
 the dressing : 
 
 Body : Peacock herl, short and fat, with a tiny red tag of floss 
 silk, wool, or scarlet ibis feather. Floss silk looks very 
 well when it is dry, but it shrinks up when wet, and 
 often loses its colour ; I have always found wool much 
 more killing. 
 
 At the shoulder should be wound a dark, rich, red 
 hackle. 
 
 Hook, o, oo, or ooo. 
 
 XVII. THE JEXNV SPINNER. 
 (Fig. xvii. p. 339.) 
 
 This is the transformation of the iron-blue dun, and is one 
 of the most beautiful and delicate flies to be found by riverside. 
 It is often seen dancing up and down in thousands after a hot 
 day, and the fact that it is by no means uncommon on rivers 
 where the iron blue is scarce, leads me to think that some other 
 summer duns (possibly the little sky blue) turn to this delicate 
 transparent spinner. It is impossible to see it on the water, 
 and at best it is a most difficult fly to imitate. For these two 
 reasons sport with it is somewhat uncertain. 
 
 It should be dressed with a detached body of white 
 horsehair tipped with a couple of turns of mulberry silk 
 and white whisks. Tie the body to a oo or ooo hook 
 with mulberry coloured silk to show the head and thorax
 
 CHALK-STREAM FISHING WITH DRY FLY. 345 
 
 of that colour. Wing it with two hackle points from a 
 very pale blue dun cock, almost white, and let the legs be 
 of the same colour. Or it may be dressed buzz with a 
 pale grizzled hackle, like the red spinner, No. 6. 
 
 XVIII. THE INTERMEDIATE. 
 (Fig. xviii. p. 339.) 
 
 I use this name to denote a class of delicate flies which I 
 use with considerable success in summer fishing. 
 
 Everyone must have noticed how the different duns seem 
 to run by different gradations from one kind into another, so 
 that sometimes a fly picked off the water cannot definitely be 
 named according to any of the standards of classification, and 
 yet it bears a considerable resemblance to several flies we are 
 accustomed to call by name. I have found it very useful to 
 tie various horsehair detached bodies of pale and delicate tints, 
 and then match these with wings and hackle ; choosing different 
 shades of honey dun, light buff, or olive for legs, and varying 
 the colour of the wings so as to suit the rest of the fly. 
 
 I take immense pains over these patterns, and, by constantly 
 studying the changes in the natural insects, am enabled to pro- 
 duce delicate and life-like artificials which frequently bring a 
 good fish to my basket after he has steadily refused to be 
 tempted by other flies. 
 
 This list is, I think, comprehensive enough. Some will 
 think it needlessly long, and others will miss some favourite 
 pattern of their own special fancy. But, in giving my opinion 
 on the subject of flies, I have described those which my own 
 book contains, and a supply of which I always like to keep up 
 to working order. If they are dressed of suitable size, and are 
 used with fine gut, they will suffice to give sport if sport is to 
 be had. Anyone who fails with such a list as this will, I am 
 convinced, find fly fishing generally an unprofitable pursuit. 
 
 H. S. HALU
 
 346 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING FOR 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 I TAKE up the subject of fishing for the various species of 
 SalmonidcK) migratory and non-migratory, at the point where 
 it has been left by Major Traherne, Mr. H. R. Francis, and 
 Mr. H. S. Hall in their able articles namely, where fly fishing 
 ends and bait fishing begins. In the term 'bait fishing' I 
 include everything except fishing with the artificial fly, and 
 embrace spinning as well as shrimp and worm fishing. 
 
 For convenience of reference I shall divide these subjects 
 into their 'specific' variations as follows : 
 
 Spinning for salmon. 
 
 Worm fishing for salmon and bull trout. 
 
 The prawn or ' shrimp bait ' for salmon. 
 
 Spinning for lake trout. 
 
 Stream minnow spinning for brown trout. 
 
 Worm fishing for brown trout. 
 
 Creeper, and stone-fly fishing, wasp grubs, &c. 
 
 The subject of Thames trout fishing is treated of in a 
 separate article from the pen of Mr. H. R. Francis, in whose 
 references to grayling fishing will also be found some addi- 
 tional notes on bait fishing for grayling with the gentle and 
 artificial grasshopper. 
 
 SriXXIXG FOR SALMON. 
 
 All minnow spinning for salmon, whether in lake or river, 
 is in my experience very much a matter of locality. That is to
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 347 
 
 say, in other words, that it is only in certain rivers and lakes in 
 which the spinning bait can be used with any probability of 
 success. For example, on the Clare-Galway river, which 
 debouches into Loch Corrib, when there is a little freshet on 
 in September or October the spinning eel-tail is considered the 
 most attractive bait. On the Tweed, again, the real minnow, 
 spun as I am about to describe, is most deadly, though, un- 
 fortunately for the spinner, not allowed, I believe, to be used. 
 On the Aberdeenshire Dee, again, where it is permitted, the 
 minnow is exceedingly effective, whilst on other waters, as, 
 for example, on the Awe and Lochy, two of the most cele- 
 brated salmon rivers of Scotland, it is of no earthly use, and 
 the minnow spinner might, for all practical purposes, as well 
 fling his hat in. Still, as I have said, there are some salmon 
 waters, and those good ones, where the spun minnow is an 
 exceedingly deadly bait, and a few hints as to tackle and the 
 best mode of using it, may, therefore, not be unacceptable. 
 
 With regard to the eel-tail bait, to which I have already 
 alluded, this is best made from the last 3 or 4 inches of the tail 
 of an eel n to 14 inches long ; and the best way to apply it is 
 as follows : 
 
 Skin the said eel l downwards to the 3- or 4-inch point 
 alluded to. Cut the body off there, together with a small 
 piece of the spine bone below the level. Then pass a large 
 salmon hook in at the orifice, and run it down the middle 
 of the tail (until the shank is entirely embedded in the fish) 
 bringing the point out about one and a half inches from the end 
 of the tail, so as to make the bait follow the curve of the hook. 
 Now tie the loose skin tightly and closely round with a piece 
 
 1 How TO SKIN AN EEL. Having killed the eel, which is done best by 
 dashing it down hard two or three times on a flagstone or other hard flooring, 
 make a circular incision through the skin below the pectoral fin, by passing the 
 blade of a sharp penknife under the skin, bit by bit in a circular direction. 
 Then ' pin ' the head of the eel down to a table with a steel fork, and having 
 got hold of the edge of the skin with the finger nails, and turned it down a 
 little way, take hold of it with a dry cloth, and it will generally peel off with 
 ease.
 
 348 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of waxed silk just over the top of the hook shank ; then turn it 
 downwards towards the end of the tail, and cut it off all round 
 at a point about an inch from the last-named lapping. Now 
 sew the rough edge of the turned-over skin carefully down with 
 Holland thread, or, perhaps, better, red sewing silk, and the bait 
 is complete. 
 
 I have found it convenient, in order to make sure of the 
 bait not slipping down over the hook, to put a small pierced 
 shot above the top of the latter on the trace. The first tying 
 of the eel skin being made above this pierced shot makes it 
 impossible for it to slip down. If the bait is nicely made in 
 the proportions that I have described it ought to spin excel- 
 lently well on any ordinary spinning trace, which should, of 
 course, consist of salmon gut. The inside colour of the eel 
 skin is blue, and this, so far as the turned-over portion is con- 
 cerned, becomes the outside on the bait, forming a very good 
 head. It also, of course, materially increases the durability of 
 the bait. 
 
 Mr. Hughes, the well-known fisherman of Galway, who was 
 a great proficient in this mode of spinning, was in the habit of 
 keeping the eel for three or four weeks in plenty of dry coarse 
 salt before making up the bait. He was of opinion that it 
 rendered the skin both tougher and bluer. If this salting 
 process is gone through it should be soaked for some hours 
 in fresh water before being baited with in order to make it 
 plumper and better filled out. The eel-tail bait requires con- 
 siderable nicety of construction, and should always be made, if 
 possible, before starting to fish. Two or three baits at the 
 outside ought to be enough for a day's fishing, barring break- 
 ages. If not lost or used, they can be preserved in dry salt for 
 another occasion. 
 
 The salmon will also occasionally take the parr tail or a 
 Tery small trout, three or four inches long, or a loach, or other 
 spinning bait used in the ordinary way ; for which, as also for 
 the flight, and for the trace applicable to the eel-tail bait, and 
 generally for the modus operandi in which there is, so far as
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 349 
 
 lakes are concerned, little appreciable difference the reader is 
 referred to the article on Lake Spinning for Trout. 
 
 I used to be of opinion that the eel-tail bait was the most 
 killing spinning bait for salmon, but we live and learn, and a 
 year or two ago I was fortunate enough to meet a great pro- 
 fessor of the art of salmon-spinning with the natural minnow, 
 who made me a convert to his views in favour of the natural 
 minnow when spinning for salmon, so far as regards rivers. 
 By this gentleman, Mr. Augustus Grimble, I was also shown 
 how to use and bait the tackle, of which engravings, of the 
 actual size, are attached. 
 
 FIG. I, 2. SALMON MINNOW-SPINNING TACKLE. 
 
 Fig. i is the flight of hooks, with a leaden sinker run on to 
 the trace, but, of course, in baiting the minnow this has in the
 
 350 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 first instance to be slipped off altogether. The mode of baiting 
 is as follows : 
 
 Having attached a baiting needle to the loop of the strand 
 of salmon gut on which the flight is tied, pass it in at the vent 
 of the bait and out at its mouth. The baiting needle is now 
 taken off, the leaden cap slipped over the gut into the posi- 
 tion indicated in fig. i, and pushed down the bait's throat 
 until it occupies the position shown in fig. 2, the whole bait 
 being then pressed, or pushed, downwards on to the triangle, 
 sufficiently to curve it, by a bending of the back, in the manner 
 represented in the diagram. The ' nicks ' or slices on the 
 bottom part of the lead are made with a penknife for the pur- 
 poses of keeping the lead in its place in the bait's throat and 
 belly, but some spinners prefer it smooth. 
 
 The trace consists of two or three yards of picked salmon 
 gut, with a good sprinkling of swivels at convenient intervals 
 N.B. double swivels best- and attached to a light well- 
 dressed silk plaited running line, such as would be used in fine 
 spinning for pike. When using the above tackle for spinning 
 in lakes, &c., if the lead is insufficient, weight to any extent 
 can be added by twisting lead wire round the reel line, two or 
 three yards above the bait. 
 
 This tackle besides being excellent for spinning for salmon 
 with the minnow in both river and lake is also one of the best 
 I know for spinning that most deadly bait in Irish waters, the 
 stone loach or coliey, as it is locally termed. The loach, how- 
 ever, to spin well must not exceed three and a half inches in 
 length as a maximum. Some further remarks as to the propor- 
 tions to be observed between the length of the bait and that of 
 the lead will be found farther on under the heading of ' Lake 
 Spinning for Trout.' 
 
 The rod cannot be better than that described for worm 
 fishing for salmon. 
 
 The best times of year for using this minnow-spinning bait 
 are the spring and late autumn months. For some reason hot 
 weather appears to be destructive of its killing properties, and
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 351 
 
 as a rule it is of very little use, or of none at all, during 
 summer. 
 
 The minnow may be used successfully in almost any state 
 of water which is not too thick and not too rapid. A 
 moderately full water is, however, the best ; what would be 
 considered good water, in short, for the fly i.e. porter 
 coloured. The rapidity of the current in the stream or pool 
 should be such as to be sufficient to spin the minnow without, 
 as it were, tearing at it. 
 
 The importance of this point will be understood when it is 
 explained that it is upon the current of the stream itself that 
 the minnow spinner practically depends entirely for the ' work- 
 ing ' of the bait. He throws the bait down and across, and 
 lets it swing with the current. He does not draw it in with his 
 hand until the moment of taking it out of the water, for the 
 simple reason that it is found salmon will not run at a bait 
 when it is being drawn in. In order, however, to increase 
 its lifelike appearance, the spinner should continue, as the 
 bait moves with the current, drawing the line in a little and 
 then letting it go back making a sort of see-saw, that is 
 with his left hand, although not actually shortening the line. 
 Some spinners make this movement with the point of their 
 rod. 
 
 It will be seen from the engraving that the minnows to be 
 used should be large ones, and the fresher the better ; in fact, 
 I should advise their being carried in a small bait can by the 
 side of the river Field's aerating bait can being very much 
 the best for the purpose. Of course, if there is a sufficient 
 supply they may be killed before starting and kept fresh for the 
 day's work in a pocket-handkerchief frequently wetted, but 
 they are apt, after a certain number of hours in this condition 
 of dampitude, to get flabby, and certainly lose a part of their 
 brightness and silveryness. A little oatmeal, put every morning 
 into the bait can or tank in which the minnows are kept, will 
 help to make them plump and in good condition. 
 
 For this sort of minnow spinning the artificial minnow
 
 352 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 appears to be practically useless ; at any rate, the natural bait 
 will kill ten or even twenty to one so taken. 
 
 The extremely local character of the minnow as a spinning 
 bait has been already alluded to at the beginning of this 
 article. 
 
 WORM FISHING FOR SALMON AND BULL TROUT. 
 
 There are many rivers in which the bull trout absolutely 
 refuses to rise to the fly, and some in which salmon are so 
 rarely to be tempted as to amount almost to the same thing 
 so far as the angler is concerned. There are also frequently 
 states of water sometimes when it is too low and bright, 
 constantly where it is too thick in which fly fishing is so hope- 
 less that some other mode of fishing must be had recourse to 
 or the riverside abandoned. 
 
 Under such circumstances the worm is a perfectly legitimate 
 bait, and used as I am about to explain must be admitted to 
 afford quite as much sport, so far as the playing and landing of 
 the fish is concerned, as fly fishing itself. 
 
 In saying that the worm may sometimes be used with 
 success in water that is very low and bright, I refer entirely to 
 this method of fishing, with which as I have myself repeatedly 
 had good sport under such circumstances, I am confident that 
 both salmon and bull trout may, at any rate in some rivers, be 
 taken when the water is at its lowest and the sun at its highest 
 and brightest. I will not say that this is always the case, but I 
 have known it not infrequently to be so, and where fly fishing 
 is out of question there cannot he any harm in at least trying 
 the worm. The best water for worm fishing is whilst it is rising 
 just before a flood, or clearing and settling down after it. 
 
 Many fishermen assert that fish will not take on a rising 
 water, but in the case of worm fishing for salmon and bull trout 
 I have repeatedly proved the opposite of this to be the case. 
 Indeed, I hardly know which state of the water is the more 
 favourable. Perhaps the first symptom of a freshet, bringing
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 353 
 
 down with it, as, of course, it does, a certain amount of bottom_ 
 food, puts the fish at once on the alert and on the look-out for 
 ' ground bait.' There is a pool on the upper Usk, locally called 
 the Bason Pool, with a stone in the middle which acts as a 
 sort of water-gauge, and when this stone was nearly, but not 
 quite, covered, worm fishing in the pool was at its perfection, 
 no matter whether the level were reached by the rising or fall- 
 ing process. When once the water was over the stone it would 
 be a saving of patience and tackle to sit down on the bank and 
 smoke, for the chance of killing a fish was almost nil. 
 
 Everyone knows, of course, that the rule of a certain level 
 of water being requisite holds good with regard to fishing with 
 the fly in almost every pool. I well remember that my friend, 
 Mr. John Blackwall, junior, quite the most successful salmon 
 fisher on the Conway, used to have such a water-gauge on 
 the side of the river opposite his drawing-room window, some 
 quarter of a mile off, but which he could yet command by the 
 aid of a strong telescope or a pair of field-glasses, and he never 
 used to think of sallying forth until the water had reached the 
 exact mark. 
 
 This is all very well, however, for salmon fishers residing 
 constantly within sight of their river, to whom time is of no 
 particular object, and every month of the season open. For 
 my own part, it takes a very bad state of water indeed to keep 
 me from the riverside, and I must say that I can recall not 
 one, but many occasions, when I have put my rod together 
 amongst the scarcely suppressed jeers of my friends, and in the 
 teeth of local quidnuncs, with the result of killing a salmon 
 after all. I remember once, in particular, on the Bush, in 
 the long pool below Bush mills, when the water was almost 
 chocolate colour, and very nearly opaque, so that even my 
 friend, Dr. Peard, one of the most expert and indefatigable of 
 salmon fishers, as well as the most charming of companions, 
 thought it hopeless to cast a fly and he knew the Bush from 
 the sea to the Leap, every stone and turn of it. And yet I had 
 not been fishing ten minutes with one of Willie Haughie's 
 
 I. A A
 
 354 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 silver-bodied ' Bush-rangers,' as we used to call them, before I 
 was fast in a good fish. 
 
 On another occasion, when the water was in a somewhat 
 similar condition, and, I am sorry to say, my legitimate efforts 
 were not crowned with success, I killed a salmon above the 
 mills, in the pool rejoicing in the somewhat profane appellation 
 of 'Jeannie's dam.' At this point, when a broad sweeping 
 flood showed the river to be anything but dammed, 
 
 I sat me down to watch the waters flowing, 
 
 and forget the sensation of defeat in a cigar. Whilst thus 
 occupied I noticed a large fish constantly rising in the same 
 spot, about fifteen or twenty yards from the bank indeed, 
 rising with such persistency as to suggest an idea that I has- 
 tened to put into practice, but on account of which, I need 
 hardly say, I have ever since suffered the pangs of remorse ! 
 Judging the distance of the rising fish as nearly as I could 
 by the eye, I kept making casts as close over him as possible. 
 Presently, as I had anticipated, the fish and my fly arrived at the 
 same point on the surface at the same moment, when, as Artemus 
 Ward would have said, ' by a dexterous movement of the body 
 he managed to bring his off pectoral fin into vigorous contact 
 with the barb of my fly-hook.' The contest was sharp, but not 
 short. My friend, a fish with the tide lice still on him, and 
 who eventually turned the scale at 15 Ibs., showing the most 
 furious indignation at the ungentlemanly treatment he had 
 received, rushing hither and thither, up and down stream, back 
 and across, over and under, in a way that was a ' caution.' He 
 gave me one of the warmest twenty minutes' work that I ever 
 remember. 
 
 But this is a digression or rather a confession, which I 
 make, perhaps, with a view to ' absolution.' 
 
 So shall my soul of conscience-prick have ease. . . 
 To return to worm fishing.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 355 
 
 The Leap on the Bush so called, I should imagine, 
 'kinder ironical,' as no salmon that was ever hatched could 
 leap over it is considered the best place on the river for 
 the worm, doubtless because the fish work their way up to 
 this point with the rising water, and there find themselves 
 barred in the ' pool,' where if you fish sufficiently long and per- 
 sistently you are pretty sure to be able sooner or later to show 
 them the worm, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, to bring 
 it into juxtaposition with their noses. 
 
 The method of using the worm on the Bush, which is also 
 that most commonly practised everywhere, is of a very primitive 
 nature. A single large hook, say grilse size, is whipped on 
 to two or three yards of salmon gut, and passed through the 
 middle inch or so of three or four lob, and some smaller 
 worms (according to the ' size ' of the water and size of worms), 
 which are run up the line one by one as they are threaded on, 
 the last small worm being adjusted to cover the point of 
 the hook. The worms are now slipped down the gut again, the 
 lowest ones over the hook shank. A large shot, or small bullet, 
 according to circumstances, is then attached to the line about 
 1 1 feet above the hook. The shot or weight should be sufficient 
 to carry the line well to the bottom, but yet should not be so 
 heavy as to prevent the stream ' dribbling ' the bait along with it 
 over the stones and gravel. The method of working this sort 
 of worm bait is exceedingly simple. The fisherman, having 
 chosen a pool where he is certain that there will be a good 
 collection of salmon, goes on fishing it steadily out, throwing 
 the bait up stream and letting it be brought down to him and 
 carried past him by the current. The length of line to be 
 used must, of course, depend entirely upon the size of the 
 pool. 
 
 The first symptom of a bite is the bait ceasing to travel, 
 followed commonly by a very gentle sort of twitching. Some- 
 times, however, as I have pointed out in the ' Modern Prac- 
 tical Angler,' although, in my experience, not very often, 'the 
 salmon takes the bait in a more reckless fashion, resembling 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 rather the run of a trout. Having taken it, he will frequently 
 remain nearly or quite motionless for some little time, and 
 then move quietly away.' This is the moment to strike, with 
 a quick, tightening pull, and as the bait is almost always actu- 
 ally swallowed or pouched, there is little fear of the fish being 
 missed. Should he move away at once after biting, line must 
 be given him and time allowed to pouch the bait. 
 
 To provide against sudden moves or rushes on the part of 
 the fish, and unintentional checks on that of the fisherman, it 
 is a wise precaution always to keep a yard or two of spare line 
 loose 'in hand.' A jack rod and a spinning line, or a salmon 
 rod with a short stiff top, will answer every purpose for this 
 sort of worm tackle. It is, however, at best a clumsy and 
 rather uninviting mode of fishing, both from the number of 
 worms with which it is necessary to bait, and also from the 
 fact of the hook being in most cases ' gorged ' before the fish is 
 struck. This deprives the whole business, in my opinion, of 
 much of its interest as a sport, as when a fish cannot by 
 any reasonable probability escape, the skill and excitement of 
 landing him are reduced to a minimum. 
 
 There is, however, another method of worm fishing with 
 which I have had splendid sport, both with salmon and bull trout, 
 when fly fishing was, from one or other of the reasons already 
 stated, utterly hopeless. And I may here remark, parentheti- 
 cally, that such are the conditions to which I should be dis- 
 posed myself to limit the use of the worm as a bait for these 
 fish, or, at any rate, for the former. 
 
 This method, which, until I adopted it, and published the 
 successful results of my fishing with it, was unpractised, so far 
 as I am aware, and at any rate ' unpreached,' by masters of 
 the craft is, in my judgment, as superior to the system above 
 described, both in its practice and results, as spinning is in 
 advance of gorge baiting. The principle of this mode of 
 fishing is, in fact, almost identical with that employed in 
 ordinary brown-trout fishing with my two-hook worm tackle, 
 the difference being the size of the hooks and the substitution
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 
 
 357 
 
 of ^ single lob-worm large or small, according to the state of 
 the water for a single brandling ; in other words, the differ- 
 ence is merely one of size and proportion. The hooks, which 
 it is very important should be stout in the wire I may say, 
 extra stout in the wire should be two or three sizes larger 
 than those in the trout tackle. No. 6 of my patterns is the 
 best size when the water is low and clear, and with thicker 
 water and an extra large lob-worm, No. 7 may be substituted. 
 
 I strongly recommend for this particular branch of fishing 
 the bend of hook, figured at page 19. In the river where 
 my method of worm fishing, as above described, was first 
 practised, almost every other pattern of hook has been tried, 
 but with markedly inferior results ; in fact, very few hooks of 
 the size indicated are strong enough to hold a heavy fish, and 
 I should therefore advise anyone intending 
 to give the system a trial to take care that 
 he gets hooks of the bend indicated, and 
 by the best makers, otherwise they will 
 infallibly give way. 
 
 Much finer tackle, especially in clear 
 water, is here necessary than can be em- 
 ployed with the common style of worm 
 fishing already described. In fine water I 
 seldom use for the bottom links 2.V feet 
 or so stouter gut than such as is suitable, 
 under ordinary circumstances, for white- 
 trout fishing with the fly. The upper part 
 of the trace should consist of a couple 
 of yards of carefully picked and tapered 
 salmon gut. 
 
 A diagram of the hook-part of the 
 tackle, showing the distance between the HOOK WORM-TACKLE 
 hooks, and the size of the latter, is ap- FOR SALMON. 
 pencled. 
 
 The next question is the sinker or lead, which should be 
 heavy enough to carry the bait lightly doivn to tJic bottom, no 
 
 u
 
 358 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 matter what the depth. This is. a point of really critical im- 
 portance. To show how important it is, I may mention that I 
 have repeatedly fished behind local anglers who have been 
 using the ordinary worm tackle of the Usk that is, one or two 
 worms leaded so as to sink a foot or two below the surface 
 and killed fish in pool after pool which they, with probably 
 superior knowledge of the current-sets &c. had drawn blank. 
 The necessity of always ' touching ground ' causes, in rocky 
 rivers, a very considerable loss of leads, and in 
 order to meet the contingency, and also to pre- 
 vent the trace itself being broken every time the 
 leads got hitched, I found the most convenient 
 plan was to have a number of smoked paternoster 
 leads of various sizes attached to horsehair loops, 
 and to fill my pockets with these before starting. 
 Where, however, the water is not very deep and 
 strong, a better expedient, in various ways, is the 
 use of lead wire, attached in the manner shown in 
 the diagram, to the finest drawn gut, or to the 
 weak, flattened-out, and otherwise wasted ends of 
 gut-strands, or, finally, to horsehair. For some 
 reason this lead wire, probably from its yielding 
 and bendable nature, seems to catch much less 
 often than the common bullet or than paternoster 
 
 LEAD-WIRE' leads - 
 
 SINKER. When the latter are used, especially if new and 
 
 bright, it is most important to smoke them over 
 the flame of brown paper, or, still better, varnish them with 
 'Brunswick black,' before starting for the river, as otherwise 
 the glitter of the lead will too often effectually scare away the 
 fish. The lead, of whatever sort it be, should be attached to 
 the trace about a foot and a half, or a little more, above the 
 hooks above the second knot in the gut, in fact and there 
 should be an inch between the lead and trace. The object, 
 of course, of attaching the leads by fine or defective gut, or 
 horsehair, is that when a foul occurs, which it very frequently
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 359 
 
 does, the ' lead link ' should break at a considerably less strain 
 than the main line, thus preventing the latter being lost. 
 
 In baiting the tackle the lob-worm should be put on the 
 hooks qitite straight : the upper hook near the ' knot ' in the 
 worm about three-quarters of an inch, that is, below the head ; 
 and the bottom hook one and a half inch lower down the 
 distance, in fact, between the upper and lower hooks. 
 
 The stroke, which ought not to be too hard for fear of break- 
 ing the hooks, should follow immediately on a bite, or more 
 often on a suspicious stoppage of the bait in its passage over 
 the bottom. 
 
 Although the stroke need be but a light one, it ts very im- 
 portant that it should not be omitted, as it would appear from 
 the number of fish I have hooked on the outside of the nose 
 and mouth, and occasionally on the pectoral fin, that the salmon 
 is frequently in the habit of pushing the bait about with his 
 nose or smelling it without (or before) actually taking. This, 
 of course, produces a stoppage in the line, and, in fact, all the 
 effect, so far as sensation goes, of a bite, and a ' gentel stroak,' 
 as Nobbes calls it, will hasten his decision in a direction favour- 
 able to the basket. 
 
 For this business a much lighter rod is required than for 
 worm fishing with the bunch of lob-worms in the old fashion. 
 With a heavy clumsy rod the delicacy of touch necessary in 
 feeling the nature of the bite cannot be obtained ; the rod 
 which I use for the purpose is the same referred to in Vol. II. 
 as a light spinning rod for jack, the butt and top being of 
 solid wood and the middle joints of bamboo. The length of 
 the rod should not exceed fourteen feet. It is, in fact, just 
 such a rod as most fishermen would think perfection for pater- 
 nostering or minnow spinning for ordinary lake trout (not 
 ferox). 
 
 With such a weapon, however, specially made for myself to 
 stand hard work, I have landed some hundreds of salmon and 
 bull trout, and lost hundreds more (for with these fine hooks 
 there are always more losses than kills), but it is still in good
 
 360 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 working order. I say nothing of the fact that I have used it for 
 
 spinning since the year , but ' let us not particularise ! ' as the 
 
 player says. . . . Anno Domini is merely an abstraction, a night- 
 mare, and time only an excrescence on eternity. Notwith- 
 standing which highly philosophical observation, it behoves us 
 all to remember the carpe diem. . . . And yet I am wandering 
 off from my text, and diverting from their proper channel 
 moments which should have gone to a discussion of whether 
 worm fishing for salmon is, or is not, sportsmanlike, and, if so, 
 where and under what circumstances ? 
 
 However, I think I have sufficiently indicated my ideas on 
 the subject in the preceding pages, and the digression will at 
 least save me entrance into a ' thorny ' dispute. I can only 
 say that with this tackle, fished in the way I have described, 
 I have repeatedly taken salmon in a bright sun and in the 
 clearest and finest water, and after all other methods of fishing 
 fly, minnow, and the old-fashioned bunch of worms had 
 failed. In fact, Stoddart considers that worm fishing of all 
 kinds is at its best under such conditions ; but I cannot say that 
 I agree with him there, a full or porter-coloured water being, 
 in my experience, generally the best. 
 
 When water or weather is bright, it is, of course, of the 
 utmost importance that the worm fisher should keep carefully 
 out of sight, and as far as possible below the spot where his 
 bait is fishing ; in other words, he must always cast up stream 
 where feasible, letting the current bring the bait down towards 
 him, and keeping as little slack line in the water as possible. 
 This is a sine qua non in my method of worm fishing. Great 
 nicety in the manipulation of both line and bait, as well as fine 
 hooks and tackle, are also required to insure success, and these 
 considerations render it, I maintain, both a truly ' sporting ' 
 and sportsmanlike method of fishing. 
 
 Here is a record of the number of salmon and bull trout taken 
 in this way between the 2gth of September and ist of November, 
 1879, by Mr. Edwin Darvall and myself during thirty-two conse- 
 cutive days, less six not fishing : 3, 14, i, 7, 9, 10, 5, 14, 6, 7, 4,
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 361 
 
 15, 4, 6, 16, 10, 9, 4, 3, 5, 9, 5, 4, n, 2, 13, 8, 17 = 221, with a 
 total weight of 1,800 Ibs. or an average of 69 Ibs. per day. This 
 list includes several fish weighing over 20 Ibs. The six best 
 days were ist of October, 101 Ibs. ; 3rd of October, 101^ Ibs. ; 
 7th of October, ioo| Ibs. ; i3th of October, 146 Ibs. ; 28th of 
 October, 150 Ibs. ; and ist of November (the last day of the 
 season), 170 Ibs. 
 
 THE PRAWN OR 'SHRIMP BAIT' FOR SALMON. 
 
 As my experience of fishing for salmon with the prawn is 
 somewhat restricted, I have asked Major J. P. Traherne to 
 give my readers the benefit of his more extensive knowledge 
 of the subject, and he has obligingly furnished me with the 
 following notes : 
 
 ' Of all baits that are used for catching salmon, the prawn, or 
 shrimp as it is sometimes called, is the most deadly. It doubt- 
 less forms a part of his natural food during his sea life, and his 
 preference for it to any other bait that is offered him in fresh 
 water is therefore easily accounted for. 
 
 ' It is often assumed that a salmon will not take a prawn 
 except when the water is low and clear. This is a mistake. 
 The assumption has probably arisen owing to the majority of 
 anglers never dreaming of using anything but the fly as long as 
 the water remains in order, and it is not until the fly has ceased 
 to kill and the water is dead low and clear that they think of 
 resorting to any other method. Salmon will take the prawn in 
 almost any height of water as long as it remains clear. 
 
 ' In the season of 1884 I was fishing the Aberdeenshire Dee. 
 It was in the latter end of the month of February, the water 
 bank-high and rising from the melting of the snow. In one of 
 the pools there was a great show of fresh-run fish, and after 
 essaying all sorts and sizes of flies and bait without success, I 
 tried the prawn. I had very soon a brace on the bank . . . but 
 the fish in the pool were "travellers" and soon disappeared, or 
 otherwise I might have caught more of them ; the same thing
 
 36? SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 happened on several subsequent occasions as long as the water 
 was clear. In the Dee it is seldom muddy except in a high 
 flood, and it clears very quickly. 
 
 ' On the Shannon, at Castle Connell, and on the Galway 
 river they seldom use any other bait but the prawn during the 
 spring months, because it is found to be so deadly ; and when 
 fish are what is called "sulky," and refuse the fly, I think it 
 perfectly fair to catch them with the prawn or any other bait 
 they will take. I do not mean to say they will always take a 
 prawn if judiciously offered them ; on the contrary, I have 
 sometimes fished for a whole day with it without a touch ; but 
 such occasions are very rare, and except when trailing the 
 prawn behind a boat when fishing alongside of a fly and colley 
 on the Shannon at Killaloe I cannot recollect a fish to have 
 ever taken any other bait in preference, always assuming that 
 the water was clear enough to use it. 
 
 ' It is quite possible that on the occasion I have mentioned 
 the fish may have seen the fly or colley before they saw the 
 prawn, and being in the humour they took the first of these 
 that came across them. I am inclined to this belief, as I 
 observed that my boatmen let out a much shorter line for the 
 prawn than they did for the fly and colley, and consequently 
 the last had the better chance of being first. Prawn, as well as 
 all other bait fishing, is looked upon with great disfavour by a 
 good many fishermen, who call it "poaching " and an unsports- 
 manlike proceeding. They think it useless fishing a pool with 
 the fly on the same day that it has been fished with a prawn ; 
 and some even go as far as to say that it spoils the pool 
 altogether for the season. 
 
 ' Of course a fish that has been caught with a prawn cannot 
 be caught over again with the fly, but barring the pool being 
 minus a fish or two, which it is quite possible might have been 
 the case had it been fished with a fly, no harm whatever will 
 have been done. Prawn fishing neither disturbs nor scares 
 salmon ; and I know from my own experience that when the 
 water is in order for fly fishing the chances of catching a fish
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 363 
 
 are as good as ever for the fly two or three hours after the 
 prawfi has been over a pool. Those who say that it spoils the 
 fishing for the fly lose sight again of the fact that salmon stay 
 but a short time in any one part of a river, and that the fish that 
 have been fished over in one pool by one man with the prawn, 
 or any other bait, may, by the time the next man comes to the 
 water, have left that pool, whilst their place has been occupied 
 by a fresh run of fish. 
 
 ' Prawn fishing is a very pleasant dernier ressort. One never 
 need despair of bringing home a fish, and salmon will take it in 
 the lowest water and on the brightest and hottest days. 
 
 ' Prawns /or use in the coming season should be got in 
 during the previous autumn, when they can be bought cheaper 
 than at any other time of the year. The fresher they are when 
 used, the better ; but if they are properly preserved they will 
 keep their colour very fairly and take almost as well six months 
 afterwards. They should be selected of different sizes, to be 
 used according to the state of the water. Those with spawn in 
 them are said to be the most killing. 
 
 ' The following is one of the commonest methods for preserv- 
 ing prawns : Put the prawns in a saucepan of water with a 
 handful of saltpetre, and boil them ; taking them out the moment 
 they turn colour. Then spread them on a cloth singly ; and when 
 they are quite dry, place them in layers in a wide-mouthed glass 
 or earthenware jar as many as it will hold. Fill up to the 
 bung with glycerine ; cork the bottle and fasten the cork down, 
 if possible, with bladder covering, so as to exclude the air. 
 
 ' Another, and perhaps a better way, is to preserve in salt. 
 Fill an earthenware jar with prawns nearly to the top ; heap on 
 common salt, pouring water enough on it to dissolve it so as to 
 fill up the interstices ; continue until the jar is full, and secure 
 with a cork as before. Prawns preserved in salt last much 
 longer, and keep their colour better than when kept in glycerine. 
 They are also much tougher, which is a great advantage. 
 
 ' I have seen prawns in their natural state that have been
 
 364 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 preserved in salt used with great success, and indeed it is 
 difficult to see why it is thought necessary to boil them. The 
 boiling process doubtless gives them a very attractive appear- 
 ance, but a salmon in a predatory humour is no respecter of 
 colour. It is the smell that is the attraction ; otherwise how 
 could fish feed on worms, and other natural food, in thick 
 water in a heavy flood, when it is impossible for them to see an 
 inch before them ? That fish possess considerable powers of 
 smell is well known, and is proved if only by the fact that 
 salmon roe will attract trout to it from an almost incredible 
 distance down stream, in flooded water. I have never heard 
 of an instance of a salmon being caught by an artificial prawn 
 when fished like the real bait. 
 
 ' There are many different sorts of tackle used for fishing 
 with the prawn. I have tried most of them, and as I think 
 that nothing can beat one that was shown to me by Mr. 
 Barter, a well-known and most successful salmon fisher in the 
 South of Ireland, I append a drawing of it This gentleman 
 has made prawn, as well as every other mode of bait fishing, 
 his especial study, and I know no better authority on such 
 matters. 
 
 ' Fig. i represents the tackle before the prawn is put on. 
 The point of the needle is to be inserted in the tail and 
 brought out at the middle of the breast, the point protruding 
 about one-eighth of an inch ; the small loop underneath the 
 shank of the lowermost double hooks is then drawn over the 
 point and pulled up as far as it will go, and the tail made 
 fast to the trace by binding it with one or two turns of red 
 cotton thread. 
 
 ' If it is thought necessary, in order to prevent the action of 
 the stream from tearing off the scales, the binding can be con- 
 tinued four or five turns towards the head and back again to 
 the tail and there fastened off. If this is carefully and artisti- 
 cally done, a prawn should last a long time even in a rapid 
 stream. When preserved any length of time in glycerine it 
 will generally require binding, but if it has been kept in salt
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 
 
 365 
 
 the, fastening at the tail, with perhaps one or two turns to 
 secure the double hook under the head, will be sufficient. 
 
 ' When completed and ready for use, the bait should be as 
 represented in fig. 2. 
 
 FIG. I. PRAWN TACKLE. 
 
 FIG. 2. PRAWN TACKLE BAITED. 
 
 ' Needles and traces with the double hooks for which I 
 find Mr. Pennell's pattern very suitable at different distances 
 apart, and of different sizes suited to different sized baits 
 should be dressed beforehand ready for use. In high water 
 the largest sized prawns may be used, but in the clear water
 
 366 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the smaller the prawn and the finer the tackle the better the 
 chance of success. 1 
 
 ' The most suitable rod for prawn fishing is a light cane 
 trolling rod about 14 feet long, or a grilse rod with a short top 
 and upright rings. I prefer the latter, as there is a certain 
 amount of spring in it and it is pleasanter to fish with. Mai- 
 loch's new patent trolling reel is admirably adapted to this 
 style of bait fishing, as with it you can pitch your prawn out 
 with a very slight amount of lead on the line. This cannot 
 be done with the Nottingham reel, which requires a line to be 
 heavily weighted. 
 
 ' The line should be a very fine dressed one, not thicker than 
 a fine trout line. A stouter line would be useless, as it would 
 not pay out through the rings. The line should be constantly 
 tested, as it soon wears out from friction, &c. The rotary 
 motion given to the line when paid off the drum of a Malloch's 
 reel is apt to make the line kink ; to avoid this a small swivel 
 should be attached to it about a foot above where it is fastened 
 to the trace an ordinary single-gut casting-line, fine or stout 
 according to the state of the water, with a swivel in the middle, 
 and weighted according to the rapidity and depth of the stream. 
 The heavier the weight the farther of course the bait can be 
 thrown. With only one shot you could not expect to cast 
 far, but as the water must be very low when such a light weight 
 is advisable, the distance required can generally be made up 
 by wading. 
 
 4 A certain amount of experience is required to judge the 
 proper quantity of lead to be used, and it should be borne in 
 mind that the prawn should not be allowed to drag the bottom 
 as in worm fishing. The line should be weighted so that the 
 prawn should work about midway between the surface of the 
 stream and the bottom. 
 
 ' There are several different methods of fishing with the 
 
 1 Mr. W. Haynes, fishing-tackle maker, of 3 Patrick Street, Cork, has in- 
 vented a needle with a slit in it that saves much time in putting on a prawn, 
 and rendeis binding with silk unnecessary. ED.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING, 367 
 
 prawn. In big rivers, where wading is impossible, it must be 
 dorie-out of a boat either by casting or trailing. At Castle 
 Connell on the Shannon they spin it ; at Galway, where during 
 the spring months nothing else is used but the prawn from 
 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., they let it drag with a heavy weight on the 
 bottom as they would do when worm fishing. At Killaloe on 
 the Shannon I have caught several fish by working the prawn 
 " sink-and-draw " fashion, as if I were fishing with a gorge hook 
 for pike. There was, opposite the marble works, a large pool 
 with a very strong backwater, which always held a number of 
 salmon, and part of the programme when fishing the pool was 
 to use the prawn in this backwater in the sink-and-draw fashion. 
 I seldom tried it without catching a fish. This is the only 
 place I ever saw it tried, but I have no doubt it would be 
 equally successful elsewhere. 
 
 ' The pleasantest way, however, to work the prawn is from 
 the bank, or when wading, on a warm day when there are 
 plenty of fish within easy reach. It is to me the most fasci- 
 nating of all bait fishing, but it does not give me the same 
 amount of pleasure or excitement that fly fishing does. The 
 mode of proceeding is as follows : Reel up your line to within 
 about six feet of the top of your rod ; swing (not cast) it out at 
 an angle of about 45 down stream, and let the prawn come 
 slowly round to the side you are fishing from, keeping your rod 
 in the same position. If the stream is rapid let out a yard or 
 two of line by degrees as the bait works round, which will 
 prevent the action of the stream stripping off the scales of the 
 prawn ; and for the same reason wind up slowly before making 
 a fresh cast. When the stream is very slack it will, on the 
 contrary, be as well to gradually wind in a few yards of line to 
 prevent the prawn catching on the bottom. 1 
 
 1 A recent writer, under the signature of 'Sentry,' in an angling journal, 
 who says he has used the shrimp or rather prawn bait with great success for 
 many years, recommends that ' If used in slow-running water, it should he 
 tied on the hook so as to " spin," the point of the hook being inserted through 
 the head, brought out near the tail, and tied at each end with a little red thread 
 or silk ; in that way it can be used trolling in both slow and running water. It
 
 368 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 ( On a fish taking the prawn, you will, if inexperienced, at 
 first fancy yourself fast in a rock ; but you will soon learn to 
 distinguish in a moment by a sort of indescribable sensation 
 when your line tightens in a fish. When you first feel him 
 do not strike, but give a good 'pull' or two. After two or three 
 seconds have elapsed many fishermen strike or jerk up the 
 point of their rod, but I am against this plan of hooking a 
 fish for reasons I have already explained in my notes on fly 
 fishing.' 
 
 Quitting now the subject of prawn or ' shrimp-bait fishing * 
 for salmon, with thanks to Major Traherne for his excellent 
 hints, and wishing him ' a light heart and a heavy creel,' we 
 must step into the boat that has been awaiting us for the last 
 half-hour, and putting ourselves under 'the creature Dougal's' 
 guidance make play for the upper end of the loch 'Youth on 
 the prow and pleasure at the helm ' so as to have at least a 
 couple of hours before sunset to try our luck at 
 
 SPINNING FOR LAKE TROUT. 
 
 Putting aside the true salmon, Sal mo sa/ar, which has been 
 already alluded to, there are three species of Salmonida taken 
 more or less constantly with the spinning bait, namely, the 
 common trout, Salmo fario, the Great Lake trout, or grey 
 trout of the Cumberland lakes, Salmo ferox, and the sea trout, 
 or salmon trout, Salmo trutta. This sequence represents 
 probably the relative importance of the three fish from the 
 point of view of the lake spinner. Indeed, as the sea trout is 
 most commonly taken when spinning for one or other of the 
 
 can also be used in the latter put on the hook the reverse way, and used casting, 
 \vith a little lead about eight inches from the bait, and again eighteen inches 
 higher up on the casting line, according to the depth and strength of the current. 
 In casting, the bait should be thrown directly opposite the angler and allowed 
 to swing round, care being taken not to allow the line to be ahead of the bait. 
 In trolling with shrimp, always place the lead about two feet from the bait, and 
 u^e single gut. Fish will take a fresh shrimp much better than a stale one.'
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 369 
 
 first-named fish, and the tackle &c. used are the same as 
 those applicable to spinning for brown trout, I think probably 
 no further details in regard to that fish would be of any prac- 
 tical use. It may be mentioned, however, that when neither 
 casting with the artificial fly nor spinning, whether trailing or 
 casting, has appeared to be of any use, I have not unfrequently 
 found sea trout inclined to take the artificial fly if trailed forty 
 or fifty yards behind the boat. I have had some very good 
 sport in this way on several Scotch lochs, on Loch Maree, for 
 example, and I have before me now the two flies which I 
 found most successful. One is a grilse fly, dressed on a No. i 
 Limerick hook, orange floss silk body, ribbed with a claret or 
 fiery brown hackle, tag blue silk and silver twist, tail strands of 
 tippet and blue macaw, mixed wing, and jay hackle, head, 
 ostrich herl. The other was a somewhat larger fly with a body 
 of claret-coloured mohair ribbed with silver tinsel, tag orange 
 silk and silver tinsel, tail a topping, brown mallard wings and 
 a whity brown hackle. The prevailing tone of the first fly 
 may be described as orange and blue, and that of the second 
 as claret and whity brown. I have had very good sport with 
 these same flies in other waters. It may be added that the 
 sea trout is more often to be tempted by an artificial bait than 
 either the brown or lake trout. 
 
 The name Loch Maree recalls a disgraceful practical joke 
 whereof I was the principal instigator, and in which, I blush to 
 say, a most charming young lady and a capital ' fisherwoman' 
 too was one of the victims. ... If these lines should by 
 chance ever meet her eye I hope she will not be very im- 
 placable ! Tempus edax reruin. 
 
 The neighbourhood of broken rocky islands, and round and 
 amongst submerged rocks, is generally good holding ground for 
 both sea and brown trout, and such a place, in the absence of 
 local guidance, I should select for my ' trial spin ' over new water. 
 
 It is seldom worth while to attempt lake spinning for brown 
 trout unless they run large, say over a pound at any rate, as 
 otherwise more sport and better will be obtained by fly fishing. 
 
 I. B B
 
 37o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Moreover, spinning for brown trout in lakes is rarely, in my 
 experience, very deadly, unless in waters of considerable size, and 
 in rough windy weather. There are, however, exceptions to 
 this rule, and I have more than once made a good basket of 
 brown trout when the sun was at its brightest, and the surface 
 of the lake like a mill pond. 
 
 In judging of the ground over which it is best to spin, the 
 following hints, in addition to those above given, may be of use. 
 
 There is round the shores of almost all lakes a point on 
 the shelving bank under the water line at which light and dark 
 seem to meet ; in other words, where the rocky or gravelly 
 bottom becomes quite invisible, owing to the depth of water. 
 Just about this line, and rather a yard or two outside than 
 inside of it, is usually the best for spinning. The food of both 
 the Great Lake and brown trout consists, to a great extent, of 
 small fry. These usually, in nautical phraseology, more or less 
 'hug the shore,' up which, therefore, stopping short at the 
 shallows, the trout naturally comes in pursuit of them. This 
 question of locality is, as I pointed out in the ' Modern Prac- 
 tical Angler,' rather an important one, as thereupon it depends 
 mainly whether the bait is ever in a position to be seen by the 
 fish it is intended to catch. The observation has special refer- 
 ence also to the Great Lake trout, in regard to which I have 
 offered the following observations in the passage already re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 The secret of success in spinning for the Great Lake trout 
 lies principally in four points time, depth, speed, and place, 
 thus : 
 
 Time. As a rule, begin fishing when other people are 
 leaving off; that is, in summer at about six o'clock P.M. From 
 this hour until midnight lake trout may be caught. 
 
 Depth. Instead of weighting the tackle to spin the bait at 
 some three feet from the surface, lead it so as to sink to within 
 about the same distance from the bottom, be the depth what it 
 may. Both for this purpose, and in order to keep the bait at 
 a distance from the boat, it is almost indispensable that from
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 37 1 
 
 fprty to fifty, or, in very deep water, as much as sixty and even 
 sometimes seventy yards of line, should be let out from the reel. 
 
 Speed. Let the boat be rowed slowly, rather than at a 
 brisk, lively pace. A large lake trout will seldom trouble him- 
 self to follow a bait that is moving fast away from him ; con- 
 sequently the bait must possess the speciality of spinning, at 
 all events moderately well, or it will not spin at all. 
 
 As regards the tackle for lake-trout spinning, the rod, 
 reel, and reel line recommended (p. 359) for worm fishing for 
 salmon in rivers will answer admirably. If the bait be a 
 minnow, the flight also (here repeated in cut) described for 
 
 MINNOW BAITED. 
 
 spinning it will answer remarkably well in lakes, as also for 
 spinning a loach, or colley, as it is called in Ireland. The 
 latter makes one of the very best lake trolling baits, up to a 
 maximum of 3^ inches in length, tail fin included. Beyond 
 that length this tackle will not spin the loach, or any other 
 bait, properly, but produces an eccentric sort of ' wobble ' 
 rather than a spin. From 2| to 3^ inches is the best length ; 
 or somewhat less in the case of the female fish, which about 
 May become quite distended with ova. For one of these plump 
 little ladies in roe 3^ inches is the outside length, and 2| inches 
 is better a quarter of an inch makes all the difference. The 
 ' slenderer ' the loach the better it spins. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 In choosing leads for baiting with the loach the thinnest 
 should have the preference, as the little fish has not a very 
 capacious 'gape,' and if the leads are too thick they are apt to 
 split the jaws. The length of the lead will also vary slightly as 
 the bait is longer or shorter ; one inch, ' cap ' included, would 
 be about correct for a loach of 3 inches. For a long slender 
 bait of 3 \ inches, a slightly longer lead say i| in. is desirable. 
 
 Small baits are greatly preferable to large ones in lake- 
 trout spinning; indeed, I think the bait can hardly be too 
 small if it spins really well. 
 
 When the flight above recommended cannot be used, either 
 owing to the baits being too large, or for other reason, the first 
 of the sizes of flights described for pike fishing in the second 
 volume, but dressed a good deal smaller, will answer well. 
 This flight consists of tail and reverse hook (in one piece), body 
 hook, one flying triangle, and a lip hook. The flying triangle, 
 however, should be adjusted so as to hang nearer the bait's 
 tail than for pike fishing, as pike take usually across the head 
 and shoulders, and trout very often, especially when not very 
 keenly on the feed, almost (or quite) by the tail. 
 
 LEAD AND LOOP-SWIVEL (DOUBLE) FOR HEAVY LAKE TROLLING. 
 
 The mode of constructing the trace for this latter tackle is 
 also very similar, substituting, however, gut for gimp three or 
 four yards of it and putting the lead a couple of yards away 
 from the bait The size of the lead must of course vary ac- 
 cording to circumstances. The lead shown in the diagram an- 
 nexed is the best I know of so far as shape is concerned, and 
 where a fixed lead is employed a lead, that is, permanently 
 attached to the trace. Combined with the double swivel figured, 
 it will entirely obviate the spinner's bete noire, ' kinking.'
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 373 
 
 , It not unfrequently occurs, however, in trolling for lake 
 trout, that extreme fineness of tackle is of such paramount 
 importance that all fixed lead on the line or trace has to be 
 dispensed with, and concealed instead in the belly of the bait 
 itself, as in the tackle above figured. In this case the spinner 
 must take his chance of ' kinking ; ' but as the bait never need 
 be ' cast ' in trailing, the line being merely paid out from the 
 reel by degrees, without any loose coils lying about, kinking is 
 not of such very vital consequence not, at any rate, of such 
 disabling consequence as w r here the bait is constantly being 
 cast and drawn in by hand. When no fixed leads above the 
 bait are used there should be at least two double swivels, the 
 first two or three feet above the hooks, and the second about 
 the same distance above that again. When an extra 'sinker' is 
 required, an excellent ' removable ' weight is formed by coiling 
 lead wire on the reel line, three or four yards above the bait. 
 This can, of course, be taken off, as well as diminished or 
 added to, at pleasure. 
 
 With regard to the ordinary brown lake trout (fario), 
 though they may not unfrequently be taken at night when 
 trolling for ferox, they are rather day than night feeders, and 
 usually take best before noon. 
 
 The tackle and bait for Great Lake trout spinning are 
 similar in all respects to those above recommended in spinning 
 for ordinary lake trout, except that it may be advisable, where 
 the former run large, to add a few inches of girnp next the 
 bait, as the Jerox is appropriately so called, and bites like a 
 bull-dog. 
 
 The loach, as I have observed, is one of the very best 
 spinning baits for all sorts of lake trolling. The way to catch 
 him is to walk up the middle of a shallow pool or stream 
 where he abides, carrying in your right hand a three-pronged 
 dinner-fork. Armed with this you turn over with your left 
 hand any flat tempting- looking stones under which the loach, 
 or 'beardie,' as he is sometimes called, usually has his habitat ; 
 his nose or tail will very likely be seen projecting. It then
 
 374 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 becomes a comparatively easy matter with a quick eye and a 
 steady stroke to transfix him with the trident and transfer him 
 to the bait basket. The loach has the very ostrich-like habit of 
 conceiving its body to be hidden whenever its head is, and 
 thus facilitates materially the operations for its capture. 
 
 In all lake spinning the best plan, nineteen times out of 
 twenty, is to trail the bait behind 
 the boat, and the farther off, 
 within reason, the better the 
 distance being to a great degree 
 regulated by the depth of the 
 water. The weight of the lead 
 also must be correspondingly 
 increased or diminished, and 
 should be used either fixed or 
 ' removable' as already indicated. 
 When you have a ' run ' the 
 fish ought to be at once sharply 
 struck, and the boat stopped. 
 
 In artificial baits of all sorts 
 I have not a very robust belief. 
 As, however, natural baits can- 
 not always be obtained, and as, 
 indeed, it would appear from 
 the Sporting Press that other 
 fishermen's experience on the 
 subject differs from mine, I 
 may mention one or two kinds 
 of artificial baits which seem to 
 possess special recommendations. 
 
 First, there is the time-honoured ' phantom minnow,' both 
 blue and brown, which has many admirers, and after thai 
 follows an army of less known nondescripts of all kinds, 
 ' Archimedians,' ' water witches,' ' mermaids,' and what not. 
 All or any of these may or may not be good ; unfortunately the 
 life of any one fisherman is too short to give them all a fair 
 
 1 CLKOPATRA BAIT.'
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 375 
 
 trial, and in selecting his artificial baits, every spinner will, per- 
 haps, be wise to follow his own particular fancies. Amongst 
 recent patents and inventions, however, which the Fisheries 
 Exhibition brought into notice, may be mentioned Hardy 
 Brothers' ' Halcyon spinner,' and Watson and Sons' ' Cleopatra' 
 bait, with pliable joints of polished metal (figured in the dia- 
 gram), Mr. Jas. Ogden's ' Premier spinner,' and Messrs. Cum- 
 mings' (of Bishop Auckland) ' Quill minnow.' Diagrams of the 
 two last-named minnows of the smallest sizes will be found 
 figured under the head of ' Stream Minnow-Spinning for Trout.' 
 There is no difference in the modus operandi as regards 
 artificial baits, it is merely necessary to substitute them for the 
 natural bait and flight, leaving the spinning trace in all respects 
 as already described. 
 
 STREAM MINNOW-SPINNING FOR BROWN TROUT. 
 
 This is the only sort of fishing that I am aware of in which 
 an artificial bait may really be used with satisfaction and 
 success, and it is probable that, as a matter of fact, many more 
 trout are actually killed in the streams with the brass minnow, 
 or some other artificial imitation of the real fish, than with the 
 minnow itself. But despite the dictum of Mr. Hewitt Wheatley, 
 whose ' nymphs ' and ' water witches ' were, I must say, most 
 graceful, and beautifully drawn, I am disposed to think that 
 this artificial inequilibrium results rather from the additional 
 trouble involved in obtaining and baiting the natural minnow 
 than from any intrinsic advantage which the artificial imitation 
 possesses. Be this as it may, however, I shall begin with the 
 natural bait, on the principle, if upon no other, that the original 
 should take precedence of the copy. 
 
 The difficulty has always been to find a tackle which 
 whilst placing the lead in bait's belly, and at the same time 
 obviating the necessity, common to most minnow tackles, of 
 detaching the flight from the trace before baiting will spin the
 
 5/6 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 natural minnow to sufficient perfection, and at the same time 
 possess the advantages in regard to hooking power presented 
 by the arrangement of flying triangles usually attached to the 
 artificial bait. I gave a great deal of trouble to the subject 
 some years ago, and the outcome is shown in the diagrams, 
 which represent the tackle I found to best fulfil the required 
 conditions. 
 
 Fig. i represents the tackle by itself, and fig. 2 the same 
 when baited with a minnow. 
 
 In order to bait it, all that is necessary is to push the lead 
 down through the minnow's mouth into the belly, pass the lip 
 hook through both lips of the bait to close its mouth, and 
 then insert one hook of the first triangle just below the back
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 377 
 
 fir, so as, by aid of the lead inside, to crook the body of the 
 bait as shown in fig. 2. 
 
 This flight not only gives a very perfect spin to the minnow, 
 when employed as in stream fishing that is, with a short line, 
 and 'in-and-out' casts but it combines simplicity and 'fineness ' 
 with hooking power. The lead lying in the bait's belly also 
 puts the weight exactly in the place where it is most wanted and 
 least seen. As there is no lead on the upper part of the trace 
 to counteract the rotatory action of the bait and to oblige the 
 swivels to act, so to speak, it will very often be found that 
 after a good long ' draw ' through the water the twist of the bait 
 has more or less imparted itself to the line, and when this is 
 the case a second or two should be allowed for the line to un- 
 twist before the next cast is made. This is, of course, equally 
 the case in spinning with the artificial minnow. The tackle 
 should be kept of two or three different sizes, to meet variations 
 in the size of the minnows. Another, and perhaps at least 
 equally good flight, is that already described (p. 371) for lake- 
 trout spinning, substituting a smaller bait and a correspond- 
 ing lead. Here, however, the hooks require to be detached from 
 the trace before baiting. 
 
 One or other of these arrangements can be recommended 
 as realising in different ways what are very likely the attainable 
 ' possibilities ' in the matter of Stream Minnow-Spinning tackle. 
 
 The trace should consist of two or three yards of fine picked 
 trout gut, with at least one double swivel not less than two feet 
 above the bait. As, however, in this case no lead is used on 
 the line, I should recommend a second double swivel placed 
 about three feet above the first. The smaller the swivels are 
 the neater will be their appearance and the better they will act. 
 Care should be taken in choosing them to see that all the parts 
 work freely before being attached to the trace or taken to the 
 riverside. When dry, and again before being used, it will be 
 found to make all swivels work much better if they are pre- 
 viously lubricated with rangoon or some other light oil. 
 
 The rod already described for worm fishing for salmon, with
 
 578 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 an extra longish top, or a rod of the same description but of a 
 somewhat lighter build always, of course, with stiff rings and 
 a very fine dressed silk running line, such as I have referred to 
 in the preliminary chapter on tackle will be found most con- 
 venient for this sort of fishing, which is applicable throughout 
 the season to every description of running water containing 
 trout ; sharp streams, stickles, and rushes being the most 
 favourable. 
 
 In regard to the rod, line, trace, &c., and 
 method of ' working,' there is no difference 
 between the natural and artificial baits. 
 
 The engraving gives the form of an artifi- 
 cial minnow that I had made some years ago. 
 I think it possesses in one or two points 
 advantages over the plain brass minnow 7 re- 
 commended by Mr. Wheatley, and notably 
 in the position of the flying triangles, which 
 it will be seen are so arranged as to make 
 it almost impossible for a trout to escape 
 being hooked. This minnow, which is made 
 both of brass and white metal, is hexagonal 
 or octagonal in form, the object being that 
 the sides and angles catching the light may 
 gain additional glitter and brilliancy. One 
 side is coloured a bright metallic green to 
 represent the minnow's back, the other half 
 representing, of course, the belly. The small 
 round protuberance above the lowest triangle, 
 and at the base of the brass minnow, is a 
 glass bead which is slid down on to a knot in the gut, 
 thickened at the point by waxed lapping so as to make it fit 
 tight. The bead thus prevents the friction of the minnow 
 fraying or wearing out the gut below. 
 
 The minnow itself can be so adjusted that the trace and 
 tail hooks will either spin with it, or remain stationary and allow 
 the minnow to spin by itself. Each alternative presents some 
 
 HEXAGONAL 
 MINNOW.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 
 
 379 
 
 advantages, but in the former case the gut must be thickened 
 by lapping where it passes through the minnow so as to fit close. 
 Another very pretty minnow, already referred to, the in- 
 vention, I am told, of the late Mr. Garnett, is made entirely of 
 quill (ride cut), thus presenting a more transparent effect in 
 the water, and I have read accounts of remarkable success 
 that has been obtained with it. 
 
 THE QUILL MINNOW. 
 
 OGDEN'S PREMIER SPINNER. 
 
 There is also Hardy's 'Halcyon spinner' which is said to have 
 made a reputation on the Border streams ; and the ' Premier 
 spinner,' the invention and patent of Mr. Jas. Ogden, of 
 Cheltenham, which, judging by its ' rig ' and spiral shape (ride 
 cut), calculated to produce a glittering appearance in the water, 
 ought to be exceedingly effective. Mr. Thomas Westwood, 
 the well-known bibliophile, poet, and fisherman, writes to 
 me in a letter : ' I tried the other day, with great success, a
 
 S3o SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 minnow called the "Derby Trout Killer." It is sold by John 
 Bullock, Compton Street, Derby. Ask for sizes No. i and 
 No. 2. I bagged seventeen trout with it in a very short time, 
 and a friend, who fished with me, twenty.' 
 
 An ingeniously constructed folding tray case has been lately 
 manufactured by Messrs. Watson for the purpose of carrying 
 these and similar baits (vide cut). 
 
 The minnow, both natural and artificial, can be used at all 
 times of the season, and in all rivers where its employment is 
 not interdicted. It is especially successful in some of the 
 Devonshire and Cornwall streams for taking what is locally 
 known as 'salmon peel 7 a variety of migratory Salmonidcc 
 to which ichthyologists have not yet agreed in assigning a 
 specific place. Some writers consider it as a sort of small-sized 
 grilse, or the young of the true salmon on its first return from 
 the sea, and others merely as a variety of the salmon trout. 
 Unfortunately many of the streams of Devonshire and Cornwall 
 have been so frightfully polluted of late years by mine water
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 381 
 
 that this beautiful and sporting fish is far from being as plentiful 
 as it formerly was, and, indeed, from many rivers the brown 
 trout also has well-nigh disappeared. 
 
 This is the more regrettable inasmuch as a little energy and 
 enterprise on the part of the mine owners, especially owners of 
 lead and copper mines the great offenders would almost, if 
 not wholly, alleviate the mischief. In the case of the former a 
 few catch pits into which the mine washings should pass and be 
 allowed to filter before the water finally reaches the river, would 
 render it perfectly innocuous, and I remember on one of the 
 most beautiful rivers in Devonshire, the Teign, where this pre- 
 caution has been taken, I have repeatedly caught some of the 
 best trout of the day at the very mouth of the filtered outfall. 
 The lead in this case, as everyone knows, is merely held ' in 
 suspension,' to use the chemical expression, and, therefore, 
 naturally sinks to the bottom by its own gravity, if the oppor- 
 tunity be offered. 
 
 With regard to copper mines the case is somewhat different, 
 the copper being held ' in solution,' a far more intimate con- 
 nection, and one which can only be separated by causing the 
 copper to precipitate itself, as the term is. In order to effect 
 this, however, all that is necessary is to place some old iron at 
 the bottom of the catch pits ; the iron having an affinity for the 
 copper, causes the latter to fall or precipitate, and it is quite a 
 question in my mind whether the process referred to, both in 
 this and the lead water, might not be carried out without any 
 ultimate expense whatever by subsequent treatment of the 
 precipitated and subsident metals. At any rate it is a subject 
 demanding the urgent attention of the Legislature, if only 
 viewed from the standpoint of the just rights of the riparian 
 proprietors, to say nothing of the national importance of pre- 
 serving our streams for the beautifying of the landscape and 
 the enjoyment of the people. It is simply monstrous that mine 
 owners for their individual gain should be allowed to destroy 
 what the Scotch law calls the ' amenities ' of all the people 
 below them. Nor is it alone from the sporting or aesthetic
 
 382 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 aspect of the case that this holds true. Streams polluted by 
 mine water not only cease to contain fish and look disgusting, 
 but are a positive source of danger to the health of the popu- 
 lation who live upon the banks, and who, as well as the cattle, 
 often partially poison themselves by drinking the tainted water. 
 
 WORM FISHING FOR BROWN TROUT. 
 
 Thanks to a great extent to the late Mr. Stewart, worm 
 fishing for trout has been of late years rescued from a posjtion 
 of obscurity, not to say contempt, and elevated into one of the 
 recognised branches of scientific angling. It was formerly 
 supposed that worm fishing could only be practised with 
 success in rivers or streams when in a state of partial flood. 
 The fisherman, wielding a short stiff rod with a single large 
 hook at the end of extra coarse tackle, used to walk down the 
 river banks, when the water was supposed to be sufficiently 
 discoloured, fishing before him or under him the likely looking 
 holes, and hauling out, by sheer force and with the smallest pos- 
 sible amount of law, any unlucky victim which the purblinding 
 condition of its own element was mainly instrumental in trans- 
 ferring to ours. Thanks, I say, in a great measure, to Mr. 
 Stewart and his teaching, all this is now changed, and, although 
 with improved hooks and finer tackle, the worm-fisher will still 
 expect under many circumstances to make a good basket in 
 full or flood water, he regards as his red-letter days a scorching 
 summer sun, and a water so bright and clear as to make fly 
 fishing, except very early and late, next to an impossibility. 
 
 Making the best of these unpropitious circumstances, the 
 sagacious angler leaves his fly rod at home, and betakes him- 
 self to worm fishing. Equipped with wading boots, or, better, 
 wading trousers, he enters the stream, usually preferring a good 
 broad sheet of water, not too deep, and, moving gently and 
 cautiously, with a long, light, stiffish rod, he casts his bait well
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 383 
 
 np stream, letting the current, with an occasional assistance 
 from hand and line, bring it down almost to his feet, or parallel 
 with him to right or left, and if he gets a bite he strikes almost 
 at once or at any rate after three or four seconds down 
 stream, and retires with the descending fish until he has safely 
 transferred it to his creel, usually without quitting the water. 
 He then returns cautiously to his former standpoint and re- 
 news his attentions to the still unfrightened fish above thus 
 gradually ascending the stream step by step, and fishing every 
 yard of water in front of him. 
 
 I would not be understood to advocate for a moment the 
 use of the worm, even if practicable, in our highly stocked 
 southern streams, nor would I personally exchange it for the fly 
 whenever there is a reasonable chance of making a bag with the 
 latter, but it frequently happens in such conditions of water and 
 weather as 1 have described that this is in fact impossible, and 
 there are hundreds of miles of wild river and stream scattered 
 over Ireland and Scotland, and some of our Border counties, 
 where worm fishing finds its legitimate scope and opportunity. 
 And thus pursued I unhesitatingly assert that it is a branch of 
 the sport which is in every way worthy of encouragement. 
 
 As the ' Fishing Gazette ' has observed : ' There are more 
 ways than one of fishing with the worm for trout, and it 
 depends very much upon local circumstances whether the plan 
 employed is fair or unfair. The man who by up-stream fishing 
 on such waters as the Yore, the Coquet, the Eden, in June, 
 July, and August, can in low clear water kill a basket of trout 
 in the daytime is not less scientific or sportsmanlike than the 
 fly fisher.' 
 
 As I have pointed out, an extreme refinement of tackle and 
 niccness of manipulation is required of the successful practi- 
 tioner in the modern school of worm-fishing. For short rods, 
 coarse gut, and a single big hook must be substituted a long, 
 light, and more or less pliant weapon, the very finest gut, and 
 hooks but little larger than those on which the fly fisher dresses 
 his gnats and midges.
 
 384 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 Mr. Stewart was the first to advocate a radical reform in 
 the matter of trout worm-tackle. His change was to substitute 
 three or four small hooks for the one large one. This plan, hy 
 which the hooks were quickly and lightly passed transversely 
 through the worm instead of being, as it were, threaded through 
 it, has the additional merit of keeping the bait alive much 
 longer, as well as of enabling the fish to be struck almost at the 
 instant of biting, instead of being allowed some uncertain period 
 in which to fairly ' mouth,' or, as it happens in many cases, 
 ' pouch ' the worm. 
 
 The drawback to this tackle of Mr. Stewart's was, however, 
 in my opinion, the unnecessary multiplication of the hooks. 
 These produced a certain amount of difficulty and delay both 
 in baiting and subsequent disgorging from the fish's mouth. 
 They also disfigured the worm, shortened its life, and whilst 
 detracting somewhat from the natural appearance of the bait, 
 were at the same time more conspicuous. 1 
 
 Indeed, as a matter of fact, I found it was by no means a 
 very easy matter to insert the three, or, still worse, four hooks 
 in their proper positions in the bait without breaking it. 
 
 In order therefore to meet these objections, whilst at the 
 same time preserving the excellent principle involved in sub- 
 stituting several smaller hooks for one large one, I adopted, 
 and some years ago brought to the notice of worm fishers, a 
 two-hook tackle, which I believe will be found to embrace the 
 meritorious part of Mr Stewart's invention without its draw- 
 back. I may, perhaps, here quote from the arguments, pro and 
 con, which I adduced at the time in support of these views. 2 
 
 1 The Practical Angler. 
 
 2 On looking through the modern school of angling authors, I find the 
 following recommendations and instructions on the subject of worm fishing for 
 trout : Bowlker, in his Art of Angling, recommends a single No. 5 or No. 6 
 hook ; Mr. Stoddart advises, in his Angler s Companion, single hooks, sizes 
 Nos. 10, ii, or 12, according to the dimensions of the stream, its condition, 
 and the kind of trout inhabiting it ; Mr. Bailey, in his Angler's Instructor, 
 suggests a single No. 7; Otter's Alodern Angler, a No. 5; ' Glenfin ' (The 
 Fishing Rod, and how to use it), a 6 or 7 ; 'Ephemera,' Hewett Wheatley, 
 and some other authors either simply recommend 'a single hook,' without
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING. 385 
 
 I give Mr. Stewart the greatest credit for the originality of this 
 icfea, which belongs to him alone ; at the same time, I am not 
 surprised at its proving, as he himself admits, only a modified 
 success. Mr. Stewart says that with this tackle he found he could 
 kill larger fish, but fewer in number, than with the single hook, 
 and that this experience was confirmed by others. He attributes, 
 and I have no doubt correctly, the diminution in the numbers of 
 fish run, primarily to the impossibility of properly concealing so 
 large a number of hooks in a single worm, and to their being 
 consequently seen by the fish. This was the principal drawback 
 to the four-hook tackle. As a minor inconvenience, Mr. Stewart also 
 mentions that, from the number of hooks often fixed in the fish's 
 mouth when landed, a certain waste of time necessarily occurred. 
 
 These being the incidental disadvantages of Mr. Stewart's plan, 
 its advantages were : (i) that the worm was more quickly baited 
 than with the single hook ; (2) that it lived much longer with the 
 large single hook it dies almost directly ; (3) that it presented a 
 much more natural appearance to the fish ; and (4) that, owing to 
 the superior penetrating tendency of small over large hooks, much 
 fewer fish escaped after being once hooked, whilst it became 
 possible to use the finest gut, which could not be safely done with 
 large heavy hooks. This is an advantage the importance of which 
 can hardly be over-estimated in trout fishing in clear streams. 
 
 As regards the other point the killing powers my own ex- 
 perience of the tackle was that when fishing properly up stream^ 
 and with a shortish line, hardly any fish escaped at all, whilst with 
 the large single hook, I think the experience of most of my brother 
 anglers will bear me out when I say that fully fifty per cent, of 
 runs were 'missed.' On the other hand, the practical force of the 
 objections mentioned by Mr. Stewart to his own four-hook tackle 
 could not but be recognised, and accordingly, after some experi- 
 ments, I adopted a tackle consisting of only two hooks, and these 
 a trifle larger and thicker in the wire, which, I found, whilst get- 
 ting rid of the drawbacks, also combined one or two material 
 improvements in other respects. 
 
 The great advantages, in several points, of the four-hook tackle 
 
 naming the size, or omit the question altoether. ... It will thus be seen that 
 a ' single hook ' for trout worm-fishing has been hitherto universally recom- 
 mended by angling authorities, with the solitary exception of Mr. Stewart, 
 who bold'y deviates from the beaten track, and gives a diagram of a tackle 
 composed of four small hooks, in lieu of the conventional single large one. 
 I. C C
 
 3 86 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 over the large single hook have been already explained. The 
 advantages which I believe will be found to belong to the two- 
 hook over the four-hook tackle are : (i) It is baited in less than 
 half the time ; (2) the worm lives much longer ; (3) its appear- 
 ance is more natural ; (4) the hooks are less conspicuous ; (5) they 
 are very quickly ' disgorged,' and (6) the tackle is more easily 
 made. 
 
 In hooking and holding power I do not think that there is any 
 appreciable difference. . . . 
 
 PENNELL'S 2-aooK WORM TACKLE. 
 
 U 
 
 J 
 
 TACKLE UNBAITED. 
 
 TACKLE BAITED. 
 
 As regards sinkers, two or more good sized ' split ' shot, 
 according to the depth and rapidity of the stream, should be 
 used about fourteen inches above the hooks. The shot should 
 be sufficient to carry the bait close down to, or nearly dribbling 
 over the bottom, without being heavy enough to make it check 
 or stick fast. In shallow water only one shot, and that a very 
 small one, say a No. 7, will be found necessary. Very fine
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING. 387 
 
 lead-wire is a. capital substitute for shot, and is less liable tc 
 get irremediably ' stuck' in rock-crevices, &c. The difficulty is 
 to twist it round the soft gut in a satisfactory manner. This 
 difficulty, however, I overcome by laying a pin alongside of the 
 gut and winding the lead-wire closely over both. The pin 
 being withdrawn, the coils can be tightened very readily by 
 simply twisting them round with the finger and thumb until 
 they grip the gut. This method of weighting is less likely to 
 result in damaging the gut than a split shot, which is nipped 
 together and jammed on to it with the teeth. 
 
 In order to cast a light line of this sort, which, of course, 
 cannot be done at all against the wind unless the line be cast 
 as a fly-line, a 13 or 14 foot rod or even longer with small 
 upright rings, and a fair amount of ' play ' is desirable. The 
 line should be of the very finest dressed silk, not thicker than 
 stoutish sewing cotton. The length of cast that can be made 
 depends, of course, very much upon the wind ; under ordinary 
 circumstances, however, unless heavy sinkers are used, the 
 line that can be effectively worked will not much exceed the 
 length of the rod, plus the gut cast of two or three yards. 
 
 The best worms for this sort of fishing for trout, and I 
 might say, indeed, for every sort of fishing that I am acquainted 
 with where small worms are used, is the brandling, or dunghill 
 worm, which may be known by its yellowish stripes and the 
 pungent odour it emits. This strong smell is, no doubt, one 
 cause of its attractiveness as a bait. If brandlings cannot be 
 obtained any worm which is of the right size will do the redder 
 the better. It is very important that the worms should be 
 thoroughly scoured before being used, as it diminishes the 
 chances of their breaking on the hook, as well as improves their 
 appearance. The readiest means for scouring is in a large jar 
 or box filled with damp moss turned every day or two. 
 
 The hooks figured in the illustration are of the correct size 
 for a large brandling of the length shown. When smaller 
 worms are used the size of the hooks, and also the distance 
 between them, should be reduced proportionately. 
 
 C C 2
 
 388 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 To carry the baits for worm-fishing an open-mouthed bag, 
 from three and a half to four inches square, and attached to 
 a button of the coat or a button-hole by a loop of string, 
 will be found much the most convenient method. Indeed, 
 when constantly wading knee- or waist-deep in water, any other 
 plan is almost impracticable unless it be that of the small 
 angler whose answer, when asked ' What it was he was carrying 
 in his mouth ? ' has become proverbial. 
 
 In spite of the media tutissimus ibis maxim, there is yet a 
 certain drawback attached to this sort of mid-river work, the 
 drawback of losing time and disturbing the water by getting out 
 on the bank for the purpose of landing the fish. On the other 
 hand, the attempt to transport them direct from the water to 
 the creel without a landing net is an almost hopeless, as well 
 as patience-trying, undertaking. The worm-fisher must, there- 
 fore, practically as a matter of necessity, adopt a portable land- 
 ing net, and that should be so arranged as to be instantly 
 brought into play when required. To effect this some fisher- 
 men carry a very short net with a wooden hoop, and a handle 
 about one and a half foot long which they pass under the creel- 
 strap, or a small strap attached to the coat, under and behind 
 the left arm, and thence into the pocket. The best form of hoop 
 for this sort of pocket net is pear-shnped, about eight inches 
 wide by eleven inches in length. Such a net ought not to 
 exceed 3 or 4 oz. in weight, everything complete, and with 
 it a fish of three pounds weight can be landed. The telescope 
 net, however, described at p. 8 1, is in many respects a great im- 
 provement on this somewhat rough and ready appliance. All 
 the other net-slings and similar contrivances that I have seen 
 seem to possess the speciality of allowing the net to slip out of 
 the socket when it is not desired, and to get stuck or hitched 
 up in some way or other at the moment of requisition. 
 
 All nets should be made of dressed silk, so that they may 
 not get sodden, rotten, or catch in the hooks or tackle.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING. 389 
 
 CREEPER' AND STONE-FLY FISHING AND 
 WASP-GRUBS. 
 
 Creeper or stone-fly fishing is a very local sport, and, Indeed, 
 so far as I am aware, is practised nowhere but on the Border 
 and Lowland streams of Scotland. 
 
 Having said all I know on the subject of this fishing and 
 it is not much in the ' Modern Practical Angler ' 1 I quoto 
 the following from its pages : 
 
 The creeper is the larva of the stone-fly (Scoff tee, May- fly), in 
 which condition it passes most of the winter and spring months, 
 living under stones in shallow water, from whence it may generally 
 be readily obtained in quantities sufficient for angling purposes. 
 It will live for days in any perforated can or bait-box, even if kept 
 in the pocket, and for a longer time in a little water. 
 
 The rod, line, and hooks recommended for trout worm-fishing, 
 and described under that heading, omitting the shot or sinkers, and 
 setting the hooks a little closer together, will probably be found, 
 on the whole, the best tackle for creeper-fishing. The mode of 
 baiting and using the creeper is as follows : Put the upper hook 
 through the shoulder, and the lower hook through the tail of the 
 creeper, so that it may hang straight on the line : when baited, 
 use it precisely in the same manner as the worm, always selecting 
 rapid rather than still parts of the stream, and, of course, fishing 
 up. The bright weather and low clear water, which are best for 
 worm-fishing, will also be found most favourable for the creeper. 
 The stone-fly usually remains in its larval or ' creeper ' condition 
 until the middle of May, and from early in April until this time 
 heavy baskets may often be made of it. When in season, the 
 creeper is commonly from an inch to an inch and a quarter long. 
 
 About the middle of May the creeper changes from the larval 
 into the fly state, casting its tortoiseshell like covering, and un- 
 sheathing its wings, of which, however, it makes but little use. Mr. 
 Stewart, whose excellent chapter on the subject should be studied 
 by all Border anglers, considers that the fly is even more deadly 
 than the creeper. He advocates the use of two flies as the bait. . . 
 
 1 Fifth edition : George Routledge & Sons.
 
 390 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The fly is nearly of the same length as the creeper, and the 
 tackle used for one may be used for the other. In fact, when 
 creepers are changing the fisherman will often find it convenient 
 to fish indiscriminately with either the one or the other. Trout 
 take the stone- fly best under water, and close to the edges of the 
 stream or pool. This point is laid much stress on by Border 
 anglers, and with good reason, inasmuch as the natural spots to 
 find the fly are close to the banks from which they are washed ; 
 and it is here consequently that the trout come to look for them. 
 A dark, full water is more favourable for the effective use of the 
 stone-fly than one that is low and clear ; but in both states good 
 baskets may be made with it. The flies should be collected in a 
 box the night or early morning before they are to be used. The 
 best places for finding them are under the stones above, but near 
 
 the waters edge ; and where most cast-oft" shells are seen the fly 
 will probably be found in the greatest abundance. 
 
 Colonel Campbell tells me that, on the liorder streams, he has 
 had great success with this fly used with blo\v-line tackle. A method 
 of natural fly-fishing is also much practised on the Peterel, and 
 doubtless on many other neighbouring streams, in which two flies 
 - the specific names of which I could not ascertain are useu 
 upon a small double hook. 
 
 The season for stone-fly fishing begins about the middle of 
 May, and endo about the middle of June.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING. 391 
 
 1 have had some specimens of the creeper and stone-fly 
 sent me by the obliging assistance of Messrs. Redpath, of 
 Kelso, and the annexed sketch gives a diagram of the stone- 
 fly in different stages of development. Messrs. Redpath have 
 also made a special study of artificial imitations of this insect, 
 both in its winged and larval condition, and have forwarded me 
 samples, which I must say look exceedingly tempting and life- 
 like. 
 
 Besides stone-fly fishing, the only really effective method of 
 using the natural fly for trout that I am acquainted with is by 
 means of the ' blow-line ; ' and the place to see blow-line fishing 
 is in the lakes of Westmeath. Indeed, this beautiful chain of 
 waters seems to be the natural habitat of the art. Each lake in 
 its turn, as the fly appeal s on it, becomes for a few days a centre 
 to the angling community, and many a boat which, as Pat says, is 
 only safe provided you do not ' cough or snaze,' is then dragged 
 from her moorings perhaps at the bottom of the lake and 
 pressed into service. The art of blow-line fishing, though in its 
 principle exceedingly simple, demands much nicety of execution 
 in practice, and, as indeed its name implies, it cannot be pursued 
 at all without the assistance of that most inconstant element, the 
 wind. Weather, however, proving propitious, the tackle is easily 
 adjusted. A skein of floss silk, prepared for the purpose, and 
 attached to the end of a light running line, is substituted, so far as 
 the actual casting is concerned, for the ' reel-line,' and to this, 
 instead of the ordinary fly-collar, is fastened a single small hook 
 whipped on a strand of fine gut. The hook is baited with a May- 
 fly, and as the boat drifts the wind carries out the floss silk, which 
 ought to be so managed by the aid of hand and rod that only the 
 hook and fly should actually touch the water. Near the edges of 
 the reeds will usually be found the greatest quantity of Ephenieridce^ 
 and, as a corollary, the greatest number of trout. 
 
 The exact time for this fishing varies a little, as the spring has 
 been cold or genial ; and the several lakes vary also inter se, which 
 is a great convenience to the fisherman ; but from the middle to the 
 end of May is commonly about the time. The Westmeath lakes, 
 when the fly ' is up,' will well repay a visit, as the fish, which are 
 at this time in the highest condition, running from two to five 
 pounds, and sometimes nearly twice as much, take the natural fly 
 freely ; and if the angler puts Dr. Peard's charming little book.
 
 392 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 ' A Year of Liberty,' into his portmanteau, he will need no abler or 
 more agreeable guide. 
 
 An analogous system to that above described is pursued occa- 
 sionally on some streams in England ; but on others it is strictly 
 prohibited, and on many hardly considered fair fishing. The 
 circumstances of the two cases, however, are entirely different. 
 
 THE WASP-GRUB. 
 
 In some rivers, such as those of Shropshire and Hereford- 
 shire, the wasp-grub is occasionally a very killing bait for trout, 
 although, curiously enough, grayling are but seldom taken with 
 it, even in rivers where they most abound. The only differ- 
 ence as regards tackle, method of fishing, ground baiting, 
 etc., between wasp-grub fishing for trout and gentle-fishing for 
 grayling, as described further on, is in the size of hook, which 
 should be about a No. 7 of my patterns. Two wasp-grubs 
 may be used as the bait ; the first run right through from 
 head to tail and drawn up the hook- shank, the second covering 
 the point and bend of the hook. 
 
 Though an excellent bait for trout, and, indeed, said to 
 take the finest fish and those in the best condition, the wasp- 
 grub is an exceedingly delicate bait to manipulate. So delicate, 
 indeed, as not to be fit for use in its natural state, and to 
 require much care and attention in preparation. 
 
 The plan adopted by Mr. Jones, of Ludlow, an apostle of 
 this kind of fishing, was as follows : 
 
 To a pot of boiling water add a little salt, and whilst it is 
 boiling put the wasp-grubs into it for two or three minutes. 
 Take the pot off, then pour the water and its contents through 
 a sieve, and when the grubs have remained a minute or two to 
 'draw' put them on the hob on a duster, or on a piece of 
 flannel, or cloth of some sort, for about half an hour. This 
 draws out the moisture and makes the grub sufficiently tough 
 to remain on the hook.
 
 SPINNING AND BAIT-FISHING. 303 
 
 In selecting the baits for the hook choose the specimens 
 which are the least wasp-like in appearance, and put the others 
 aside to be used as ground-bait in the manner described with 
 regard to gentle-fishing. 
 
 Here is a receipt for taking a wasp's nest : Cover your 
 face and head with a veil over a fencing mask. Tie your 
 trousers and coat-cuffs at the bottoms, put on a pair of stout 
 gloves and proceed with a shovel to quietly dig out the nest. 
 This is the way to get stung ; which I can answer for as I have 
 tried it. If, however, you have any objection to the process, 
 then you will find it the better course to preface the ' digging 
 out ' by first suffocating the wasps with a sulphur and gunpowder 
 squib in the manner which will be found detailed in Vol. 1L
 
 394 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 
 
 CONTINUING my observations on bait-fishing for Salmonida, 
 I come next to Grayling the remaining British representative 
 of the family possessing any great interest for the sportsman, 
 and, indeed, ranking ' with but after ' its ' star-stoled ' cousin 
 of the brook, Sal mo fario. 
 
 When grayling, or grayling fishing, is the subject of conversa- 
 tion among fishermen, almost the first thing one is sure to hear 
 is a discussion of the relative merits of this fish, from an angler's 
 point of view, as compared with the trout ; and a consensus 
 of opinion is usually at last arrived at that the trout is in every 
 way the more mettlesome and sporting fish, but that the gray- 
 ling possesses one unique advantage over him, from a fly-fisher's 
 standpoint, in that he is in prime condition when the trout 
 is out of season, and, of course, unfit to be taken. Trout, in 
 fact, spawn during the late autumn and winter months, and 
 grayling during April and the early part of May, when they 
 come up the gravelly scours in shoals, in this respect resembling 
 dace. The grayling has, moreover, the advantage of rarely 
 being so much out of season as to be unfit for food, or un- 
 willing to take a bait if judiciously offered. Sir Humphry 
 Davy, who has given us a very fair history of the fish, con- 
 sidered that it might be fished for at all times of the year, and 
 that when there were flies on the water it would generally take 
 them. 
 
 As regards external similitude, there is, of course, no real 
 comparison to be made between the trout and the grayling, the 
 latter bearing really a greater resemblance to the vendace, and
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 395 
 
 others of the herring-shaped species, or coregont, and especially 
 in the matter of the size of the scales which are large and chub- 
 like, whilst the scales of the trout are exceedingly small, and in 
 the charrs even minute. The basis of the colouring in the 
 scales of the grayling is rather silver than gold, and when in the 
 height of condition that is, in October or November and just 
 taken from the water, he is certainly one of the most beautiful 
 fish that swims. At this time the back is of a deep purple 
 or claret colour, with small dark irregular spots on the sides ; 
 the stomach is brilliantly white, with a fringe or lacing of gold ; 
 and the tail, pectoral, and ventral fins are of a rich purplish 
 tint. The dorsal fin is very large almost disproportionately 
 so and is covered with scarlet spots and wavy lines upon a 
 ground of reddish brown. The little ' velvety ' back fin near 
 the tail is also dark brown or purple, and the whole body is 
 shot with violet, copper, and blue reflections when seen in 
 different lights. 
 
 Properly to appreciate this colouring, the fish should be 
 laid horizontally upon the hand to be looked at, in which 
 position its varied tinting is seen to the greatest advantage. 
 
 The specific name, thymallus, or ' thymy,' is derived from a 
 peculiar smell which is said to be possessed by the grayling, but 
 which, I must say, appears to me to resemble rather the odour 
 of cucumber than that of thyme. Its familiar name ' grayling,' 
 is probably a modification of ' gray-lines,' having reference to 
 the longitudinal dusky-blue bars with which its body is marked. 
 
 The grayling is essentially a local fish, and, as compared 
 with the trout, may be even said to be rare, only certain soils 
 being apparently suitable to its development or, perhaps 
 favourable to the production of the insect-food on which it in 
 a great measure subsists. It thrives best in rivers the bottoms 
 of which are composed principally of sandy gravel or loam. 
 Rocky or stony bottoms are very inimical to its breeding ; and 
 this is probably the reason why, though flourishing in many 
 Continental waters, none exist, so far as I am aware, in those 
 of Ireland or Scotland. Indeed, even in England, a dozen
 
 396 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 names or so include all our streams which have any right 
 really to be considered as properly grayling waters ; and these, 
 with hardly an exception, belong to the southern and western 
 portions of the island. 
 
 Some years ago the attempt to introduce grayling into the 
 upper part of the Thames was made by Mr. Warburton, who 
 turned in a considerable number of store-fish, but they never 
 became acclimatised, and at last practically disappeared. The 
 case is, no doubt, accurately stated by Mr. Elaine, when he 
 says, ' Grayling require other peculiarities of location besides 
 those of temperature, such as, for instance, the general character 
 of the water they inhabit, and certain circumstances in the nature 
 of its composition derived from its sources.' 
 
 It is probably owing to the absence of some of these requi- 
 sites that the breeding of the fish in several rivers in which they 
 have been attempted to be naturalised has not been attended 
 with success. In some they soon disappeared ; in others they 
 remained, but never thrived ; while in some waters, though they 
 lived and at first increased, yet they were afterwards observed 
 to shift their quarters to different grounds, in most of which 
 cases it proved, as in the Test of Hampshire, that they 
 emigrated from above downwards, probably in search of deeper 
 and more tranquil waters. For the grayling-fisher cannot fail 
 to observe that this species does not, like the trout, affect very 
 rapid shallows and the coldest torrents ; on the contrary it 
 seems to thrive best where milder currents alternate with deep 
 and extensive pools. On the rapids, however or 'stickles,' 
 as they are termed small grayling may frequently be found, 
 but the large fish rarely, except in the spawning season. 
 
 The haunts of large grayling are ihe deepish and slow run- 
 ning tails of streams or pools, a few yards before the formation 
 of fresh shallows ; and here they will be found at all times, except 
 when spawning. 
 
 It will thus be seen that grayling are fastidious, not to say 
 capricious, in their choice of habitats ; yet it has been proved 
 by experiment that they will thrive even in ponds the conditions
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 397 
 
 of .which are otherwise suitable. Such a pond, of an acre or 
 so in extent, exists to my knowledge within a few miles of 
 Ludlow. It is fed by a fine spring, and the grayling which were 
 put into it, I have been assured, both thrive and fatten won- 
 derfully. Unfortunately a reference to my notes does not enable 
 me to say whether they also breed. As a rule it has been 
 found by experiment that even in ponds where they will live 
 such as those, for instance, newly cut in hard soil or which 
 have been recently and thoroughly cleaned they do not breed. 
 
 Of the counties producing these fish, probably Herefordshire 
 and Shropshire contain the best, as they certainly contain the 
 most celebrated streams \ the former includes the Teme,Lugg, 
 Wye, and Arrow, and the latter the Clun and the Teme, dis- 
 tinguished as the head-quarters of the well-known Leintwar- 
 dine Club. 
 
 In Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is found in the 
 Test, Wharf, and in both the Avons ; in Staffordshire, in the 
 Hodder, Trent, Dove, Blythe, and Wye ; in Derbyshire, in the 
 Dove ; and in Merionethshire, in the Dee, between Curleen and 
 Bala ; in Lancashire, in the Ribble ; Yorkshire, in the Der- 
 went, Yore, Wharfe, and Whiske (near Northallerton), Rye, Swale, 
 Costa, and Dove ; Scotland, Clyde and (perhaps) Annan. 
 
 'Grayling,' observes Mr. H. R. Francis, 'are oddly distri- 
 ' buted in the British Isles. I know of few in Scotland or 
 ' Ireland, while in England the streams haunted by them seem 
 ' capriciously distributed in groups according to no traceable rule. 
 ' Yorkshire has many, chiefly to the north and east ; Derbyshire 
 1 many ; Lancashire, as far as I know, only the Ribble. South- 
 ' ward, after an extensive hiatus, we have the grayling streams 
 ' of Shropshire, and Herefordshire, and again not a few in the 
 ' south of South Wales. There are good grayling in several of 
 ' the principal Hampshire streams, and I think I have heard of 
 ' a few in Wiltshire, but in the centre and south-east of England 
 ' they are not to be found.' 
 
 Of the above grayling waters by far the finest streams are 
 the Dove, the Lugg, the Test and the Teme. The last-named
 
 398 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 river contains, in addition to some remarkably beautiful scenery, 
 probably the best grayling water in the world certainly in 
 England ; and the Teme grayling has the reputation of being 
 the first in the market. It was in the neighbourhood of the 
 Teme, at Downton, that Sir H. Davy wrote his ' Salmonia, or 
 Days of Salmon Fishing ; ' and I have enjoyed some excellent 
 sport on this river through the kindness of its owner, Mr. 
 Boughton Knight, of Downton Castle. 
 
 Izaak Walton makes special mention of the Teme, in the 
 neighbourhood of Worcester, for its remarkable grayling fishing. 
 
 It takes its rise in the Kerry hills, Montgomeryshire, and flow- 
 ing through a wild pastoral country, a region of large, round, green- 
 topped hills, thoroughly suggestive of shepherd life, but not pre- 
 senting any very great attractions for the lovers of the picturesque, 
 arrives at Knighton, and from thence flows past Leintwardine to 
 Ludlow and Tenbury, finally falling into the Severn at Powick 
 below Worcester. Throughout its course, or at all events from 
 Knighton, the Teme is generally strictly preserved, more particu- 
 larly from Leintwardine to Tenbury. The best grayling fishing is 
 at Leintwardine, and from thence to Ludlow. 
 
 Mr. J. H. Cliffe furnished me some years ago, when I was 
 editing the ' Fisherman's Magazine and Review,' with some 
 further particulars in regard to the best grayling fishing stations, 
 which may still probably be of interest, although no longer 
 reliable as an angling itinerary. 
 
 Knighton, called by the Welsh Tref-y-Clawdd, meaning the 
 'town on the (Offa's) Dyke,' is a good station for fishermen, more 
 especially for such as prefer to roam unrestricted up into the wild 
 moorland wastes near the source of the Teme ; but Ludlow, Ten- 
 bury, and a small place called ' Little Hereford,' are also excellent 
 stations. At the last-named the trout and grayling fishing at the 
 proper seasons is often first-rate. The banks of the river are, how- 
 ever, somewhat encumbered with trees. After Presteign, Knighton 
 may be considered the first town in Radnor. It is well situated on 
 a hill above the river, and to such as are fond of retirement and 
 like wandering amongst wild hills, either in search of sport or 
 antiquities, Knighton is a pleasant gite.
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 399 
 
 \ will now refer to the Lugg, a stream with which I am more 
 intimately acquainted, and which is little less famous for grayling 
 than its sister the Teme. Like the latter it has also a Welsh origin. 
 It rises in Radnorshire, in the wild hills in the neighbourhood of 
 Llangynllo, and after flowing for several miles a parallel course 
 southward of the Teme, arrives at the neat, prettily situated town 
 of Presteign, Llan Andras, the ' church of St. Andrew,' which is 
 the capital of the county of Radnor. Presteign, however, is not 
 entirely a Welsh town, as it is partly situated in Herefordshire, the 
 River Lugg here dividing the Counties of Radnor and Hereford. 
 It has a good market for agricultural produce, and living is 
 moderate, a desideratum to such as have only small incomes ; and 
 to the angler Presteign is a most desirable residence during the 
 summer and autumn. 
 
 From Presteign, the Lugg flows past Kinsham, between thickly 
 wooded hills near Shobdon Court, the picturesque seat of Lord 
 Bateman ; thence to Aymestry, Mortimer's Cross, and the pretty 
 pastoral village of Kingsland. After passing Leominster its course 
 is through a rich, level, fertile country, until it finally discharges 
 itself into the Wye below Mordiford. 
 
 Now through the wood 
 We steal, and mark the old and mossy oaks 
 Imboss the mountain's slope : or the wild ash, 
 With rich red clusters mantling : or the birch 
 In lonely glens light wavering : till behold 
 The rapid river shooting through the gloom 
 Its lucid line along. 
 
 The Arrow joins the Lugg a few miles below Leominster ; it 
 contains grayling and trout, but to the angler it is of far inferior 
 attraction to the sister stream. 
 
 Such being a brief sketch of the topography of the Lugg, I now 
 come to the more practical question where and how to find gray- 
 ling fishing. From Presteign, to and below Leominster the Lugg 
 contains grayling more or less numerous. This river is now 
 almost entirely preserved from a short distance below Presteign, 
 until it joins the Wye. I have met with excellent sport at 
 Aymestry, and more especially at Kingsland, a charming retreat 
 for the fisherman ; very comfortable although somewhat primitive 
 and homely. Accommodation may be obtained at the village inn. 
 Grayling are peculiar in their habits, and are only to be found in 
 rivers abounding in rapids and scours, alternating with ' lanes ' of
 
 400 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 deep sluggish water. This is a characteristic which especially 
 belongs to the Lugg, more particularly in the higher portions of its 
 course, and in no part more so than in the water from and above 
 Aymestry to Kingsland and downwards. You find the smaller, or 
 \vhat are locally termed the shett or ' shut ' grayling, abounding in 
 the scours or runs ; the larger fish keeping to the pools and deep 
 still lanes of water. 
 
 There are, or were, two, if not more clubs on this river : viz. 
 at Leominster and Kingsland. To the latter club I formerly be- 
 longed, and although the members were professedly limited, yet 
 there was not much difficulty in procuring admission. The sub- 
 scription was a guinea a year with a gratuity to the keeper of the 
 water, and each member of the club was entitled to give permission 
 to a friend, should the latter accompany him. The club water 
 extended from Kingsland for about two miles, and all, or nearly all, 
 the water was sufficiently open along the banks for the purposes of 
 the angler. At the village inn there is room for two or three 
 anglers, and if further accommodation is required, private lodgings 
 in the village can be obtained. 
 
 A mile or two further on from Kingsland, on the road to 
 Wigmore and Presteign, we come to Mortimer's Cross, so called 
 from a famous battle fought in the vicinity, between the adherents 
 of the Houses of York and Lancaster. This village contains an 
 old-fashioned but comfortable inn, and being in the immediate 
 vicinity of the Lugg, is conveniently situated for the fisherman. 
 There is excellent fishing-ground from Kingsland to Aymestry, but 
 it is necessary to obtain leave ; for particulars we should advise 
 inquiries being made at Mortimer's Cross. Aymestry, further on, 
 is the beau ideal of a fisherman's home, in short perfection. 
 Formerly, there stood near the bridge a very comfortable inn, con- 
 sisting of a roomy parlour, and two or three bed-rooms, clean, 
 although homely, with great civility and good fare. Since my 
 sojourn there, however, I have heard that the inn is shut up, and 
 whether there is now any accommodation for the fisherman at 
 Aymestry, I am unable to say. 
 
 The scenery here, especially in autumn, is exquisite, the banks 
 of the Lugg being beautifully wooded, and the branches in many 
 places weeping over and even into the water. From hence to 
 Kingsland by road is about three miles. The Aymestry water 
 extends above bridge for about one mile. Above that the Lugg is 
 strictly preserved by Lord Bateman. 
 
 There is one drawback to the angler : at the fall of the leaf the
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 401 
 
 water is frequently almost covered with dead leaves which attach 
 themselves to his flies, and are a considerable trial to his patience. 
 A pleasant walking trip may be made from Kingsland to 
 Shobdon, and from thence through the woods by a very romantic 
 path to the banks of the Lugg, returning to Kingsland by Aymestry 
 and Mortimer's Cross. Another agreeable excursion may be made 
 from Aymestry to the old ruins of Wigmore Castle, which are 
 extensive, and well worthy of inspection, and from thence to 
 Presteign. 
 
 In weight the grayling rarely exceeds 3 Ibs., and by far the 
 greater number of fish taken are under i Ib. Occasionally, 
 however, they are even met with of even a larger size than the 
 above-named : Mr. T. Lister Parker took three fish in the 
 Avon, near Ringwood, which together weighed 12 Ibs. ; a gray- 
 ling of 4^ Ibs. weight was killed in the Test, and one of 5 Ibs. 
 is recorded to have been taken in the neighbourhood of 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 Bowlker, in his 'Art of Angling,' says that the largest grayling 
 he ever knew weighed 55 Ibs., and Mr. Jones, who was well 
 known to Ludlow grayling fishers as a most skilful and inde- 
 fatigable angling attendant, tells me that he never knew or 
 heard of a bigger. He himself caught one weighing 4 Ibs. 5 ozs. 
 in the presence of Mr. Walcott, of Bitterly Court. This was 
 with a single hair and a gentle. The fish was stuffed by 
 the late Dr. Buckley, of Shrewsbury. It is curious that though 
 Bowlker was a Ludlow man, and doubtless a good grayling 
 fisher, he does not mention the artificial grasshopper at all in his 
 book. Jones claims to have been the first to introduce it, at any 
 rate in the neighbourhood of Ludlow. In the Leintwardine Club 
 there are only certain days of the year on which, if I remember 
 rightly, grasshopper fishing is allowed, a precaution that may, 
 perhaps, be necessary on club water which is liable to be 
 assiduously and closely fished. The limit of size under which 
 the Club used to permit the taking of grayling, either with bait 
 or fly, was 10 inches. 
 
 In connection with this, the limitation of size, naturally 
 occurs that of the growth rate. 
 
 i. D D
 
 402 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 One-year-old fish are locally termed ' pinks ; ' at two years, 
 when they weigh about quarter pound, they become 'shett' or 
 ' shut ' grayling ; and afterwards ' grayling.' The ' pink ' grayling 
 have neither spots nor lateral lines observable. ' Shett ' grayling 
 have spots, but no well-marked longitudinal lines as seen in the 
 full-grown fish. At three years old the grayling weigl s about half 
 to three quarters of a pound in average waters, and is supposed 
 by some authors to continue growing at about the same rate, 
 viz. a quarter of a pound per annum, until reaching its maximum 
 weight, which may probably be considered under ordinary con- 
 ditions from four to five pounds. Other authorities, on the 
 contrary, say that after half a pound the grayling grows fast, 
 and that the next or fourth year he puts on another pound. A 
 grayling weighing half a pound spawns, but a ' shett ' grayling 
 does not. 
 
 The ova are numerous, but considerably smaller than those 
 of the trout, being about the size of partridge shot, and when 
 seen in the rays of the sun, look very much the colour of the 
 opal. The body of the embryo fish becomes distinctly visible 
 in about nine days, and the egg itself hatches in fourteen or 
 fifteen days from the date of deposit, results obtained in the 
 case of the eggs of the trout, in about thirty-five and fifty days 
 respectively. The spawning time, as already observed, is in 
 April and the beginning of May, the fish getting into condition 
 in July, and reaching its prime in October and November, when 
 most of the other Salinonidce are going off. 
 
 Besides flies, worms, caterpillars, and the like, the food of 
 the grayling consists of the larvae of dragon-flies, May flies, and 
 other ephemera, remains of the cases of the former and the 
 skins of all of them being frequently found in its stomach. 
 In the winter months the grayling will commonly rise at 
 the fly from about twelve o'clock until two, if there is any 
 sun. 
 
 Into the question of fly-fishing I do not purpose to enter, 
 as it has been ably dealt with elsewhere in this volume by 
 Mr. H. R. Francis. I may, however, add a hint which I believe
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 403 
 
 that gentleman does not give, namely, that when the fish refuse 
 the fly at surface, they will frequently take it if allowed to sink 
 towards the bottom. 
 
 Although instances have been known, and that not infre- 
 quently, of grayling taking the spinning minnow, it is not 
 believed that they resemble trout in their minnow-feeding 
 propensities, or that the minnow forms any important part of 
 their dietary. The best mode of bait-fishing is undoubtedly 
 with the gentle, either in connection with the artificial grass- 
 hopper, or on the hook of an artificial fly, or by itself. 
 
 To take the last first, gentle-fishing with the float is a most 
 killing method of taking the grayling. Indeed, Jones, the fisher- 
 man aforesaid, whose experience is, perhaps, unequalled, has 
 repeatedly told me that he considered it, on the whole, the most 
 deadly method that could be practised and that it will not 
 unfrequently succeed when all other baits fail. It is especially 
 good when the water is too much coloured for flies. The 
 modus operandi is as follows : Take a long stiffish, light 
 rod and a fine running line such as Nottingham silk, for 
 example with very fine gut, or, still better {pace Jones), single 
 hair float-line, and a very small hook, about No. i of my 
 patterns, which should be baited with two gentles, never more. 
 A float about three inches long and exceedingly light should 
 be used, with a single good-sized shot, say No. 3, about three- 
 quarters of a foot above the hooks. 
 
 The float should be light enough for this shot to 'cock' 
 it properly. Choose a very quiet hole or swim, and plumb the 
 depth ; allowing sufficient float-line over to let the shot touch 
 the bottom. For ground bait use gentles simply either carrion 
 or liver and proceed to fish as if for roach, the only difference 
 being that a little more time must be allowed in striking a bite 
 and the stroke should be a very gentle one, as the mouth of 
 the grayling is delicate. It is a good plan in ground-baiting to 
 keep on throwing in a few gentles say half-a-dozen or so at a 
 time so that the attention of the fish may be kept, as it were, 
 
 D D 2
 
 404 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 constantly occupied ; especially throw in gentles every time 
 after catching a fish, or eren when one has been hooked or lost. 
 Indeed, if you are sufficiently nimble to accomplish the feat, 
 it is a great element of success in making a bag to throw in 
 ground bait while the fish is actually being played a plan which 
 I have also adopted with success in roach fishing. 
 
 By following out the above method, the grayling fisher 
 may often catch nearly every fish in the hole or swim, and 
 sometimes very heavy specimens. Half a pint of gentles are 
 enough for one day and one rod, but I think half a quart is 
 still better. 
 
 For this style of gentle fishing the Nottingham method is 
 particularly deadly, and I have been assured that Worcester 
 fishermen lower down the Teme, by Tenbury, and so on, make 
 large takes of grayling in this way, using a float almost big 
 enough for jack ! For an account of the Nottingham style of 
 fishing see Vol. II. 
 
 Ludlow was the head-quarters of the old school of 'gentle 
 fishers,' but of late years this method has dropped much into 
 disuse, although still occasionally practised. The masters of the 
 art of grayling fishing with gentles always preferred hair to gut, 
 as being finer, less visible, and longer in the strand, also because 
 it never ' frays or frets/ however much it may be used. It 
 also floats, which is better for some reasons for the play of the 
 gentle, and probably makes it less likely to catch in the ground. 
 Its use, however, is confined to gentle fishing, being unsuitable 
 both for the fly and grasshopper ; in the latter case not being 
 strong enough, and in the former its ' flotation ' being an objec- 
 tion, inasmuch as many grayling take the fly under water, as 
 I have before pointed out. Gut, of course, sinks instead of 
 floating. 
 
 The hair for the purpose indicated should always be taken 
 from an entire horse. 
 
 These notes on grayling fishing with the natural bait would 
 be incomplete without a reference to a somewhat local, perhaps, 
 yet as practised by its professors, apparently a very deadly
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 405 
 
 method of using the worm, somewhat after the ' Nottingham 
 style.' As I have had no personal experience in this branch of 
 grayling fishing, I have taken the liberty of quoting from an 
 able article on the subject, which recently appeared in the 
 ' Fishing Gazette,' by Mr. Francis M. Walbran. 
 
 The author of a ' Book on Angling,' observes this gentleman, 
 makes the remark that 'As the grayling is such a sporting fish, 
 and so free to lise to all comers, it is a disgrace and a shame to 
 treat him like a poacher, with worms and such abominations. 
 Now, this may be all very well when you are dealing with the 
 denizens of Hampshire or Derbyshire streams, where fly-fishing 
 may be carried on almost into winter with reasonable expectation 
 of success ; but anybody who pays a visit to any of our Yorkshire 
 rivers after about the middle of October will find that, if he intends 
 to kill anything like a respectable dish of grayling, he will be 
 obliged to have recourse to some other method of luring them than 
 the artificial fly. 
 
 My object in writing is to explain to those of my readers who 
 may be unacquainted with it, the favourite mode of fishing for the 
 grayling adopted by anglers in this district during the winter 
 months, and which is termed by them ' swimming the worm.' As 
 regards sport, I consider it little inferior to clear-water worm 
 fishing for trout, and I venture to predict that any angler who may 
 try his hand at it and become an adept, will come to the conclusion 
 that it is equally a scientific amusement. 
 
 The weather ought to be bright and frosty, with the water low 
 and clear, to ensure success in this fishing. Melted snow or 
 ' broth,' as it is called, immediately spoils sport, and if the rivers 
 are at all flooded through rain, you are unable to get to the places 
 where grayling usually frequent, and, in addition to that, they never 
 feed really well in either a rising or falling state of the water. 
 
 The rod should be about eleven feet in length, light, and in- 
 clined rather to stiffness, but not too much so. An ebonite check 
 reel, with a fine braided waterproofed line, completes that portion 
 of your equipment, so we will now pass on to the tackle, then to 
 the consideration of bait, and finish up with a description of the 
 modus operandi. 
 
 Prepare a cast three yards in length, tapering down to the 
 finest drawn gut procurable, and on this wrap with red silk a No. 4 
 fine wire round-bend hook, with a piece of stiff bristle projecting
 
 4o6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 out about one-eighth inch from the upper portion of the shank ; 
 weight the tackle with a single swan shot attached to the line about 
 12 inches from the hook ; the float should be made of cork about 
 the size of a marble, with a hole bored through the centre, and 
 an adjusting plug of either quill or wood. 
 
 Opinions seem to vary as to the most suitable kind of worms 
 to employ, some preferring the brandling, others the small red 
 ivorm found in rotten leaf mould, which is known as the ' cockspur ' 
 in some districts ; and, as far as my experience goes, I have always 
 found the latter prove the more attractive bait of the two. 
 
 Insert the point of the hook into the worm about one-eighth 
 inch below the head, and thread it up the shank over the projecting 
 piece of bristle, which will keep it in its place, allowing the tail of 
 the worm to hang straight down, with the point and bend of the 
 hook exposed. As a general rule 18 inches is about the proper 
 depth at which to adjust the float, so that the worm may swim 
 3 inches or 4 inches from the ground ; but, of course, it all depends 
 upon the stream in which you are fishing. 
 
 All being now ready, let us adjourn 10 the river, and look out 
 for a likely spot in which to commence operations. As I write I 
 can picture just such a place in my mind's eye a stream upon my 
 favourite river the Yore. It is perhaps half-a-mile in length, 
 having a uniform depth of about 2 feet, excepting at the tail of it, 
 where it runs gradually off into a deep pool. At the head of the 
 stream it is rocky, the water running sharply round the moss- 
 covered boulders, forming below them those quiet little eddying 
 pools that grayling especially affect. Step into the edge of the 
 stream and letting out line to about the length and a half of your 
 rod, cast your worm lightly just above that rock ; jauntily rides the 
 tiny float into the eddying pool below, and just as it is veering 
 round a slight stoppage occurs only for a moment, however, and 
 then moves on as before ; pull out and examine your bait. Ah ! I 
 thought so. The tail of your worm is gone ; that was a grayling, 
 my friend, and the next swim I will wager anything that you ' nail ' 
 him. Another cast ; once more the float stops in exactly the 
 same place, but this time drags as though the hook had caught in 
 the bottom. Now, then, strike with a firm turn of the wrist habet\ 
 a good fish, too, to judge by the resistance that he makes. Gently, 
 gently ; do not hurry him. The tackle is fine and his mouth 
 tender. There, he turns on his side at last ; slip the net under 
 him and transfer him to your basket.
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 407 
 
 Just a nip of ' Scotch' to commemorate the first fish, and then 
 proceed cautiously down stream, trying every likely place within 
 reach. Towards the end of the stream we approach a belt of 
 willow trees which fringe the water's edge. Under the shade of 
 their pink roots many a lusty member of the Salmo Thymallus 
 family has his home. Let out a long line as in roach fishing, and 
 allow your bait to swim down about half a yard or so from the side. 
 There goes your float. No mistake about that bite, as the merry 
 music of your reel testifies, the fish taking out line rapidly. A 
 'pounder' this time, and if some of our sceptical friends who deride 
 the idea of a grayling being comparable to trout, as regards game- 
 ness, could witness or experience the ' play ' of a fish like this, 
 hooked upon drawn gut in the height of season, I fancy that they 
 would alter their opinions somewhat. 
 
 But the struggle comes to an end at last, and as you dip him 
 out of his native element in your net you cannot help but admire 
 his perfect symmetry and beautiful colouring. How handsome he 
 looks as he lies on the frozen grass, the rich crimson of his large 
 dorsal fin contrasting so well with his black back, and the green 
 and purple sheen of his silvery sides with the milky white of his 
 belly. 
 
 But come along ; we must waste no time, for the days are short 
 at this season of the year. Past the willows we come to a shelving 
 bed of sand and gravel. Cautiously now, my friend, for this is 
 the best swim of all. Over that bar of gravel the stream runs into 
 a deep pool ; adjust your float a little deeper, and proceed as 
 before. No result the first attempt ; your line is out at full stretch ; 
 the float drags on account of the sudden check, and you prepare to 
 pull out for another swim. But before you are almost aware your 
 rod top receives a sudden jerk, and your line comes back to you 
 minus the hook, perhaps the float as well. It's no use, however, 
 'crying over spilt milk,' and I will tell you how to avert the dis- 
 aster in future. In such a place as this when the float gets to the 
 end of the swim, the hook, being lightly weighted rises with the 
 current, and the grayling, coming from below, snatches at it, and 
 snaps the fine drawn gut with the sudden jerk. Never, there- 
 fore, keep yonr finger on the line, also take the precaution 
 before withdrawing to give a gentle strike, in which case should 
 a fish have taken your bait without giving any indication 
 through the medium of your float, you generally succeed in 
 landing.
 
 4o8 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The artificial grasshopper so called, fig. i, is merely a 
 rough im.itation of the common green caterpillar, dressed over 
 a small piece of lead to carry the bait rapidly to the bottom ; a 
 couple of gentles or so being stuck on to the point of the hook. 
 No float, properly so called, is used, but only a miniature sub- 
 stitute intended to rise and sink with the line, but at the same 
 time to give the fisherman an idea of the depth and position 
 of his bait. B, in the woodcut, fig. 2, represents the sheath or 
 'cap' of quill, into which slips a fine piece of solid quilstem, 
 
 FIG. I. ARTIFICIAL GRASSHOPPER. 
 
 FIG. 2. GRAYLIXG ' FLOAT. 
 
 A A, cut of a thickness to fit it accurately. The line of course 
 passes between A and v, and is shifted according to the ave- 
 rage depth to be fished. 
 
 The 'grasshopper' is worked simply by a 'sink and draw' 
 motion allowed, that is, to go down to the bottom, and then 
 drawn up again about a foot or so as before. The stream is 
 usually strong enough to shift the bait as much as is desirable ; 
 but if the water be too still for this, the result can be arrived 
 at by 'drawing' the bait a little to the right or left with the 
 rod, as I have pointed out in the 'Modern Practical Angler.' 
 
 The great point is to be quite sure that the bait does touch 
 the bottom before drawing up.
 
 THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 409 
 
 A run will of course be perceived as the bait is being drawn 
 up, when a smart stroke should be given, and the fish held 
 tightly. Otherwise from its non-fighting propensities, a large 
 grayling is very likely to get off ; the hook also is a good deal 
 encumbered with gentles. When first struck, the larger grayling 
 appear to me to fight as an eel fights pulling tail backwards, 
 instead of running down or away, head first, as other fish gene- 
 rally do ; and I hardly ever remember seeing a hooked grayling 
 spring out of water. 
 
 The best spots for grasshopper fishing have already been 
 described. Where the water is deep enough, a short line 
 worked almost perpendicularly near the bank will be found 
 most successful : but by throwing out a considerable distance, 
 excellent water otherwise inaccessible can often be reached. 
 The cast may be made over-hand like a fly to a distance of 
 some ten yards, but care must be taken to allow the line to 
 spread well behind, or otherwise the bait will perform various 
 eccentric flights into the bank or bushes. A longish light rod, 
 say fourteen or fifteen feet, is most convenient for grasshopper 
 fishing ; and a fine running line which is not much liable to be 
 acted upon by the current. 
 
 As a rule, fish caught with the grasshopper are twice as 
 large as those caught with the fly. September, October, 
 November and December are the best months, and the best 
 days are usually quiet warm days succeeding frosty nights in 
 fact, grasshopper fishing never fairly gets into play until the 
 first sharpish frost. From about 8 A.M. until 4 P.M. is com- 
 monly the best time of day. The proportions of a Teme 
 grayling of about one and a half pounds which I measured 
 were : total length of the head, body, and tail-fin being 
 considered as five and a half, the length of the head alone as 
 one. Depth of body slightly greater than length of head ; tail 
 forked. As in all members of the salmon family, the grayling 
 has two back fins, the second adipose or fatty. 
 
 Number of scales in lateral line about eighty-seven.
 
 410 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 
 
 LOOKING at the dear old Thames from an angler's point of view, 
 I must admit that within my memory the range of ' fish-able ' 
 water has been considerably reduced. I have made many a 
 good basket of roach and dace off the piles under Putney 
 Bridge, where the water was then clear enough to support a fair 
 sprinkling of barbel, and I have caught half-a-dozen different 
 kinds of fish off the bank of Ranelagh House, where I lived as 
 a boy, from grounds lately united to those of the Hurling- 
 ham Club. The roach-fishing at Battersea Bridge, if I 
 remember, only ceased about the year 1827, and from that date 
 the limit of rod-fishing gradually receded up the river. There 
 has, however, since the formation of the Thames Embankment 
 been a re-appearance of scale-fish down the estuary, and though 
 the increased traffic forbids the renewal of punt-fishing, yet in 
 certain states of the water resolute urchins contrive to extract a 
 few of them as low down as Chelsea Bridge. From Teddington 
 upwards the angling may not be quite what it was in my boy- 
 hood, but if we could have an authentic summary of all the 
 fish taken in the course of a year between the tidal boundary 
 and Wallingford, the number, weight and variety of the cap- 
 lures would, I think, astonish some facetious contemners of 
 Thames fishing. 
 
 My present concern, however, is with one only of its 
 numerous branches ; the one, perhaps, which has suffered 
 least from increased traffic and the disturbance of the stream. 
 The haunts of the Thames trout lie for the most part outside 
 the course of lighters and steam-launches, and where the run
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 411 
 
 of the water is too strong for any but the most athletic sculler. 
 Moreover, the various societies which have taken part in the 
 preservation of the river have given special attention to keeping 
 up and in some cases getting up the stock of trout. What 
 remains yet to be done for the better attainment of these objects 
 I shall try to show towards the end of this paper. For the 
 present, I will at once address myself to the ways and means 
 of capturing Thames trout which my own experience has 
 recommended to me. 
 
 I ought however at the outset to make two admissions 
 which will go far to ' disable my judgment ' in the eyes of many 
 skilful London anglers. My experience is ' ancient ' as well as 
 'fish-like,' having been acquired almost wholly in the years 
 from 1844 to 1854 inclusive. I have, it is true, twice within 
 the last few years tried my old casts with the fly for a few 
 hours, and both times with success, but I have ' lost touch ' of 
 many parts of the river with which I was once familiar. Again, 
 I can only claim to have known well the trouting capacities of 
 the river between Pangbourne and Bray Weir, and have but a 
 general knowledge of those lower reaches in svhich the trout 
 are heaviest and most highly educated. 
 
 There was a story current some thirty years ago of a gentle- 
 man who took boat at Chertsey for his first day's assault on 
 these wary giants, and favoured by weather or water or that 
 mysterious power called ' luck ' brought home two noble trout, 
 'the likes' of which he had never seen. He lost no time in 
 leasing a Thames-side villa, the hall of which he already beheld 
 in his mind's eyes decorated with a goodly array of similar 
 water-trophies. But during a two-years' tenancy he never 
 killed another Thames trout. 
 
 Similar experiences, however, were not unknown in what I 
 may call the ' middle waters,' my own special beat. I could 
 mention men well-known in the angling world who were con- 
 stantly baffled in their attempts to secure a trout from Father 
 Thames. I shall never forget the reply made to me by a dear 
 friend and sporting companion of my own beyond question a
 
 412 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 skilful trout-fisher, with a quick eye and nice hand when I 
 requested him to fish with me on the opening day of the 
 trouting-season. ' No, F.,' said he, 'it won't do. I have done 
 with toiling and spinning. Three seasons have I fished for 
 Thames trout. I have been broken five times. I have taken 
 but one trout, weighing one pound, and that the cat ate ! ' 
 
 The climax was so comical that I forbore to ' saddle him 
 with a judgment ' for basketing a fish under size. 
 
 His record a strictly true one was certainly not en- 
 couraging. Yet in spite of this and other kindred examples, 
 or as some would say warnings, I think the difficulty of 
 taking trout in the Thames is a good deal exaggerated. My 
 own experience, I am told, has been exceptionally fortunate, 
 and if I stated its general result I should hardly expect to be 
 believed by those who do not know me. It will be more to 
 the purpose to point out the reasons which seem to me to 
 account for an unduly low average of success and the details 
 of practice which I have found useful ; citing my own record 
 only when it has some distinct value as illustrating a principle. 
 
 In the first place it appears to me that Thames trout-fishing as 
 commonly practised is too much an affair of weirs and floodgates 
 of spinning hour after hour in a strong rush of water, at, or 
 near, the same spot. No doubt a good hand, with abundant 
 leisure may, if he steadily haunts two or three good weir-pools 
 on likely days, make certain of a few fish in the course of the 
 season, and those, mark you, good ones. Moreover, if he 
 likes to take things easily, he will have less severe and con- 
 tinuous work than he would encounter in fishing a series of 
 heavy streams broad-cast with the spinning-bait, with an average 
 of something like forty yards to each throw. Nor again is his 
 sport wholly monotonous when he is not actually fast in a fish. 
 I never could make the first cast of the day in the central rush 
 of a good weir without a stirring sense of expectation. And 
 when a goodly trout shows himself well on the feed within 
 reach of the weir-fisher's station, there is no slight excitement 
 in the attempt to guide the spinning bleak or gudgeon so as to
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 413 
 
 cross his beat attractively. But ' for a' that, and a' that and 
 twice as much as a' that,' give me the open stream-fishing in 
 April and early May, and the fly later in summer forenoons and 
 evenings, for the cream of Thames trouting. 
 
 The second cause, which seems to me to increase the inevit- 
 able difficulties of this sport, and to limit the number of captures, 
 is that spinning for Thames trout is too commonly regarded as ' a 
 thing apart ' utterly unlike the minnow-fisher's sport in other 
 waters, and to be invariably pursued with the heavily leaded 
 trace, showy bait, and elaborate flight of hooks which are need- 
 ful in working strong and broad streams, but those only. Let 
 me give an example to illustrate my meaning. 
 
 About forty years ago I made my first acquaintance with 
 the trout of Father Thames. I had recently taken a cottage 
 at Hurley, hard by the second lock above Marlow, and wished 
 to know what could be done in that neighbourhood at my 
 favourite sport. It was the ominous ist of April, and so un- 
 favourable was the weather that old Andrews, whose services 
 I had secured as boatman, broadly hinted that I had better 
 have stayed at home. Never since have I seen the river so 
 low at that season, and the day was so exceptionally warm and 
 bright that I was fain to fish in my shirt-sleeves, as if it had 
 been midsummer. There were four other boats out in the 
 reach below Boulter's Lock, and my soul was vexed to see the 
 dashing and plunging of baits and leads across the broad 
 sunny shallows ; far more calculated, I should have supposed, 
 to scare than to attract a trout of average intelligence. I at 
 once made up my mind to have nothing to do with the Thames 
 spinning tackle, and fitted up a cast arranged in the fashion 
 which I had found killing in a score of smaller risers. It con- 
 sisted of a small lead to lie within the belly of the bait, to 
 which was attached a lip-hook with two eyes, while on a 
 separate length of fine gut were two triangles. These were 
 threaded with a long needle through the bait, so that the larger 
 was drawn up close to the vent, while the smaller hung just by 
 the bait's tail. I baited with a gudgeon scarcely larger than a
 
 4M SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 minnow, and when its mouth was closed over the lead by the 
 lip-hook, and the link, with the triangles, passed through the 
 'eyes' and looped on to a fine trace with two swivels, I felt 
 that I had a tackle suited to the brightest water, and capable of 
 being dropped without disturbance in any quiet nook. When 
 I explained my scheme of tactics to my veteran boatman, I 
 fear he took much the same view of my character as the matron 
 
 at Shrewsbury School did of Master W whom she declared 
 
 to be the most 'poke-into-every-hole-and-cornerest boy she 
 ever see in her life!' But his punting to suit my short, quiet 
 casts was simply perfection. I had but to indicate the spot 
 where I hoped to find a fish, and without splash, stir, or 
 apparent effort, he placed me within easy reach of it. Now 
 it would be a deep rush through a ballast hole ; now a dark 
 eddy behind a barrier of roots ; now the quiet water under the 
 further side of a mill- shoot ; but whatever the difficulties of 
 approach, Andrews never threw a chance away. The outcome 
 of all our manoeuvring was, I confess, very gratifying to me as 
 a novice in those waters. I got four fish not ' boomers,' 
 certainly, for the largest was just under four pounds; but all 
 takeable and three of the other boats had but one small trout 
 between them, nor could I learn that the fourth, which went 
 off down stream, had carried away any spoil. 
 
 No doubt, with ordinary water and weather, the results 
 would have been very different. The fish would not have lain 
 so close, and the caster who covered most water would cateris 
 paribns have had the best chance. Still, that day's experience 
 showed me what is the weak point of the ordinary Thames 
 spinning-tackle. It is not good for exploring a deep hole or a 
 sheltered nook, and I believe much might be done, after 
 fishing the streams in a likely reach, broad-cast, by changing 
 the tackle, and fishing out the odd corners without any lead 
 outside the bait. As the season advances, especially if the 
 summer be a warm one, spinning across the open streams 
 becomes almost useless, unless just at twilight, and the angler 
 who wishes to troll for trout beyond the weir-pools, will do
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 415 
 
 well to borrow a word from Mr. Chucks to mitigate his 
 tackle. 
 
 For my own part, however, I enjoy Thames trouting most 
 when fishing the open streams with heavy spinning-tackle at 
 the beginning of the season, and the livelier runs with the fly 
 towards its close. I shall therefore direct my remarks chiefly 
 to these two phases of the craft, adding, however, a few pages 
 with regard to its other branches. 
 
 Let us suppose it the ist of April, and that you are deter- 
 mined to kill a Thames trout or two, and not be yourself 
 a ' poisson tfAvril! You will of course have secured a first- 
 rate local boatman some days before, as, however well you may 
 know the water you have fixed upon, much will depend upon 
 his experience and judgment. I have never countenanced the 
 common practice of allowing my hired fisherman to angle 
 either with me or for me. I don't put this as a matter of 
 principle ; it is with me, no doubt, rather a question of tempera- 
 ment. I have made up my mind to kill a trout, and have 
 found that a strong will in this, as in other matters, goes far 
 towards success. But were I to fail, it would be anything but 
 a consolation to me that my boatman had a ten-pound prize in 
 the ' fresh-water lottery,' whilst I had drawn a blank. Nor of 
 course could I expect the full benefit of his knowledge with 
 regard to the exact haunts of particular fish, if I knew that he 
 was afterwards to try the same water for his own honour and 
 glory. I have known many Thames puntmen well, and very 
 fine fellows I have found them, but one must not expect too 
 much from human nature. On the other hand, I admit to the 
 full my boatman's important share in the day's success. In 
 the ancient British wars the chief drove the war- chariot, while 
 his retainers fought from it. And if anyone contends in like 
 manner, that the man who guides the punt plays a higher role than 
 he who wields the rod, I should not care to dispute the point. 
 Only when I have undertaken the spinning department I insist 
 on keeping it to myself. My boatman always seemed to under- 
 stand this, and I think liked me the better for being so dread-
 
 4i 6 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 fully in earnest. Of course I took care that they should have 
 some 'solid pudding' to set against the loss of empty praise. 
 I took a hint from the dealings of the ' Angler in Norway ' with 
 the peasants who worked his boat, and made every sizeable 
 trout I took, a 'specie fish.' 
 
 Your boatman secured and there is no lack of skilled 
 hands from Pangbourne to Teddington look well to your 
 tackle and bait. Let your trace be of round, clear gut, of 
 reasonable, not excessive, thickness. Some anglers by way of 
 being on the safe side use gut of preposterous strength, nearly 
 as opaque and as conspicuous as gimp. Such tackle throws 
 away chances in clear water, and is, in any case, superfluous. 
 I don't believe in sound gut of medium thickness being fairly 
 broken under ordinary circumstances, by any trout up to a 
 stone weight. No doubt if a heavy fish gets you unawares 
 round a pile or a root thus getting a dead pull unrelieved by 
 the play of the rod something must give way ; probably the 
 hold, or the hooks, or a treacherous knot, but very possibly a 
 link of your gut, however stout ; frayed, perhaps, in rubbing 
 against the hard-edged wood. The case is hopeless for any 
 tackle short of a cart-rope and a meat-hook. I ought, how- 
 ever, in candour to* mention one case in which a trace of what 
 I should condemn elsewhere as excessive strength may con- 
 ceivably prevent an 'imminent deadly breach.' A trout will 
 occasionally dash up from the deeper stream below, to where 
 the water is foaming over the apron of a weir, and the bleak 
 are flashing about in heedless play. If he takes your bait in 
 such a place, his first rush is sure to be exceptionally strong, as 
 he is in all haste to escape from his exposed position, and 
 often puts extra weight into his pull, from being half out of 
 the water. Under these circumstances, line should be given 
 instantly and freely, but the angler who is taken by surprise, 
 and holds too hard, may have the luck to save his fish by 
 tackle of maximum strength. Yet as to a fair break even in 
 this case of a powerful fish's greatest advantage, 
 
 I rather tell thee what is to be feared 
 Than what I fear.
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 417 
 
 It has been my luck never to be ' broken ' in Thames trout- 
 fishing. If, however, I have not cared to use the very thickest 
 gut, I have been most careful to look to my knots, lapping them 
 with fine floss silk, secured by a setting of copal varnish ; nor 
 have I ever used a trace, without first testing it by a dead strain 
 of four or five pounds. 
 
 The proper leading of the trace I must leave to the angler's 
 own judgment and experience. Generally speaking, it should 
 of course be weighted in proportion to the depth and rapidity 
 of the water to be fished. A light lead will be useless in a 
 strong deep channel, a heavy one will be out of place over a 
 shallow. Occasional changes will therefore be necessary, and I 
 need hardly say that Piscator should be provided with leads of 
 various weight, threaded on gimp or wire, with a swivel at each 
 end, and ready for looping on as occasions required. In 
 ordinary practice, however, it will be found easier to change 
 the whole trace than to shift the lead, and he should therefore 
 have a light trace as well as a heavy one always ready to hand. 
 These will be found practically sufficient, as the sinking of the 
 lead in either case can be considerably modified by raising or 
 lowering the point of the rod, and by quickening or retarding 
 the gathering in of the line after each cast. 
 
 The distance of the bait from the lead is another matter 
 which requires attention. My own practice has been to make 
 this distance somewhat greater than is usual with the generality 
 of Thames anglers. Three feet and a half seems to me not too 
 long an interval, except perhaps in fishing the head of a weir- 
 pool. Greater variety of sweep is thus given to the course of 
 the spinning bait, and it receives more life-like impulses from 
 irregularities in the force and direction of the current. 
 
 I must not wholly pass by the much-discussed question, 
 ' What is the best form for a flight of spinning-hooks ? ' Yet after 
 a great variety of experiments, I cannot pretend to give a decided, 
 much less a decisive reply. I am rather tempted to answer 
 evasively, ' Use the flight with which you or your boatman if 
 he baits for you can make your bait spin best.' You want to 
 i. E E
 
 418 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 make your line to revolve quickly enough to conceal your hooks, 
 and to reflect the light brilliantly as it moves, thus inducing the 
 trout whom you ' go for ' to take it freely and boldly. If the 
 inducement offered proves sufficient, and a good fish seizes your 
 bait in earnest, there is little doubt of your holding him securely 
 whatever ' formula ' of hooks you may have adopted. Four or 
 five times in the course of my Thames spinning, I have indeed 
 felt a hasty touch, like that of a short-rising fish on a fly, 
 denoting a timid or half-hearted attempt on the part of a sus- 
 picious trout, but once only did I lose a fish fairly ' held,' and 
 then, I believe, through my own fault. But though my expe- 
 rience leads me to attach little importance to the arrangement 
 of hooks in detail, it may justify me in recommending one par- 
 ticular flight, with which I have killed scores offish, if not as the 
 best yet at least as sufficiently effective, both for the spinning and 
 the hooking. It includes ten hooks ; first one, sliding very 
 stiffly, for the lips of the bait ; then a triangle nearly an inch 
 lower, consisting of one lip-hook for fixing in the bait, and two, 
 Limerick for choice, forming angles of 120 with the fixed 
 hook. Next come two, back to back, one being a lip-hook for 
 holding, while the other stands rankly out ; then another triangle 
 like the first, and finally, close below this, a Kirby hook, shortened 
 in the shank. These properly applied, will give the bait the 
 true form for rapid and regular spinning, and will enable it to 
 maintain that form for half an hour or more of constant throwing 
 if you are skilful enough to avoid checks or jerks. I must, 
 however, admit that this ' true form,' which begins with a straight 
 line and ends with a gradually increasing curve, is not easily 
 attained in baiting a bleak. Bait fish whose bodies are nearly 
 cylindrical, like a baby chub or dace, or that best of lures on 
 a bright day, a small gudgeon, revolve easily and steadily and 
 need comparatively little skill in placing them on the hooks, but 
 your flat- 1. odied bleak is a ticklish subject to deal with. The 
 curve must be very true ; the holding hooks must sit very close, 
 or the result will be an unsightly wobble. I confess to having 
 wasted scores of bleak, or at least left them fit only for eel-lines
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 419 
 
 in the attempt to fit them on hooks such as I have described. 
 Even when practice ought to have rendered me fairly expert, 
 I think that out of five bleak of my own baiting two would have 
 spun well, a third perhaps passably, while the two others would 
 have been complete failures. In fact, unless I had plenty of 
 time before me I used to make the baiting department over 
 to my skilful and trusty crony Tom Rosewell, than whom no 
 better hand ever guided a punt or dealt with the niceties of 
 tackle. 
 
 The special difficulty of the flight of hooks which I have 
 described, with perhaps needless minuteness, lies in fixing 
 accurately the hooks at the tail-end, where you must begin your 
 baiting. Directions as to the mode of doing this would be so 
 much waste of paper. One hint, however, may prove useful. 
 Knock your bleak on the head a sharp flip with the nail of 
 your middle-finger will suffice and let him stiffen for a few 
 minutes before you bait him. I have seen many a one spoiled 
 by a hurried attempt to ' fettle ' him before muscular motion 
 had completely ceased. 
 
 I have often been asked, ' Why so much care as to the true 
 and rapid spinning of your bait? Are not heavy trout often 
 taken with a big wobbling dace, utterly unlike your brilliant 
 ideal ? ' Such cases, I admit, do occur ; rarely, however, and 
 chiefly in deep eddies and a clouded water. I remember taking 
 one myself on the 3ist of March (then the last day of the pike- 
 fishing season) with gimp tackle and a full-sized trolling bait. 
 He was a lovely fish, as bright as a star. I guessed his weight 
 at 6 Ibs., but he never came to scale, for I thought myself 
 bound as a zealous member of a local angling association, not 
 to take a trout before the ist of April. But I would gladly 
 have eased my conscience after the fashion of a worthy Aus- 
 tralian friend, a sporting J.P., who shot a fine bustard out of- 
 season, on his way to a magistrates' meeting and opened the 
 proceedings by paying a guinea fine. This, however, was the 
 only instance in which I ever took a Thames trout in spinning 
 for pike, and the water was clearing after a flood. It did not
 
 420 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 in the slightest degree shake my belief in the attractions of a 
 small bait, revolving swiftly and steadily. 
 
 A few words now as to the best mode of fishing the streams 
 where you expect to find trout. If the run be a straight one 
 with the likeliest water in mid-stream, let your fisherman drop 
 his punt quietly along shore, choosing his side as best suits the 
 sun and wind, and make your casts across or slightly up the 
 stream, repeating them at regular intervals of three or four 
 yards. Drop your bait on the far side of the stream, and bring 
 it steadily in a downward sweep across the best of the water. 
 Let it be a standing order to your boatman the instant you 
 have hooked a fish to get below him. 
 
 When instead of a straight run the river makes a strong 
 curve, boring under the concave bank, my practice (not, I 
 believe the usual one) is to hug the side where the current 
 sweeps in, and to cast over to the quieter side of the stream, so 
 as to show my bait last in the strongest of the water. Never 
 fail, as you gather in your line before lifting your bait for another 
 throw, to turn your rod-point over, so that the bleak or gudgeon 
 may make a sudden swerve and momentary pause within a few 
 feet of the bank. It is at this moment that your chance of a 
 capture is at the best. Perhaps a fish has followed your bait 
 right across the stream, perhaps he has just sighted it from 
 under the bank ; in either case he thinks it is now or never, and 
 makes his dash with a will. In my experience of stream-fishing 
 on the Thames, I am sure that more than half of my trout have 
 been hooked just at this critical turn, which a careful angler 
 should never omit. 
 
 I do not think Thames trout are particular as to weather, 
 but in a cutting North-Easter there will be little chance except 
 in sheltered nooks when the bleak show at the surface. I 
 remember getting a fish on a ist of April my last ' opening- 
 day ' in the Marlow water in the middle of a snow-storm, and 
 in as cruel a wind as I ever faced. I had tried two or three 
 favourite streams without a touch, and was for retreating when 
 the snow came, loth though I was to begin the season for the
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 421 
 
 first time without a kill. But Rosevvell, who was with me then 
 for the last time, urged me to carry on fifty yards further. He 
 had seen some bleak playing ' behind the bush at the head of 
 the Black Hole.' I knew there was always a fish there, and 
 thought it worth trying. Sure enough I killed a four-pounder 
 just at the particular point indicated ; and I well remember with 
 what glee I scrambled ashore and hurried home as fast as chilled 
 limbs would carry me. Never before or since have I fished on 
 such a day. The best chance for spinning on the Thames is 
 doubtless on warm days, with frequent gleams of sun, when the 
 small fish are sporting everywhere, and the trout on the look- 
 out accordingly. 
 
 If the weather be warm and sunny, you need not be fright- 
 ened by a thick water, if it be anything short of the pea-soup 
 complexion. It may be harder to find your fish, but he is 
 surer to take if the bait crosses his sight. In a strong clouded 
 water you will often do well to quit your boat and fish from the 
 shore, guiding your bait in and out of the nooks and hollows of 
 the bank where the stream runs strong in the sunlight. If you 
 know of a good fish usually lying in mid-stream, look to find 
 him in such weather and water feeding at intervals in the 
 nearest shallow bay, and unusually open to conviction. 
 
 In spinning for Thames trout you will frequently take other 
 fish. Pike that have not yet spawned often cut your tackle in 
 April, but nearly as often come to grief themselves. They are 
 feeding sluggishly and daintily, and merely lip the bait. I 
 once killed one of eight pounds on the ist, which lay so dead that 
 my puntsman vowed I was foul of a stump; but it proved to be 
 a female fish, very heavy in roe. Occasionally I have taken a 
 perch in spinning ; many times a chub. Once only I took a 
 barbel ; he weighed about 7^ Ibs., and gave me much trouble 
 at first, and a cruel disappointment towards the close of our 
 struggle, when his peculiar movements left no doubt as to his 
 quality. 
 
 Next to spinning the streams m the early part of the season, 
 I have most enjoyed fly-fishing for Thames trout after mid-
 
 422 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 summer. My opportunities of trying this phase of sport have 
 been limited, but when I have tried it I have rarely failed. 
 And I think true anglers will agree with me that if you can kill 
 with the fly there is no method so entirely satisfactory. The 
 work is so clean, so light, so simple, yet at the same time so 
 artistic. You have no struggle against the perversity of baits 
 that won't spin, the sliminess of villainous lobworms which it 
 vexes your finer instincts to put on the hook. You are in 
 active exercise throughout, yet escape the monotonous and 
 sometimes wearisome exertion of a long bout with a spinning- 
 rod, where cast must follow cast as regularly as the strokes of a 
 steam-engine, yet each must be regulated with the nicest judg- 
 ment. If you are a practised hand and I would hardly 
 recommend a novice to seek his trouting in the Thames you 
 will wield your ' two-handed engine ' easily and confidently, 
 with no misgiving as to where or how your fly will fall. You 
 will be instinctively accurate in dropping it now behind some 
 root-bound projection of the bank, now in the foam of an eddy, 
 now where a clod or a stone forms a break in the gliding 
 shallow. 
 
 Fly-fishing on the Thames is much like fly-fishing in other 
 rivers, only as the Kentucky man said of Sunday in his State 
 as compared to other days ' rather more so.' The fish being 
 fewer and larger, their haunts will be not merely in good places, 
 but in the very best ; such as you have found the master fish 
 select for themselves in well stocked rivers. The tastes and 
 habits of large trout vary little in this respect. I remember 
 being very much struck when in Tasmania by the certainty 
 with which I could spot the large trout, bred from British ova, 
 while there were yet but few. There was a beautiful tributary 
 of the Derwent. known as the Russell's Falls River, in which 
 several good fish had been seen though none yet taken. On a 
 promising day when the water was slightly coloured, I recon- 
 noitered some 500 yards of this stream, fly-rod in hand, in 
 order to mark the most promising casts before commencing 
 operations. The result of my scrutiny was that at my very first
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 423 
 
 throw I hooked a three-pounder, whom in spite of great local 
 difficulties I succeeded in landing. Precisely the same thing 
 happened to me in another fine Tasmanian stream. In these 
 waters, as in the Thames, the fish were large but scarce, and my 
 success was simply due to my assuming that they must there- 
 fore be sought not merely in likely places but in the very likeliest. 
 In these few words lies tne secret of effective fly-fishing for 
 Thames trout. 
 
 But what are the ' very likeliest ' casts ? I have already said 
 that the selection of these must depend on the extent of the 
 angler's experience and the closeness of his observation. It is 
 impossible to define. But a good trout is often to be found at 
 the head or tail of a hollow-banked eyot where the stream runs 
 strong. And there are few surer finds than a 'ballast-hole ' in 
 a bright gravelly shallow, or the similar hollow at the back of 
 a last year's redd. In such spots the trout can 'lie low, 1 
 like Brer Fox in Uncle Remus, and there is always break 
 enough in the water to disguise the tackle. I may mention 
 that I have thrown a fly for a Thames trout only twice since 
 my return from Australia ten years ago, and on both occa- 
 sions have taken a pretty fish from one of these favourite 
 haunts. 
 
 A great deal of fuss is made about flies for the Thames. I 
 remember being asked by one of our fashionable tackle-dealers 
 eighteen-pence for a mere soldier-palmer tied on gut which 
 might have scared a crocodile. And I have had all sorts of special 
 ' tips ' recommended to me in the shape of certain combinations 
 of feather silk and tinsel warranted irresistible. But as far as 
 my own experience goes, your Thames trout is by no means 
 particular about his fly, provided that it be a good mouthful 
 with a sufficient play of wings and legs to make its movements 
 life-like. I think if I had to fix on a standard cast my tail-fly 
 should be a large Alder-fly, with plenty of brown drake feather 
 for wings, legs of a dark hackle and a pretty substantial body 
 of peacock's herl. My dropper some five feet higher up, and 
 hancinz five inches clear of the casting-line should be a dark-
 
 424 SALMON AND TROUT 
 
 rooted red hackle, ribbed palmer-fashion with gold twist. But 
 any first rate lake-fly ought to kill in the Thames. 
 
 I once talked over this question with a zealous brother- 
 angler during an afternoon chat. On my telling him that I 
 thought a good dark-winged Professor would do the trick, 
 my practical friend at once said, ' Let me see you tie one.' 
 I remember perfectly the fly I turned out then and there on a 
 grilse hook. The wings and tail were brown drake, legs a 
 dark-red hackle, body orange silk ribbed with gold twist, just 
 such a fly as I would have liked to throw on a Scotch loch 
 where the trout run heavy. 
 
 'Now,' said my friend still 'nothing if not practical' 'let 
 us walk down to Mar-low Pool and try it.' 
 
 We found the -water very low, so that after just stepping on 
 a punt to cross one narrow channel I found myself commanding 
 the -tail of the pool from a firm step of dry gravel. At my 
 third throw I hooked a good fish, who lost no time in tiring 
 himself by boring up stream. I had not even brought a landing- 
 net, tut Sir H. Heinrich himself a very successful Thames 
 angler who was barbel-fishing under the central weir-stream, 
 dropped down and landed my fish for me. It weighed about 
 5^ Ibs., and as perfectly shaped a trout as I ever extracted even 
 from the Thames. I have since found other lake-flies killing ; 
 notably, one of my special favourites, tied with jackdaw wing, 
 black hackle and claret body. Still, I rather prefer the cast of 
 flies first named, both the alder and the red palmer being 
 deadly lures for large chub, of which I seldom fail to secure a 
 fair number near the haunts of the nobler fish. 
 
 There is one other fly the ' White Moth ' which I ought 
 perhaps to name in connection with Thames trout. I hardly 
 ever fished the river late, but on one occasion I found myself 
 lingering after dusk, at the close of a glorious July day, in hopes 
 of adding a third fish to two already in the well. Fish of all 
 kinds had been a-stir, drawn to the surface of the Bray water 
 by an extraordinary insect cloud formed by millions of the 
 ' Yellow Sally,' and as the light waned, the whim seized me to
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 425 
 
 try -a white moth over the sharp shallow below the weir-pool. 
 Just at ten o'clock I found myself fast in a three-pounder, whom 
 at first I fondly imagined to be a much larger fish. He cer- 
 tainly pulled in grand style, rushing in the most headstrong 
 fashion up and across the tail of the pool, whilst I could merely 
 hold him tight and guess his whereabouts by the curve of my 
 top-joint dimly seen against the darkening sky. It was really 
 an exciting struggle ; almost too much so to be pleasant, for 
 the water was very strong, and what with gazing skyward and 
 the heaving and swinging of the punt I was fairly dizzy, and 
 had to drop on my knees to avoid the imminent risk of going 
 over-board. Rosewell however punted splendidly, as indeed 
 he always did, and contrived throughout to keep below the fish, 
 whom he at last landed at half-past ten. As this was the only 
 instance in which I ever threw a white moth on Thames, the 
 admirers of this particular fly are entitled to the benefit of the fact. 
 But I confess that I am not myself a believer in white flies for 
 night-fishing. Both on theory and from experience, I am rather 
 inclined to think that if Piscator is bent on deeds of darkness, 
 the fly he employs 
 
 Black as his purpose, should the night resemble. 
 
 Certainly for anything short of actual night-fishing a white fly 
 would be quite useless on the Thames. Those I have recom- 
 mended are well suited to the evening fishing, which in the sum- 
 mer months the only season during which I would recommend 
 the fly is generally the best, provided the weather be warm 
 and still. On showery or windy days the afternoon will be 
 found better for sport than the evening. Let me add that in 
 the Thames, as in all English streams with which I am familiar, 
 the hours between nine and twelve are nearly always suitable 
 for fly-fishing. When the water is just tinged by a slight freshet 
 the trout will be on the feed throughout the day. And the 
 angler will always do well to cast frequent glances out of 'the 
 tail of his eye ' up and down the stream, and to enjoin similar 
 vigilance on his boatman. If you see the quiet but deep ' break '
 
 426 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 of a good Thames trout at feed on the fly within fair distance 
 of your line of drift, the odds ought to be heavy on the rod 
 against the fish, provided you do not lose nerve and bungle 
 your cast through eagerness. Ten to one he will take your fly 
 if you show it to him in good style, and the hooking him 
 effectually is almost a matter of course if you are not in a 
 hurry. Of all the trout that have risen to me in the Thames 
 I can remember to have lost but two. One made a fair 
 miss of my fly in the swirl of a hatch-hole, and I failed 
 perhaps through my own fault to lure him again. The 
 other a very heavy fish took me just at the stake-bound 
 head of an eyot close above Harleyford, and I thought I 
 had him safely fixed. But I was alone in a little sculling-punt, 
 and could not prevent his getting a start of me down stream, 
 an advantage which I always grudge to a good trout. The 
 way he pulled and bored down stream was a caution to 
 steam- tugs. I was bound to keep him in hand at all risks, 
 or he would have run my line out without giving me a 
 chance, and at last he fairly tore out the hold. With a 
 handy friend at the sculls I have little doubt I should have 
 saved him. 
 
 Fishing with the natural May fly has with many good anglers 
 and on many well-known streams been a favourite method of 
 killing large trout about the beginning of June. Personally, 
 I have never cared for the use of the blow-line, or even for the 
 more skilful and less tedious practice of casting the natural fly, by 
 which a few exceptionally dexterous hands now and then succeed 
 in filling their baskets when the Green Drake is 'on.' Still, 
 had I heard of these methods being employed successfully 
 against Thames trout, I should have felt myself bound to 
 report accordingly. But though the May fly while steadily 
 diminishing during a long series of years, yet appears in con- 
 siderable numbers on many reaches of the Thames, I do not 
 remember to have heard of a single fish taken anywhere with 
 the natural fly. If such instances have occurred, they have 
 certainly been very rare. The cause of this is doubtless to be
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 427 
 
 found in the width of the river, and the difficulty of getting 
 at the likeliest runs from the bank. 
 
 There is one legend concerning the capture of a patriarchal 
 trout at Henley Bridge in which the May fly plays a curious 
 part. The fish in question is said to have had his haunV 
 some yards below one of the arches, and to have been for 
 several years so plied witii baits of every kind that he became 
 as thoroughly temptation-proof as St. Anthony himself. At 
 length an inventive Londoner tried him with a live bleak, 
 about two feet above which dangled a live May fly on a fine 
 drop-link. The bleak, judiciously steered, was brought across 
 the wary trout's field ot vision, in apparent pursuit of the 
 insect Father Fario naturally assumed that this must be the 
 genuine article, and straightway proceeded to make a mouthful 
 of the bleak, which, unluckily for him, had not only a small 
 guiding-hook in its nose, but also a triangle craftily hitched 
 behind its back fin. I do not vouch for the truth of this 
 legend, which has been more than once related to me, but 
 never with the name of the artful dodger who devised the 
 successful plot. An incredulous reader might certainly be 
 justified in remarking that such a feat as this, if real, must 
 have immortalised the performer and placed his name high 
 among the worthies of the gentle craft. Let the objection 
 stand for what it is worth. ' I tell the tale as 'twas told to me.' 
 And it may serve to introduce the question of livebait-fishing 
 for Thames trout. It is certainly not a sporting method, and 
 demands a minimum of skill. It has not, like spinning or fly- 
 fishing, the recommendation of active exercise, and there would 
 be no great loss in abandoning, or forbidding it altogether. 
 Yet we must allow for different circumstances and tempera- 
 ments. There will always be anglers found and those, 
 perhaps, not among the least thoughtful and cultivated of the 
 brotherhood to whom fishing is not so much an outlet for 
 bodily activity or for the power of ingenious contrivance, as a 
 'contemplative man's recreation;' an occasion for peaceful 
 meditation and well-earned reoose. Those who thus reorard
 
 4^8 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the exercise of their art may well be content to lie on a sultry 
 summer's day anchored above or beside the rush of the ' lasher,' 
 while the live minnow to which they look for the chance of a 
 lusty fish wavers and flashes forty yards below, among the 
 eddies of the widening stream. He has merely to set his rod 
 at a proper angle, and then to take his ease, ' as humours shall 
 determine.' He will seldom fail to court the soothing influence 
 of pipe or cigar, while he refreshes his memory with reading 
 some favourite poem, play, or ' tale of romance.' Or perchance 
 he may feel the mere effort of reading out of harmony with the 
 sense of restful enjoyment to which he would fain surrender 
 himself, and be content to listen to the gushing waters and 
 whispering trees, till 'Beauty, born of murmuring sound,' 
 seems to diffuse itself over the scene on which he looks 
 dreamily through the half-shut eye. Such a mood may be rare 
 with active men, yet there are few to whom it is wholly un- 
 known, and it furnishes the best excuse for a mode of angling 
 which can hardly be described as ' sport.' I must confess to 
 having myself, on two or three different occasions, tried it for 
 a short time on a very hot day, but though the lounge was 
 pleasant, the capture of a fish by such means 
 
 Gave me some sensations like a villain. 
 
 To those who have no such misgivings, I will merely re- 
 commend a bright, full-sized minnow, as the best live-bait. A 
 small gudgeon is hardly showy enough, and if you try a bleak, 
 you had better 'go the entire animal,' with spinning hooks in 
 the rush at the stream-head. A single small hook through the 
 upper lip of your bait may suffice, but I would rather advise 
 the addition of a tiny triangle, with the tip of one hook just 
 inserted behind the gristle of the back-fin. It is more certain 
 to take hold, and secures you, moreover, against the rascality 
 of some wary old chub, who without it, is very apt to bite your 
 minnow clean in half, and go off unscathed. By the way, 
 what remarkable strength must lie in the unarmed jaw of a 
 large chub! His teeth are in his throat, and yet the cutting
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 429 
 
 power of his bite exceeds that of trout, perch, or even pike. 
 You occasionally take him in paternoster fishing, but far more 
 often you feel one slight pull, and find that he has left you 
 only half a minnow, having secured his morsel by a single, 
 well-directed snap. 
 
 But to continue my subject. There is little to add as to 
 live-baiting for trout. Your gut should be as fine as is con- 
 sistent with reasonable strength, and you will do well to have 
 a single pellet of No. 4 or No. 5 shot, some four feet above 
 your bait, just to steady your trace in the water. 
 
 There is another lure, akin in different ways to the fly and 
 the live-bait, which, skilfully used, will be found very deadly on 
 summer evenings. The fly-minnow can be worked over-hand 
 at long casts, and thrown almost to an inch, and if it falls 
 somewhat more heavily than the artificial fly, the slight ' spang ' 
 with which it drops on the stream, rather increases its attrac- 
 tion for a trout lying in any but the smoothest water. I would 
 not recommend fishing a reach steadily with it, as you might 
 do with the fly; but if you see a rush made to the surface after 
 a bleak or other small fish, and can judge the position of your 
 trout's haunt, 1 within a yard or two, you may cast over him 
 with every chance of success. I have used this lure but rarely, 
 though having good reason to believe in its efficacy, but an 
 angling friend of mine who lived on the river between Bray 
 and Maidenhead, and who fished almost daily during the 
 trouting season, had remarkable sport with it. He assured me 
 that in one year he had killed upwards of thirty trout with the 
 fly-minnow alone. This however was before the wholesale 
 
 netting of that beautiful stretch by Captain J and his 
 
 gang, from the effects of which it has not recovered to this 
 day, though I am assured that it is steadily improving. The 
 depredators proceeded in the most systematic and wholesale 
 manner, first dragging the numerous tenter-hooked stakes by 
 which several miles of the very best part of the river were 
 
 1 ' Holt ' is the word used in the North and West of England ; a slight 
 corruption, no doubt, of the word 'hold.'
 
 430 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 effectually protected, and then dragging the water night after 
 night, till the choicest streams were depopulated, and hardly 
 a trout left except in the weir-pools. Their modus operandi 
 in pulling up the stakes, the exact position of which they 
 had first ascertained by day-light, was simple but thorough. 
 Drifting down the stream with a heavy punt, they dropped a 
 slip-noose of strong rope over each stake, and then, by weight and 
 strength combined, heaved it out of the river-bed. The know- 
 ledge of these tactics proved very serviceable when I was sub- 
 sequently engaged in a very successful association for preserving 
 the Thames about Marlow. In staking the ballast-holes and other 
 places where the poacher's net was most to be feared, we took 
 good care to drive our stakes very deep, to taper them towards 
 the top, to fix no tenter-hooks in their sides, and in every way 
 to make the task of drawing them difficult and troublesome. 
 
 To resume my story, however. I believe the fly-minnow, 
 to the killing power of which I have borne witness, might have 
 been greatly improved. It was slightly above the natural size, 
 very light, with fins and tail of some transparent horny material. 
 Its colouring was very much that which Walton assigns to the 
 artificial minnow, wrought in silks by his lady friend with the 
 ' fine hand ; ' that is, it was a fair imitation of that of the real 
 fish as far as dead can imitate live colour. Its great fault in my 
 eyes was that it was not bright enough. I would fain have had 
 the dark shading of the back greatly reduced, and four- fifths 
 of the surface overlaid with the brightest silver ; the leaf to be 
 renewed from time to time as the lustre tarnished, which might 
 be easily done with the aid ot a little gilder's size. Its dimen- 
 sions I would have reduced to those of an ordinary minnow. 
 1 would have further increased its brilliancy when played in the 
 water by a tiny swivel, which might be placed either at the head 
 or at the end of the link of gut on which it was dressed. 
 
 I am by no means sure that a minnow not half the size of 
 those I have used say, an inch and quarter in length made 
 to fall as light as a salmon fly and silver-bright all over might 
 not do execution. I see a lure much used now, which calls
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 431 
 
 itself a fly, with a long silver body and two superfluous wings of 
 peacock's herl, which is doubtless taken for a tiny fish. I would 
 not use it myself in a stream where I was limited to the artificial 
 fly, but I have no doubt it will kill in ordinary waters, though 
 scarcely showy enough for the Thames. Something midway 
 between this and the full sized fly- minnow ought, I think, to 
 
 succeed. 
 
 Si quidnovisti rectius istis, 
 Candidas imperti ; si non, his utere mecum. 
 
 There remains for mention only one bait with which Thames 
 trout are too often taken. Briefly, if you bait a good barbel - 
 hole especially one adjoining a hollow bank you are very 
 likely to kill a good trout with the worm designed for the 
 humbler fish. It can't be helped, though it seems a great pity ; 
 but I certainly will not make the case worse by suggesting any 
 other deadlier plan for using the base lobworm against a fish 
 so much honoured and prized as the trout of Father Thames. 
 He is not, let me observe, valued merely for his size and rarity. 
 He is an admirable fish for the table ; not the very best of trout, 
 but among the best. I know two or three cold lakes where the 
 trout are redder in flesh and richer in flavour ; but a Thames 
 fish of three or four pounds is as highly coloured as a grilse of 
 the same size, and I think better tasted, and his diet is so 
 ample that he improves with his growth. If you are about 
 to take one home for your dinner, as soon as he is out of the 
 well and knocked on the head, crimp him, judicious gonnnet, 
 scoring him to the very bone with a sharp knife. Let your 
 cook in preparing him for the kettle wipe him out most carefully 
 after ' gralloching,' but let the first water which visits his interior 
 be that in which he is cooked, and see that it boils briskly to 
 receive him and has a good handful of salt in it. Thus simply 
 cooked he is worthy of the stateliest table. If you prefer not 
 to boil him whole, let him be cut through the backbone into 
 slices about an inch and a quarter in thickness ; boil rapidly and 
 serve up with caper sauce as for salmon cutlets. A small fish split 
 through and well broiled makes a capital breakfast. If you want
 
 432 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 to send one is a present and I think most anglers get more 
 enjoyment from their captures this way than in any other you 
 will of course not crimp him. You will even hardly like to spoil 
 his beauty by 'gralloching' him, though doubtless he will travel 
 better for the process ; but you may at least fill his mouth with salt 
 directly he is killed, which will go a long way towards keeping 
 him fresh. I have never sent one which did not arrive in good 
 condition. This, however, has no doubt been chiefly due to the 
 superior firmness of the fish. 
 
 Having paid this tribute to the quality of Thames trout, I 
 must say a few parting words as to their quantity. So much 
 has been done and is still doing to maintain and augment the 
 stock, and so many experienced anglers are enrolled in the 
 different associations engaged in this work, that I shall venture 
 on very little in the way of suggestion. There are, however, 
 two points to which I would especially call the attention of 
 those who are bent on increasing the supply of Thames trout. 
 The first concerns the size of the fish to be turned in as stock 
 in aid of the numbers actually bred in the river. I am con- 
 vinced that much money and trouble has been wasted on the 
 introduction of mere fry, having perhaps two years to scuttle for 
 their lives before they become valuable either for breeding or 
 basketing. Of course, I recognise the greater difficulty and 
 expense of stocking with sizeable fish. We are, however, daily 
 becoming more familiar with the conditions of fish transport ; 
 while as regards the question of cost a better result will be 
 obtained by doing a little in the right way than by attempting 
 much in the wrong. No trout under three-quarters of a pound 
 is in my opinion worth turning into the Thames. The best 
 time for introducing fresh stock seems to be early in September, 
 when pike are quitting the weedy runs and drawing towards the 
 deeps, while trout naturally make for the bright shallows which 
 form their breeding-ground. 
 
 The other point which I commend to lovers of the Thames 
 is the importance of preserving \\s> smaller tributaries. Streams 
 like the Kennet, Colne and Wandle are preserved on their own
 
 THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 433 
 
 account, and are able to maintain their own progeny. But I 
 am convinced from observation that the trout of small brooks, 
 such as e.g. Bisham Brook, which joins the Thames near 
 Marlow Point ; the nameless runnel which feeds New Loch 
 pool above Harleyford, and the beautiful little trout-beck from 
 Hambleton which flows in at Mill End often grow too large 
 for their quarters in summer, and drop back to the fuller waters 
 and larger dietary of the Thames. In any case, such brooks 
 furnish a ready supply of fish for turning out ; and the most 
 sanguine of preservers will hardly expect to see the grand old 
 river over-stocked with trout. 
 
 H. R. FRANCIS.
 
 434 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE 
 
 THE attention of Pisciculturists is at present almost wholly 
 devoted to the propagation of the salmonidre, and justly so, 
 as this family of fresh-water fish is not only by far the most 
 valuable in the market, but is, par excellence, the greatest 
 favourite among sportsmen in all countries where it exists. 
 It has unfortunately the peculiarity of yielding fewer eggs 
 than any other fresh-water fish, and consequently with the 
 increasing demand artificial breeding has become a neces- 
 
 o o 
 
 sity, unless the race is to be allowed to dwindle, if not die 
 out. 
 
 The following table of the number of eggs produced by 
 several of the most familiar fresh-water fish is instructive : 
 
 Salmonidae . . . about 1,000 to the pound 
 
 Pike 10,000 ,, 
 
 Perch .... ,, 40,000 
 
 Roach .... ,, 640,000 i, 
 
 It is with salmonidas that the most excellent results have 
 been attained by artificial breeding : yet it appears that in 
 America, notwithstanding the enormous numbers of Salmo 
 Salar (Salmon proper) that have been hatched and turned 
 into the rivers of late years, expectations have not been real- 
 ised in many instances. In the case of the migratory species 
 we have to contend with ocean depths and innumerable 
 enemies beyond our reach, which may possibly account for
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE, 435 
 
 heavy_ losses. The process of hatching and rearing young 
 S. Salar is precisely the same as in the case of non-migratory 
 varieties, only we keep these latter nearer home as it were, and 
 consequently can protect them more effectually. 
 
 The proof of the great value of salmon and trout waters is 
 the eagerness with which anything like a good stretch ' is 
 taken up. To say nothing of the rental per annum of 500 
 yards of salmon river which recoups itself to a great extent by 
 the sale of fish for the market, a very large sum is ungrudgingly 
 paid for a decent piece of trout-fishing, or a rod on Club 
 waters. 
 
 Many of our streams and ponds are capable, with judicious 
 management, of holding far more fish than they now do, but 
 the water must be carefully protected, and the stock of fish 
 kept up by breeding artificially. There are many Angling 
 Societies and proprietors of private fisheries who make a point 
 of replenishing their stock every year by purchasing from pisci- 
 cultural establishments, or by carrying on artificial breeding on 
 their own account. Most fishing-clubs, however, are at a dis- 
 advantage in not being able to provide suitable rearing places 
 for their young fish, and they have to turn the ' Fry ' that they 
 purchase or breed direct into the rivers, which already contain 
 trout, the probable consequence being that 99 out of every 100 
 go down the throats of the larger fish ! Professional trout 
 breeders have, of course, their rearing ponds from which they 
 supply yearling fish, and although these are much more expen- 
 sive than fry, there is at least the -satisfaction of knowing that 
 almost every fish will attain to a killable size if protected. It 
 is far more economical for Angling Societies and Fishing Clv.b - 
 to purchase yearling fish than to erect hatching establishments 
 of their own, as there is not only the original outlay, with 
 interest thereon, to be considered, but also a weekly expense in 
 wages to one or more persons all through the hatching season, 
 with in many cases a very unsatisfactory show of fish. A few 
 hundred yearling fish would cost far less, and make a much 
 better ' show ' in the water.
 
 4J6 SALMON AND TROW* 
 
 THE HATCHERY. 
 
 Livingston Stone, in his excellent work, 'Domesticated 
 Trout,' observes ' that the time has come when trout can be 
 hatched, reared, and brought to maturity in great numbers, 
 and with comparatively little loss. . . . The peculiar nature 
 of the things you deal with, however, namely, fish and running 
 water and the magnitude of the numbers you operate with, 
 are such that there is hardly an occupation in the world where 
 a want of security is followed by such wholesale loss.' 
 
 The word ' security ' in trout raising implies a great deal 
 more than most people imagine. It means not only that all 
 joints and screens in the hatchery and in the ponds are perfect, 
 but that the supply of water must be ' secure ' against falling 
 short, secure against violent and excessive flushings, against 
 becoming fouled, heated, or frozen ; and all this requires an 
 amount of foresight and tenacity of purpose, constant vigilance 
 and caution, that very few men will undertake to exercise and 
 persevere in throughout the whole season, and year after year ; 
 but this makes all the difference between successful and un- 
 successful trout-breeding. 
 
 Security does not cease to be a sine qua non as soon as the 
 hatching season is over ; during the whole of a trout's life- 
 time it has to be protected from innumerable enemies, and 
 secured in many ways, to be of any ultimate value to the 
 oiiginal owner. 
 
 In the limited space at my disposal I cannot, of course, 
 enter into every little detail, and explain all the different 
 sources of danger incidental to trout-breeding. A volume 
 could easily be filled in treating of every separate stage in the 
 life of a fish ; therefore a good deal of condensation is un- 
 avoidable. 
 
 Assuming, then, that the supply of water for hatching 
 purposes is of a suitable temperature, ample, fairly pure, and 
 free from much sediment, it now remains to consider the
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 437 
 
 hatching apparatus itself. Storage tanks or reservoirs will still be 
 necessary in most cases, as the water should not be taken from 
 a very great pressure. Fish are as frequently killed by water 
 that is too highly charged with air as from a scarcity of water. 
 
 It is perfectly possible to hatch a limited number of eggs 
 in a few oyster shells, a soup plate, or a frying-pan I was 
 almost saying an old hat by which I would convey that the 
 material of which hatching troughs are constructed is not of so 
 much importance as the treatment of the ova placed in them. 
 The most important thing is the water-supply ; if this deposits 
 much sediment, filters must be used. 
 
 There are different opinions as to the structure of hatching 
 troughs. Whilst some prefer the 'glass grille' system, others 
 find slate or metal troughs, wire gauze, or perforated zinc trays 
 answer equally well. The glass grille system appears to me 
 extravagant only as far as space is concerned. Lord Lauder- 
 dale says that in his water this system produces stronger fish. 
 The first cost of the glass is certainly greater, but it entails no 
 annual expense, and has the advantage of being an almost perfect 
 non-conductor of heat or electricity, the latter being an impor- 
 tant factor in hatching, and as yet insufficiently studied. With 
 the water I employ, perfectly healthy young fish are produced 
 by the other methods. 
 
 The ' slate trough ' plan also loses much space, as it is not 
 advisable to place the ova in more than one layer during the 
 period of incubation. 
 
 The perforated tray system, with the 'underflow' supply, 
 will bring on very many more eggs in the same area. To 
 make a comparison upon a superficial area of one inch, twenty 
 to twenty-five ordinary sized trout ova will lie ; therefore to 
 hatch, say ten millions of eggs on grilles, or on the bottom of 
 troughs, an area of over 300 square yards is required (in reality 
 500 square yards would be necessary). In the perforated tray 
 . system, eggs may safely be placed ten or fifteen deep ; the 
 space required to bring on ten millions of ova by this method 
 would thus be but a tenth or a fifteenth part ; but as there is
 
 438 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 sometimes an interval of as much as three months between the 
 first and last ova obtained, a second crop is laid down, and the 
 boxes or troughs are used over again. 
 
 The troughs now in general use in my hatchery are made 
 of wood. They are three feet long, by one foot wide, and six 
 inches deep, and supplied with water through a punctured pipe 
 running all round the trough. They are fitted with movable 
 perforated zinc trays twelve inches (bare) by six inches wide and 
 three inches deep. This plan, although not entirely a novelty, 
 appears to have suggested itself some years ago both to myself 
 and to Mr. Oldham Chambers, whose practical experience in 
 fish culture generally is well known. It seems to have ori- 
 ginated in my very old plan of using perforated zinc trays, into 
 which were counted the ' Fry ' previous to sending away. The 
 ova it was imagined were placed in these trays, which were put 
 on the bottom of the overflow trough, but of course the eggs 
 perished as the water did not circulate. It was then thought 
 that such trays would answer for hatching ova if raised from 
 the bottom of the trough, and the water made to circulate by 
 an upward current. This plan, though not claimed as an inven- 
 tion, can hardly be called a modification of any other, although 
 it bears some resemblance to several which have been used in 
 America. It has certainly found favour among pisciculturists 
 on account of its great economy in the items of prime cost and 
 of space. One of these troughs costs about 55^. complete, and 
 will bring on over 100,000 eggs, whilst a set of six slate troughs 
 costs between 8/. and gl. and will not contain more than half 
 the number of ova. The trays may be much larger, but I 
 prefer this size on account of their handiness and comparatively 
 slight weight. Instead of ' carbonising' the wooden troughs, I 
 have them coated, as well as the zinc trays, with tar varnish. 
 Silicate paint answers as well. 
 
 Livingston Stone, in the book before referred to, says, ' One 
 form or the other of the tray system is undoubtedly destined to 
 entirely supersede the old methods of hatching on glass grilles 
 or on the bottom of troughs.'
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 
 
 459 
 
 Economy in space, where operations are conducted on a 
 large scale, is unquestionably a great advantage : but it is not 
 only in space that the saving is effected : there is a saving also 
 in the cost of building and fitting up the hatching-house, as 
 well as in the quantity of water required the last an important 
 item of expenditure in many hatcheries. 
 
 Whatever be the fashion or materials of the hatching 
 
 SKETCH OF WOODEN HATCHING TROUGH. 
 3 feet long by 12 inches wide and 5 inches deep. 
 
 troughs, they should be placed in a good light, and arranged so 
 that they can be easily manipulated for removing the fish and 
 cleansing. Some hatching troughs are placed in out-of-the-way 
 dark corners, where there is no possibility of seeing what is 
 going on, and a great deal of mischief is done before the cause 
 is found out. The cut represents the hatching troughs in my 
 hatchery. 
 
 As before stated, the whole of the inside of the troughs and 
 the perforated trays should be coated with tar varnish or paint,
 
 440 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 or the wood-work only may be 'charred.' Varnish or paint, 
 however, preserves the zinc, and prevents oxidation. The 
 punctured pipe must be raised a quarter of an inch from the 
 bottom, by means of little feet soldered on, as in case any fish 
 escape from the trays in manipulation, they would be killed by 
 attempting to get under the pipe if it is laid on the bottom. It 
 is often necessary to thin out the young fish, and the bottom of 
 the troughs thus gives a large amount of extra space, and the 
 fish can be drawn off by the waste pipe when required. 
 
 One looks back with much interest to the time when these 
 experimental operations were commenced. How well I re- 
 member my first day's trout spawning ; how careful I was that 
 the can containing the freshly taken ova should not be shaken 
 on the journey of three miles home : the least jostling or 
 swinging of the can sent a feeling of horror through me ; and 
 what an excited state of uncertainty I was in for the first few 
 weeks, wondering whether with all the clumsiness in taking 
 the eggs, any of them would 'hatch out.' I have since 
 learned that freshly taken ova can be sent long distances by 
 rail without danger, and I prefer to send them in water rather 
 than moss, as they can be transferred to the hatching troughs 
 more quickly, and with less risk of concussion. The ova will 
 not bear the same amount of shaking and disturbance forty- 
 eight hours afterwards, but they may be examined with a glass 
 tube, and carefully replaced in the troughs without injury, 
 from the day of taking : anything approaching concussion, 
 however, kills them, until the tissues of the fish are firm and 
 their eyes are visible. 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF OVA. 
 
 When everything in the hatching-house has been tested, and 
 ascertained to be thoroughly sound and in order, the ova is to 
 be procured. 'First catch your hare,' is applicable here. I 
 remember in former years the great uncertainty and risk there
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 441 
 
 was in depending on rivers for the stock of ova. Some of the 
 best parts of the Test, Itchin, Wey and Kennett were at my 
 disposal ; but seasons vary in our fickle climate, and I have 
 found more than once that the fish had already spawned, 
 and gone down to the deeper water, or that they would 
 not be ready for a week or more. This meant, perhaps, no 
 eggs at all from that river, or another journey. Then, if a 
 second attempt was made, heavy rain has often done mischief, 
 and nets would not work the river. Trout will sometimes 
 defy the best net in the world, as, in close proximity to the 
 spawning ground there is frequently 'a sweet little hiding 
 place,' seven to ten feet deep, running far under the bank, and 
 full of stumps and roots, into which the fish instantly fly ; get 
 them out if you can ! The execution of the strategical move- 
 ment is doubtless sagacious as well as instinctive on the part of 
 the fish, but it show r s a disinclination to a closer acquaintance 
 which is not satisfactory to the would-be operator, who returns 
 home egg-less, and not unfrequently wet to the skin. 
 
 My plan has been to secure, by lease or purchase, ponds 
 already in existence, and to construct others, where I may with 
 certainty rely on finding breeding fish when they are wanted. 
 If a few of the female fish are not ripe on the first visit, they 
 are removed to a smaller pond for a few days : by these means 
 I get all the eggs which my fish produce. The ponds are 
 netted, and when necessary drawn off. If care is taken no fish 
 need be lost or killed by running ponds off, and it is a good 
 plan to draw the water off occasionally, in order to get rid of 
 any loose mud which may have accumulated. A 'goodly 
 sprinkle' of eggs has been obtained from the before-mentioned 
 rivers almost every season, and the quality of Test, Itchin, 
 Wey, and Kennett trout is so well known that it is needless to 
 say anything here in their praise. 
 
 I believe, however, that the future quality of the fish de- 
 pends rather on the food they get, than on the water from 
 which their parents come. The character of a trout alters 
 very much under changed conditions. Still it is advisable
 
 442 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 to get ova from good ' strains ' of fish, and from large, healthy 
 breeders. If they come from a degenerate breed it is not pro- 
 bable that the offspring will be healthy, nor grow to any great 
 size. Trout brought from Scotch burns, or little Welsh and 
 Devonshire streams will often grow to a large size in more 
 suitable water, although they would never have got beyond half- 
 a-pound at the most in their native stream. There is a decided 
 advantage in having large ova, for the simple reason that the 
 fish hatched from them are bidder, and able to take much 
 
 oo y 
 
 larger morsels of food ; they thus get a good start of their 
 smaller brethren, and, as a rule, keep it. I have found that 
 the largest and best eggs are produced by fish from three to 
 five years old. The size of trout ova varies very much, as the 
 following comparative table will show. 
 
 Sample No. I S. Fario . . measures '20 inch or ~ nearly 
 
 2 S. Fontinalis . -23 inch or nearly 
 
 3 S. Levenensis -24 inch or | nearly 
 
 4 S. Fario . . '26 inch or full 
 
 5 S. Ferox . -26 inch or | full 
 
 ,, 6 S. Fario . . -30 inch or T 5 g nearly 
 
 These measurements are the largest diameters, the eggs not 
 being perfectly round. 
 
 Where fish culture is practised on a large scale, hundreds of 
 thousands, or even millions of eggs are required. At several 
 of my ponds I can safely reckon on 100,000 to 400,000 in a 
 day's spawning. I am under obligations also to several friends, 
 who allow me to take what ova I can get from their water, and 
 I endeavour to make them some return by sending them fry or 
 yearling fish. 
 
 IMPREGNATION OF THE OVA. 
 
 The first principle of modern pisciculture is the fecundation 
 of the ova by artificial means. ' In consequence,' observes 
 Livingston Stone, 'of the discovery that all mature eggs are
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 443 
 
 impregnated by coming in contact with ripe milt, the fish, both 
 male and female, being taken at random, we are compelled 
 to admit, however unwillingly, that the origin of fish life, 
 in artificial impregnation at least, is wholly a mechanical 
 affair.' 
 
 Unless, however, a very large percentage of fertilised ova 
 is shown, and unless these are taken from strong, healthy 
 parent fish, the pisciculturist's labours are incessant and irksome, 
 as he will have to be constantly removing ' blind ' or unimpreg- 
 nated eggs, and weakly 'fry ; ' whereas, if his breeders are 
 healthy, and his eggs properly taken, he may reasonably reckon 
 on a large proportion of strong, healthy fry, which will in due 
 couise, and with proper treatment, develope into valuable 
 yearling fish. 
 
 The discovery of the ' dry method ' of impregnation, by 
 M. Vrasski, a Russian, about the year 1856, is of the greatest 
 practical importance. It was not, however, until some years 
 after, that it became generally known in America, and still later 
 in this country. 
 
 Stone (p. 105) says : 'No one hereafter, who has heard of 
 the new method, will ever take the eggs of any cold water fish 
 by the old method. Seth Green reached the same results 
 nearly ten years before, by using a very small amount of water 
 in the impregnating pan ; ' and Frank Buckland (' Familiar 
 History of British Fishes,' p. 303) found that by placing 
 milt in water first, and then adding the eggs, he obtained 
 better results. In this case, I presume that the eggs were 
 added within a few seconds after the milt had been placed in 
 water. 
 
 By the 'dry method/ nearly one hundred per cent, of the 
 ova taken can be fertilised ; whilst by the old plan of placing 
 both the ova and milt in water, the average scarcely ever 
 reached higher than fifty or sixty per cent. There was always 
 risk, by the old method, that the absorbing power of the egg 
 had ceased before the milt was added, or that the vitality of 
 the milt had disappeared when several minutes elapsed before
 
 444 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 the two were brought into contact. 1 It is well known now 
 that the ova will retain the power of absorption of the milt for 
 a considerable time, if wafer has not already entered the 
 ' micropyle ; ' but if water enters first, the spermatozoa does 
 not take effect. It is also known that 'milt' will not live long 
 in water two minutes being the supposed limit. ' Paradoxical 
 as it appears, water drowns them' (Stone, p. 107). It is stated 
 that the 'Spermatozoa of the milt remains alive several days 
 when kept from the air and water,' consequently crosses of 
 breed can be effected which should lead to valuable results. 
 The introduction of ' fresh blood ' by these means would be 
 very simple, and of the greatest advantage to waters where the 
 fish have become degenerated ; it would, however, take at least 
 five or six years for the improvement to be seen, but the time 
 might be shortened by the introduction of yearling fish from 
 other waters. 
 
 Both the eggs and the milt are now put into a spawning pan 
 with no water save that which falls from the body of the fish in 
 the process of taking the eggs, and the results are in the highest 
 degree satisfactory. Water is of course added after a few mi- 
 nutes, and the usual rinsing is necessary. I have frequently had 
 samples of eggs in which 100 per cent, have been impregnated, 
 and many other pisciculturists have similar experiences. A 
 table is given in Stone's book (p. 104) of thirteen samples of 
 eggs, amounting in all to 72,300, in which 96 per cent, were 
 impregnated, and on the next page he very naturally considers 
 the difference in the labour which this makes, calculating that 
 in a million ova it would take about thirty-five whole days to 
 pick out, one by one, the worthless 40 per cent, which are 
 found by taking the eggs on the old system. The bad eggs 
 must be removed sooner or later, and it will be immediately 
 seen that the work of a pisciculturist is very much lessened 
 when he has 95 per cent, of good eggs, and but 5 \ er cent, 
 remain to be picked out. 
 
 1 On the day the above was penned the writer operated on 350 fish in two 
 hours ; this, without allowing for pauses, gives twenty seconds for each fish, 
 and is tolerably quick work.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 445 
 
 TREATMENT OF THE OVA. 
 
 As soon as impregnation takes place, the micropyle closes, 
 and water cannot enter except through violent concussion. 
 When the ' germ ' has risen, and ' segmentation ' begins, the 
 ova should be disturbed as little as possible. After this, if the 
 hatchery is well regulated, nothing short of violence or absolute 
 neglect can prevent the regular progress of nature, and the eggs 
 will, in due time, hatch. 
 
 The period of ' incubation,' as it is sometimes called, extends 
 over fifty to seventy days in water of 46 to 50 Fahrenheit, and 
 during this period the pisciculturist's labours are not very exces- 
 sive, provided he has everything in first rate order, and a good 
 percentage of fertilised eggs. The time occupied in picking out 
 white (that is dead) ova, and any foreign substance which may 
 appear, is inconsiderable, and it is not necessary that this should 
 be done every day ; three or four times a week is often enough, 
 unless the temperature rises, in which case ' fungus ' and 'byssus' 
 grow more rapidly. 
 
 A number of good eggs are sometimes spoilt by the incessant 
 disturbance caused in hunting after a few bad ones, and awk- 
 wardness in removing them. Personally I allow no one to 
 touch my ova until they have been in the uater twenty days, 
 undertaking all the picking over myself during that time. A 
 few minutes at the different troughs is all that is required. 
 
 If ova are sent to the Antipodes, they should be packed 
 and placed on board ship as soon as possible after they are 
 taken from the parent fish. The voyage is too long if packing 
 is delayed until the eyes appear ; and as the temperature in 
 Australia and New Zealand is at its highest in December and 
 January, it is advisable to send eggs of late spawners, so that 
 they arrive there at a cooler season, viz. April or May. 
 
 The first consignments of ova which arrived in New 
 Zealand were probably those packed by Mr. Youl and Frank 
 Buckland in 1864 and 1873, and were collected from the
 
 446 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 head waters of the River Wey, at Alton. These fish run up 
 to eight and ten pounds and occasionally even larger, and are 
 perhaps amongst the finest class of trout to be found in the 
 country. With the refrigerator plan now general in steamships, 
 there is no necessity for carrying ice, as it is manufactured 
 on the voyage ; but I am not so sanguine of success if the 
 packages are placed in the refrigerating-room, as should the 
 temperature remain too low for any length of time the eggs 
 would perish. If the packages are placed in a cool chamber, 
 and covered with ice sufficient to last the whole voyage, the pro- 
 cess of incubation can be sufficiently retarded to prevent the 
 ova hatching out. The ' snow ' which accumulates in the shafts 
 of the machinery during the voyage might be utilised by 
 arrangement with the person in charge of the refrigerator : 
 there should be an arrangement for carrying off the melted 
 ice or snow, or probably it would become a source of danger 
 by flooding the packages. 1 
 
 In about forty days from the time the eggs were taken, the 
 embryo is distinctly visible through the outer shell, and the ova 
 can be handled almost with impunity. This is the time to send 
 them any distance not exceeding fifteen or twenty days' journey. 
 It is also the best time for the fish-breeder to ascertain what is 
 his percentage of fertilised eggs, as disturbance is no longer 
 injurious. The whole tray full may be removed to a pan, and 
 thoroughly washed, with the effect of setting any unimpregnated 
 eggs turning opaque white in a few minutes, and leaving the 
 good eggs perfectly clean and free from sediment. 
 
 Unimpregnated ova will sometimes remain unchanged in 
 colour for many weeks, but a disturbance such as that just 
 suggested will usually find out the worthless ones ; at all events, 
 the smallest examination will show that in the good ova the eyes 
 are strongly developed, and the bad ones have but a small 
 
 1 This, and the small number of impregnated eggs, appear to have been 
 the cause of failure in the last attempt in January 1884. The writer is on the 
 point of packir.g some ova for Australia, and will endeavour to profit by past 
 e.\r > ee. Whether there is any water suitable in Australia, is another matter 
 altotietuer.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 447 
 
 annular disk at the top. These should now be removed, as 
 they never develope, and occupy room required for others 
 which in a short time will. 
 
 I have heard of ova having been ninety days in the water 
 without showing the eyes, and without turning white ; of course 
 the tyro was wasting his time, hoping against hope, and at last 
 had to throw all the eggs away. If ova, after being fifty days 
 in water of exceedingly low temperature, do not show, even to 
 a novice, unmistakable signs of becoming young fish, they never 
 will, and may be got rid of at once ; they will make a meal for 
 some large fish which may be handy to the hatchery. 
 
 The eggs can now be packed in moss, and sent long dis- 
 tances. During the last few years eggs have been conveyed 
 across the Atlantic, with the very smallest loss. My last con- 
 signments of S. Fontinalis from America have arrived in first 
 
 o 
 
 rate condition, not more than five per cent, being spoilt, and 
 these evidently had been bruised in packing. 
 
 The plan of packing does not vary much with trout-breeders. 
 The eggs are placed in alternate layers between moss, and 
 protected with a covering of mcsquito netting, muslin, swan's 
 down calico, or butter-cloth, so arranged that the eggs shall not 
 be crushed or escape. These layers are first placed in boxes 
 about a foot square, and afterwards in an outer wooden case, 
 well surrounded with saw-dust, and placed in the ice-house of 
 the ship. Previously to the last condition, boxes of ova were 
 probably put among the general cargo, and there was risk of 
 their becoming heated on the voyage. For many years it was 
 a matter of the greatest uncertainty whether the ova of S. 
 Fontinalis (American) would reach England in good condition. 
 Many hundreds of pounds sterling have been wasted in this 
 way, I myself having received several packages of 30,000, 
 50,000, and 75,000 in a perfectly putrid state ; but being con- 
 vinced that the loss arose from heating on board ship, I took 
 some little pains in making arrangements with the shipping 
 companies, who readily agreed to do anything in their power 
 to facilitate the transport. The ' Inman ' and ' Cunard ' com-
 
 448 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 panics have been most obliging in allowing certain other privi- 
 leges which have gone far to insure successful transport, and 
 from that time the ova which I have received from America, as 
 well as those which I have exported, have arrived in excellent 
 condition. 
 
 There are three causes of failure in exporting ova, viz. 
 imperfect fecundation, bad packing, and heating on the voyage. 
 
 The distribution of ova within the limits of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, or indeed all over Europe, is a very simple matter, 
 and is done on a large scale by leading pisciculturists. For a 
 journey of several days it is sometimes necessary to place some 
 rough ice in the package to keep the temperature down. If 
 they are to be many days on the journey, they should be sent 
 off as soon as the outline of the fish and the eyes are distinctly 
 visible ; this leaves a margin of fifteen to twenty days, according 
 to the temperature of the water into which they are afterwards 
 placed, before the hatching period arrives. 
 
 When the eggs are all 'eyed,' the pisciculturist has but to 
 remove any sediment settling on the ova, and to pick out 
 occasionally a dead one. In the best water available for hatch- 
 ing purposes, there is always a slight sediment after it has run 
 through the troughs five or six weeks, but this can be got rid of 
 by removing the ova from the troughs, and washing them 
 in the tray system, by lifting the trays up an inch or two, say 
 half-a-dozen times, and replacing them, or in the glass grille 
 system, by sprinkling clean water over the eggs from a watering- 
 pot. A hatching-house should be fitted with a 'sink' five or 
 six feet long, where any washing can be done. 
 
 Nature will now do the rest of the work in good time, and 
 with very little help on our part. The greatest assistance we offer 
 nature is in the protection of the ova and newly- hatched fish 
 from every natural enemy during the most helpless part of 
 its existence ; the only part of fish-hatching which is purely 
 artificial is the taking of the eggs from the parent fish. 
 
 As soon as the great ' hatch ' comes on, there is more work 
 for the pisciculturist in removing the empty egg-shells from the
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 449 
 
 hatching troughs, as the little fences which are effectual to keep 
 the young fish in the troughs will also prevent the empty shells 
 from floating away ; but this is the work of a few minutes only 
 every day. Either the whole tray full of hatching fish may be 
 turned out into a pan, and the empty shells poured off, or the 
 greater part of the shells can be skimmed off with a cup or 
 small muslin net ; whichever plan is adopted, it should be re- 
 peated until all the fish are hatched, and the troughs are per- 
 fectly clean. A few fish may have to be assisted out of their 
 shells by the use of a camel's hair pencil, as they sometimes 
 hatch out tail instead of head first, and the struggles of the 
 young fish to get free sometimes end in their being strangled. 
 
 A small percentage of the fish always die in hatching, and 
 must be speedily removed. Deformities and monstrosities are 
 occasionally met with : some have two heads and one body 
 (Salmonese Twins !) ; others have one head and a body and 
 a half ; a few also are hatched with three heads ; a few with 
 four eyes, and some with no eyes at all. 1 These are placed in 
 a spare corner for observation, or preserved in spirits they 
 never live more than five or six weeks. 
 
 There will soon be left a wriggling mass of veritable young 
 trout, huddling together into every corner of the trough out of 
 the light. There is no danger in this, unless the troughs are 
 orer-crowded with fish. In this case comes 'gill fever,' or 
 inflammation of the gills, a plague with which I am happy to 
 say I have never been troubled. The effect of inflammation of 
 the gills is to eat away a portion of the gill coverings, and if 
 the fish survive, there is always trace of it to be seen in after- 
 life, nor do they ever thrive or have so good an appearance. 
 
 A pisciculturist having anything like a demand for his 
 ova will, ere this, be able to thin out his stock considerably by 
 finding unoccupied troughs; at this time also the perforated tray 
 system seems to offer the greatest advantages, as the fish can 
 be prevented from over- crowding by being kept in separate 
 
 1 Two specimens, with three heads, have been found in the writer's hatchery 
 during the last eighteen years curiously enough these were both ' Americans.' 
 
 I. G G
 
 450 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 compartments of the same trough, and counted out in batches 
 of one or more thousands, ready to send away at the right time, 
 and at a moment's notice. 
 
 Nature has provided the young fish with the c umbilical sac,' 
 which supports them for about six weeks : this gradually be- 
 comes smaller, until it is finally absorbed into the system. 
 
 The newly-hatched fish is a perfect marvel of construction, 
 and can be seen to perfection in a drop of water under a micro- 
 scope at a low power. Every organ is shown distinctly; the 
 colouring of the skin and the circulation of the blood through 
 the whole system is plainly visible. Buckland writes, ' The foot 
 of a frog is pretty enough, but is no more to be compared to the 
 young fish than a schoolboy's daub to one of Sir Edwin Land- 
 -seer's pictures.' 
 
 REARING OF THE FRY. 
 
 "While the young fish are in the ' Alevin ' stage, there is but 
 little to be done in the hatchery ; almost all that is necessary is 
 to keep the water constantly running in a slightly larger volume 
 and to remove the few fish which may die. During this period 
 I prepare for sending them away by removing them to a large 
 shallow tank capable of containing fifty or sixty perforated zinc 
 trays, each holding a thousand or two. Overcrowding is 
 thus avoided, and the fish are at hand at a moment's notice. 
 In about six weeks after hatching, the umbilical sac is com- 
 pletely absorbed, and the young fish require food. 
 
 L. Stone says concerning the rearing of Fry, ' Here, the 
 triumphant skill which hatched the eggs successfully was baffled, 
 and it seemed for a time as if the wonderful art which had 
 promised so much was to come to a stand-still at this gulf 
 between the eggs and the yearling trout, a gulf which seemed 
 as if it could not be bridged. . . . The question is not now, 
 "Can young trout be raised?" but "How many can do it, and 
 under what circumstances con it be done successfully?" : 
 
 Feeding artificially in ' rearing boxes ' is, in my opinion, an
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 451 
 
 expensive and unsatisfactory plan compared to the natural food 
 system, and the time conies when the fish must be removed to 
 more roomy quarters. Some pisciculturists, however, prefer to 
 keep the young fish for a few weeks in the hatching or rearing 
 boxes, believing that it gives them a better start in life. I do 
 not agree with them, as I maintain that the small loss which 
 may occur by turning the fish out in the open at once is more 
 than compensated by the quicker growth they make on more 
 natural and nourishing food. 
 
 Young fish will not, as a rule, take artificial (i.e. dead or 
 manufactured) food after it has fallen to the bottom of the boxes: 
 and there is soon an accumulation of decomposing matter, 
 which is very injurious, and troublesome to remove without 
 damaging the fry. Again, the water which is suitable for hatching 
 purposes, on account of its purity and low temperature, is not 
 suitable for rearing. It lacks the very qualities so essential to 
 the future development of the fish. The hatching water isexactly 
 that which is wanted to bring the fry up to feeding point; but from 
 this time there is nothing in its composition to nourish young 
 feeding fish, being altogether too barren so soon after coming 
 from the springs and almost wholly excluded from light. 
 
 But it is not in every locality that the natural food can be 
 found in sufficient quantities to ' keep the fish alive and growing,' 
 and to bring them on to maturity ; therefore artificial feeding 
 is in some cases compulsory. If the fry can be carried through 
 the first three months, many of the dangers to which they are 
 subject cease. They can take larger food, and a greater 
 variety ; but the difficulty is to provide suitable food and 
 lodging to rear them even to this age. 
 
 My plan is first to select water which possesses the requisite 
 properties for breeding the natural food, and on it to construct 
 nursery ponds of a convenient size : ' The great thing to 
 encourage in your fishery is food which is reproductive.' This 
 remark applies to trout water, and has special reference to the 
 food in streams ; but the fact of making a small stream into 
 ponds does not alter the character of the water (except in most 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 cases to improve it), and if a number of ponds are constructed 
 on different levels, these will preserve the food, if the volume of 
 water passing through is sufficient, and yet at all times under 
 perfect control. The raising of trout appears to be entirely a 
 question of food, both in quality, size, and quantity; and unless 
 this can be provided naturally, the rearing of any great number 
 of fish is a most expensive undertaking, various kinds of meat or 
 offal having to be procured, and a staff of assistants constantly 
 employed in chopping or otherwise preparing the food. The 
 system of feeding at the Howietown Fishery is almost wholly 
 artificial, especially for the large fish, and this establishment 
 (by far the largest in the world) turns out great numbers of 
 yearling fish. There is but little natural food to be found in 
 the water, but this has lately been introduced, and watercress 
 cultivated in all the ponds. A pisciculturist, however, relying 
 entirely on natural food must have larger ponds and more of 
 them, involving a considerable original outlay. Without proper 
 food, natural or artificial, the loss would be something difficult 
 to realise perhaps equal to that arising in the natural state, 
 where it is thought to be probably not less than 999 per 1000 ! 
 
 If a small proportion of the young fry turned direct into 
 the ponds from the hatchery die, they are devoured by fresh- 
 water shrimps and other carnivorous insets, valuable in them- 
 selves as fishes' food, and also acting as Nature's scavengers 
 of the water ; but if proof is required that these do very little 
 damage to healthy fry, the writer may mention that he has 
 frequently found 80 and 85 per cent, of yearlings, which were 
 placed in the ponds eleven months before as fry. Let anyone 
 observe, however, the rapidity with which a dozen shrimps will 
 demolish a dead ' fry.' They will cluster all round it, and in a 
 very few moments there will be nothing left but his little back- 
 bone the fish get the best of it in the long run though ! 
 
 Seth Green, a well known American pisciculturist, says 
 1 Starvation ' is almost the only cause of mortality among fry 
 provided they have been properly treated in the earlier stages. 
 How many millions of fish have been deliberately (in some
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 453 
 
 cases unavoidably) killed by 'starvation ' either before or after 
 turning out, it would be impossible to calculate ! 
 
 My own fish are sent off to the ' Nurseries ' on the first signs 
 of their requiring food, which they show by rising from the 
 bottom of the hatching trays into about mid-water, balancing 
 themselves there, with heads against the current, and turning 
 at any small particle they see passing. It appears as if the first 
 good meal a young trout gets may be compared to the ' Nest- 
 egg ' which a man is advised to put by it is often the making 
 of him ! 
 
 Unlike most other very young animals, they seem suddenly 
 to acquire the movements and habits of old fish, and to pass 
 from the helpless ' alevin ' stage into maturity in all except 
 bulk. 
 
 Some interesting experiments have been tried in my garden, 
 where there are several tanks twelve feet by six feet and seven 
 inches deep. Last spring a few (150) grayling and trout fry 
 were put into one of these tanks at the ' feeding stage.' The 
 tanks are supplied with the hatchery water, but exposed to light 
 and air ; every third or fourth day a can of weed, swarming 
 with the larvoe of small water-flies, was sent up from the neigh- 
 bouring nurseries, and up to the time of writing, when they are 
 on an average four inches long, there has been scarcely any loss. 
 The temperature of the water was eight degrees lower than that 
 of the nurseries, and the larvce did not live longer than fo-.ir or 
 five days ; so that fresh supplies had to be procured, but the 
 fish have never had an atom of any other food. 
 
 The larvae of water-flies and the mature flies themselves, 
 as well as the 6V? ;;////w/ (fresh-water shrimp) and Limncs (snails), 
 may be transferred to other waters of about the same tempera- 
 ture without difficulty ; and if a large quantity is introduced 
 into suitable waters where there are no fish, sufficient food to 
 rear a great many fry will soon accumulate by reproduction. 
 Watercress is one of the best plants for trout ponds or streams; 
 watercress growers lime their beds to destroy insect life.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 NATURAL FOOD. 
 
 The one great difference between my treatment of young 
 fish and the plan adopted by some other pisciculturists lies in 
 ' Feeding.' It must not be supposed that my fish are turned out 
 into the ponds without any thought of how much food they 
 may get ; on the contrary, it is by the most rigid preservation of 
 the natural food that I am able to grow yearlings to the size and 
 number I usually do. Every little water-course on my grounds 
 is utilised as a means of producing large quantities of natural 
 food, and any one who knows the immensely prolific nature of 
 aquatic insects, will soon understand that I have no difficulty 
 in providing sufficient food for the fish in all stages. Two or 
 more ponds of a 'sequence ' are set apart for the reproduction 
 of food only, and as these are properly situated a great quantity 
 can be sent down to the nursery ponds as often as necessary. 
 
 Stone (p. 225) says, ' Trout's food, when wild, consists chiefly 
 of water-insects, smaller fish, larva?, fish eggs, Crustacea, and 
 the flies and insects which fall from the air into the water ; 
 all of them together forming an astonishingly extensive variety. 
 The quality of their food affects the growth and appearance of 
 trout, and it is even thought that the difference in the colour of 
 their meat is sometimes caused by certain kinds of feed; the 
 fresh-water gammari, or pulex, being supposed especially favour- 
 able to the production of red-meated trout.' At p. 289 of 
 F. Buckland's ' British Fishes,' he says, ' Some trout are white- 
 fleshed, and some are pink-fleshed ; some say it is dependent 
 on the food, but I think this cannot be the entire cause, for I 
 have caught both pink and white in the same net, and both 
 living exactly under the same circumstances. One theory of the 
 cause of the flesh being red has lately been told me by the Duke 
 of Argyll, who believes that red-fleshed trout have been feeding 
 on the fresh-water shrimp, and that the horn-like coats of this 
 little animal turn red in the stomach through the action of the 
 gastric juices. Lord Dorchester also writes that "his best
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 455 
 
 fish when first taken throw up a species of fresh-water shrimp." 
 Again, " where these gammari are most plentiful the trout 
 are nearly always the largest, and of the best colour and condi- 
 tion.'" 1 
 
 It appears to me that there must be some colouring matter 
 in the ' shrimp ' itself, as they turn red, or rather, a deep orange 
 colour, when dead, not having been in a fish's stomach. Tror.t, 
 although apparently living under the same circumstances, feed 
 very differently, and some may prefer one kind of food to an- 
 other, doubtless caring very little whether his flesh is pink or 
 white when his turn comes to be put on the table! F. Buckland, 
 in his manual of Trout culture, advises the destruction of the 
 'shrimp ' as 'vermin.' From this dictum I must beg to differ 
 entirely, maintaining on the contrary that the fresh-water 
 shrimp is the finest natural food to be found in the water. 
 Doubtless they do destroy a few of the ova deposited natu- 
 rally in the ponds or rivers, but not anything like the quantity 
 which the parent fish and the later spawning fish devour, or 
 spoil by the frequent disturbance of the spawning grounds : 
 moreover, a pisciculturist takes care that his fish do not spawn 
 in the ordinary pond or nursery. Even in waters which are 
 not annually replenished by artificial breeding, the damage 
 caused by shrimps cannot be compared with the great gain in 
 respect of food by its preservation. 2 
 
 A pisciculturist protects the ova by bringing them to the 
 hatching house, where no shrimps or other ' vermin ' can 
 possibly come. 
 
 The eggs of the 'gammari' are exceedingly small, almost 
 microscopic, and when hatched are exactly the proper sized 
 mouthful for the fry, as also are the small Limnne, whose shell 
 is so delicate, that it is easily digested by young fish. 
 
 It is one of Nature's wise provisions that most water insects 
 breed and develop at the very time when the fry begin to feed. 
 
 l Practical Management of Fisheries, p. i3. 
 
 " See account also of trout growth-rate, when fed on water-shrimps at Lord 
 'Eldon's, p. 167-8. H. C.-P.
 
 456 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 The stomachs of very young trout have been opened, and found 
 to contain quantities of shrimps, snails and larvae, and a]so 
 the fry of such coarse fish as may happen to be in the same 
 water. 1 
 
 PONDS. 
 
 The construction and maintenance of rearing ponds are 
 matters of careful study, and often require considerable en- 
 gineering skill in obtaining levels, so as to lose no space and 
 economise labour. It is also to be observed that whilst the 
 quantity of water and its ' reliability ' are matters of the first 
 moment, it must also be of the quality and temperature suited 
 to the growth of the best natural food, and of the weed upon 
 which ' the food ' lives, and further, that it is not subject to pollu- 
 tion or uncontrollable floods. My own ponds are constructed as 
 close to springs as possible, in fact, at the springs themselves, 
 that 'is to say, either over the springs, or within a few yards of 
 them. Here they are safe from any risk of pollution or floods. 
 
 If under the above conditions the quantity and ' unfailing- 
 ness ' of the springs are established, there is scarcely any limit 
 to the number of ponds that may be made, depending on the 
 fall of the land, and the extent of the holding. If, on the 
 contrary, the springs have been known to fail, even in the 
 driest season, I should turn my back on the place, however 
 tempting in other respects. 
 
 It is a popular error to suppose that trout will thrive only 
 in streams ; they often grow far more quickly in ponds. It is 
 not the current they require, but a constant supply of good 
 water, with plenty of food. The majority of streams, however 
 small in their normal condition, are occasionally subject to 
 floods, and cannot, on account of the great body of water then 
 coming down, be effectually fenced. 
 
 1 At the proper season, large numbers of small coarse fish can be procured, 
 including pike, perch, gudgeon, roach, dace, chub, minnows, &c. , and these 
 make excellent food for young trout, The writer has frequently hatched the 
 ova of these fish for the express purpose.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 457 
 
 A grating fine enough to keep the young fish within bounds 
 chokes up with rubbish in a few minutes, and is carried away 
 bodily or the water is forced into another channel ; in either 
 case the fish are liable to pass out of bounds, and they are 
 virtually lost to the original owner. The safest plan to adopt 
 in the construction of ponds is to excavate rather than to dam 
 up ; it is very much more expensive, costing as a rule between 
 eight- pence and a shilling per cubic yard ; but this is much more 
 than balanced by the security against unsound heads of dammed- 
 up ponds. If the soil is suitable, however, a thoroughly sound 
 1 head ' is easily made, the thickness of which must depend on 
 the weight of water behind it ; but the head should in no case 
 be less than eight or ten feet through, and it is sometimes 
 necessary to make it as thick as thirty feet. The inside of 
 pond-heads should shelve off towards the centre of the pond at 
 a considerable angle, but as much depends on local circum- 
 stances, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. Camp- 
 sheathing, or planking, is necessary in some places, and brick 
 heads may have to be formed where space is limited, and where 
 a perpendicular head is required. If ponds are well made in the 
 first instance, there need be no danger of the head breaking away. 
 
 In making ponds, it is most desirable to have the ' outlets ' 
 very capacious, so as to take off any extra water in a very wet 
 season. Ponds for business purposes should also be constructed 
 within easy distance of a railway station, and where good fresh 
 water can be obtained on the road and added at the last 
 moment. The cost and risk of removing yearling and older 
 fish are very much lessened in such a case. Per contra, very 
 many fish are killed by the addition of unsuitable water on the 
 journey, and except in well known localities, I never allow 
 water to be added after the consignment has been sent off, pre- 
 ferring to send fewer fish in one vessel, or, which amounts to 
 the same thing, a sufficient quantity of water to last out, and 
 keep the fish alive; it is the rarest thing for any of my fish 
 to be lost on the road. 
 
 A fish-breeder, who looks for some return for the money 
 laid out on his ' fishery,' must be able to put his hand on any
 
 453 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 or all of his fish whenever he wants them, and this can only 
 be done by constructing a number of ponds. These may be 
 round, or square, or any other shape, according to circumstances, 
 and not larger than an acre in extent, otherwise they are difficult 
 to net, and take too much time in running out. I prefer myself 
 ponds of a quarter to half an acre for the yearlings, as the water 
 can be run off in a few hours, the pond fished, and the water 
 shut back in a day. This extent of surface exposed to the sun 
 and air encourages a greater vegetable and insect growth than 
 does a long narrow pond, and it is less easily ' poached.' 
 
 An additional security is to have the keeper's house close 
 to the water, and also to place obstructions, such as posts orna- 
 mented with tenter-hooks, in the ponds ; poachers cannot afford 
 to run the risk of confiscation or loss of nets more than once. 
 
 All ponds, whether for business purposes or for sport, should 
 be capable of being emptied at any time, and the greater num- 
 ber of a pisciculturist's ponds are of necessity drawn down 
 every season in order to supply the demand for fish, and also 
 to make certain that no fish remain in them. A few fish of 
 half a pound amongst the fry will make all the difference in 
 the number of yearlings found, as I know from bitter ex- 
 perience. One season a few yearlings were left behind in a 
 nu :sery pond, and on the pond being fished the next season, 
 these had nearly quadrupled their size, but at the expense of 
 thousands of fry. Trout are cannibals, and will, unless provided 
 with plenty of insect food, devour one another as long as there 
 is any great difference in their size. This has been observed in 
 the case of a few fish of only eight weeks old, which had been 
 by accident put in a hatching trough amongst some fry of about 
 five weeks old ; a comparative monster was seen with the tails 
 of two younger fario sticking out of his mouth ; he was instantly 
 captured, and when transferred to a basin in order to exhibit 
 his amiable propensity, he disgorged one of his little cousins, 
 half-digested, but the other disappeared down his throat ! This 
 propensity doubtless increases with age. 
 
 I hold at the present time, devoted to the different varieties
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 459 
 
 of Salmonidse, over forty ponds, about thirty of which are 
 usually set apart for rearing yearling fish and for food-growing. 
 
 A number of ponds is necessary, as there are at least five 
 favourite varieties of Salmonidae, viz. Salmo Fario (English 
 brook trout), S. Fontinalis (American do.), S. Levenensis 
 (Loch Leven do.), S. Ferox (Great Lake do.), and Thymallus 
 Vulgaris (Grayling) ; and there would be immense trouble in 
 separating them if the different varieties were placed in the 
 same pond. Fontinalis and grayling could be readily distin- 
 guished, but it is no slight work with fish so similar in appear- 
 ance as Fario, Levenensis, and Ferox, when small, to guarantee 
 that they are not mixed , it would be more simple if the fish 
 were not so active, and the water not quite so chilly. 
 
 The ponds for the large breeding fish are constructed on a 
 different ' water-shed,' or at all events on different levels from 
 the rearing-ponds, and are so fenced that there is no possibility 
 of the larger fish getting into the nurseries, or the small fish 
 getting out. The area of the ponds for the breeding fish is 
 much larger, and the water deeper. Ponds for sport only 
 may be as large as possible, and the bigger the better, but in 
 all cases they should be capable of being emptied, as there 
 is sometimes the probability of pike or perch getting in, and 
 these might have a real good time of it amongst the trout, 
 before detection. A few very large trout will also do as much 
 damage, amongst smaller fish, as pike, and if the water can 
 be run off they should be removed or destroyed. Pike and 
 perch are occasionally introduced into trout waters through the 
 medium of water-fowl. I have found small perch in one set of 
 my nursery ponds, which must have been conveyed by birds, 
 in the ova stage, as there were no perch nearer than five miles, 
 and these were in ponds on another water-shed. 
 
 The presence of pike in some of our best trout waters is 
 the curse of the place, and it seems to be impossible to get rid 
 of them, although a price is set on their heads. One reads of 
 hundreds of pike having been killed during the season from 
 some favourite trout-stream ; but it seems probable that the
 
 460 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 nuisance will continue so long as large ponds at the head or by 
 the side of the river contain them. There is no keeping them 
 back by fences, and frequently no attempt to do so ; the effect 
 being, very often, that the best part of the river is occupied by 
 pike, instead of containing a good stock of trout. Netting the 
 ditches by the side of the river at spawning time is a good way 
 of helping to exterminate these depredators. 
 
 ON STOCKING. 
 
 A pisciculturist is frequently asked which is the best kind 
 of trout to stock a certain piece of water. The question can- 
 not be decided without actual experiment, but a tolerably good 
 inference may be drawn by comparison of the particular water 
 with other in the same neighbourhood. 
 
 Yearling fish should be introduced when the stock in the 
 water has become low ; it is generally a waste of valuable fish- 
 life to turn ' fry ' into a stream or lake which already contains 
 some trout ; if there are small tributary streams on the same 
 property leading into the main water, the stock may be re- 
 plenished year by year with ' fry,' or even ova ; but as there 
 would always be considerable loss, very large numbers must be 
 introduced, and the tributaries must be well fenced (which is 
 always a difficulty), so as to prevent the little fish from getting 
 out, and any larger fish from getting in ; otherwise good results 
 will seldom follow. The largest fish obtainable should be pro- 
 cured ; the first expense being perhaps greater, but proving in 
 the end less, and a greater security from cannibalism. Well- 
 fed yearlings should run from four to seven inches in length, 
 some may be even more, and these are to a greater extent capable 
 of 'holding their own' against larger fish than the small-sized 
 yearlings bred in some waters, and are therefore worth much 
 moie money. 
 
 Salmo Fario (English brook trout) must take the precedence 
 of all the other varieties, as it is the indigenous fish to most
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 461 
 
 English waters, and is well deserving of best position on 
 account both of its sporting and edible qualities. In the 
 warmer waters of the South it often attains to a great size, and 
 is caught with the fly up to seven and eight pounds weight, 
 still heavier fish being occasionally taken. 
 
 S. Fontinalis (American) is a lovely fish. It has only one 
 fault, viz. that of travelling down stream, and on this account 
 it has ceased to be the favourite it used to be in England a few 
 years ago. The fish appears to be best suited to cold ponds 
 in this country ; in several places it has become well-esta- 
 blished, and is bred from every year. The only thing required 
 is very careful fencing. Fish of this species are not so 
 active or strong as the English fish found in the same water, 
 and not better eating. Another objection I have often heard 
 lately is that they do not rise well at a fly ; but this holds good 
 as to the other varieties also when plentifully supplied with 
 alternative food. 
 
 S. Levenensis (Loch Leven trout) is undoubtedly a fine 
 fish. When caught in its own beautiful loch there is no better 
 fish either for sport or table ; whether it will preserve these 
 characteristics in other waters seems to be a question of food 
 only ; it thrives in the South of England in either lake or stream. 
 I have myself a very high opinion of Salmo Levenensis, and 
 rear them in considerable numbers every year, their growth 
 being very rapid in my water. I get my ova, of course, from 
 the Howietoun fishery. In which class S. Levenensis is to 
 be placed, is perhaps for more scientific men to decide ; 
 my suspicion is it is merely a local variety of Salmo Fario. 
 
 S. Ferox (Great Lake trout) do well in very deep waters, 
 and grow there to a large size ; they are usually obtained from 
 the famous fishery at Huningue, or from Herr F. Zenk, Wiirtz- 
 burg, in Germany. 
 
 Thymallus Vulgaris (Grayling) are worth greater cultivation 
 in the streams of the South of England, if only on account of 
 their being in season after trout-fishing is over, thus affording 
 a most welcome extension of time to anglers. There is less
 
 462 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 difficulty in breeding grayling artificially than was formerly 
 supposed. The principal risk is owing to their spawning 
 operations being got through in such a short time. If the 
 right day is missed, the fish may have finished, and no ova 
 can be obtained. Young grayling can be reared in nursery 
 ponds with as little trouble as trout, and they thrive on exactly 
 the same food. 
 
 It remains to give a caution against over-stocking, which, as 
 a practical writer truly observes, will produce ' a sort of perma- 
 nent famine.' A stream should never be fully up to its possible 
 ' limit in regard to stock, a little under will give you bigger and 
 better fish.' At the same time it is an undoubted fact, that 
 there are very many waters which (if managed properly) would 
 contain with perfect safety ten times the number of fish they 
 now do. 
 
 Let me, in conclusion, draw attention to some of the 
 enemies of trout. 
 
 In the natural state the parent fish devour the ova as 
 soon as it is deposited. Only to-day I saw a pair of Fontinalis 
 about four pounds each on the spawning beds, and watched 
 them for some minutes. Every time the female deposited a few 
 eggs, both she and her 'consort' turned round and devoured 
 them instantly. Yearlings and older fish lurk in the vicinity 
 of the spawning grounds, and devour every egg they can find. 
 Swans, 1 geese, wild and tame ducks, moor-hens, dab-chicks, 
 cootes, cattle and rats, rout about the spawning beds, and 
 the later spawning fish disturb the ' redds ' previously made. 
 Nature is bountiful enough to provide for considerable waste, 
 but this is no reason why art should not step in and reclaim it. 
 It is only in places possessing a ray large extent of natural 
 spawning and rearing ground that any great number of store 
 fish are to be found. In some of the finest reaches of water 
 one sees but a few dozen yearlings to replenish the river by- 
 and-bye ; the natural consequence ot this being, that in two or 
 
 1 A swan will devour the best part of a gallon of trout ova in a day, say, 
 40,000 eggs.
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 463 
 
 three years' time, the water contains but a very limited number 
 of fish, or, as the phrase goes, ' is not so good as it used to be.' 
 In many instances it is not possible to make either spawning or 
 rearing grounds, and the fishery either becomes valueless, or 
 the proprietor has to re-stock the river by artificial breeding. 
 
 Perhaps the most formidable enemy to a trout is the 'up- 
 right form ' in the shape of man. A much greater tax is levied 
 on the stream in these days on account of the greater number 
 of persons who practise the 'gentle art,' and the water is un- 
 reasonably expected to yield more sport, although no measures 
 are taken to increase its breeding or feeding capacity. 
 
 Liberal as the proprietor of a trout stream frequently is in 
 granting permission to fish to strangers, it is a great mistake to 
 allow so much freedom in the number and size of fish killed. 
 Four or five brace of sizeable fish are ample for a day's sport, 
 and none but a 'pot hunter ' would grumble about a necessary 
 and reasonable limitation. A limit should also be imposed 
 as to the size under which fish should be kept say from eleven 
 to fifteen inches, according to circumstances and all fish 
 below that length ought to be honestly returned to the water. 
 Years ago the case was different altogether ; but now there are a 
 hundred fishermen where formerly there was one. A pheasant 
 breeder may reasonably (if he likes) allow his ' battue ' days of 
 a thousand or two thousand birds ; but pheasants reach perfec- 
 tion in one season, and only sufficient breeders need be kept 
 for the next. Trout, on the contrary, take four or five years in 
 most waters to attain a killable size, and a too indiscriminate 
 permission to fish, coupled with the absence of any restriction 
 as to the number and size of fish allowed to a rod,, are the ruin 
 of many waters. 
 
 The protection of fish in all stages is necessary, but there is 
 often great difficulty in 'preserving' the larger specimens. As 
 soon as they are of an age to perpetuate their species, their in- 
 .stinct teaches them to travel up stream to find suitable spawn- 
 ing grounds, when many of them, going out of bounds, never 
 get the chance of coming back again. It is at spawning time
 
 464 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 also that poaching is systematically practised, as the fish are 
 to be found in shallower water, when a slight knowledge by the 
 poache/ of the habits of trout will enable him to take almost as 
 many fish as he wants. Greater loss occurs at this than at any 
 other season, as not only the parent fish, but all their offspring 
 are destroyed. Spawning grounds should be watched night 
 and day, and good solid obstructions should be so placed in 
 the river as to be effectual in preventing the working of nets. 
 
 Hatches, or water-gates, frequently leave no place for fish to 
 hide, and if the poacher knows his business (as most of them 
 do) he has only to shut down the gate, and the pool runs all 
 but dry in a few minutes; the poacher pockets the fish, opens the 
 gate, and takes his departure as quickly and quietly as he can, 
 returning the next night probably to find another good haul 
 of fish. Proprietors of streams, and also their keepers, are 
 not always judicious in their attempts to 'secure 'the fish to 
 their own part of the water. 
 
 Weeds, instead of being ruthlessly eradicated, as is too fre- 
 quently the custom, should be judiciously retained. With the 
 wholesale destruction of weed goes the principal part of the 
 fishes' food, and often the only hiding places the river affords. 
 
 A stream is sometimes cleared of weed so entirely as to 
 resemble a well-kept carriage drive. The trout naturally seek 
 a more secluded part of the water, and will no more remain 
 where there is no cover, than would pheasants. If they stay, 
 they become shy feeders, and as soon as one fish is startled by 
 a footstep on the bank, he seems to communicate the alarm to 
 others, as if by electricity, and the whole rush wildly up and 
 down stream, causing mimic waves in the river for a hundred 
 yards or more. 
 
 A certain number offish are thus 'preserved' to the river, 
 as the angler has not the slightest chance of getting within cast 
 of them. The proprietor's wish of course is, that persons who 
 have permission to fish should have fair sport : the fault lies 
 principally with the millers and keepers, who find it easier to 
 set a few men to clear the weeds right out, than to superintend
 
 SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 465 
 
 what is called ' judicious ' cutting. Some river keepers think 
 that their sole duty is to walk leisurely up the river once a day to 
 look out for anglers or for ' tips ' ? but as for their preserving 
 the fish in other and more effectual ways, there might as well 
 be no keeper at all ! On the other hand, there are keepers to 
 whose knowledge and thoughtfulness the proprietor owes his 
 valuable fishery. 
 
 Several such men are known to the writer, and have been 
 'on the water' all their lives, doing their duty thoroughly and 
 fearlessly, whether the offenders be ' gentlemen ' or poachers. 
 
 Millers say they cannot get the ' tail ' water away from their 
 wheels ; and this, when true, is undoubtedly a loss of power to 
 them : but a very little time spent in clearing weeds from cer- 
 tain spots would allow the water to pass, and at the same time 
 retain 'hides' for the fish, and so encourage them to remain. 
 There is such a thing as retaining too many weeds and thereby 
 injuring sport to a great extent; but if weeds are left to grow in 
 big patches, and only here and there a clear space cut, the fish 
 are inclined to feed more boldly, being but a few feet away 
 from a good 'holt.' It is the angler's fault or misfortune if 
 he loses fish by allowing them to dive head first into a patch 
 of weed. 
 
 The best fish and best sport are always to be had in a fairly 
 weedy part of the stream. 
 
 By ' sport,' I do not mean great bags of fifteen or twenty 
 brace, but good honest fights with a brace or two of three or 
 four pounders, which have taxed all the angler's powers of 
 patience and skill to bring to bank. The after-dinner stories 
 of a triumph over a ' real big one ' afford a true sportsman more 
 pleasure than the bragging of 'a basket full ' taken on a day, 
 and under circumstances, when the veriest novice could not 
 fail to catch them if he kept his fly in the water 
 
 THOMAS ANDREWS 
 
 E H
 
 INDEX. 
 
 BAG 
 
 'BAGGITS,' 114 
 
 'Barren' salmon, 120 
 
 ' Black ' fish, 130 
 
 ' Bladderwort,' fish-eating plant, 
 
 134 
 
 Blow-line fishing with May fly, 
 
 391 
 
 Boat, portable india-rubber, 108 
 
 ' Botling,' 162 
 
 'Buddagh,' 171 
 
 Bull trout (Sal mo eriox), 148- 
 
 152 
 
 distinctive marks of, 155-158 
 
 in the Tweed, 150 
 
 other localities, 151 
 
 worm fishing for, 352-361 
 
 CASTING LINES, 33 
 Chalk-stream fishing with the dry 
 
 fly, 330-345 
 
 Charrs, 164 
 
 ' Clean ' salmon, 120. 132 
 Coquet trout, 151 
 Creels and fish carriers, 92-97 
 ' Creeper' and stone-fly fishing, 
 389-391 
 
 DETACHED-BODIED flies, 334- 
 
 345 
 Distinctive marks of salmon, 157 
 
 Dressing lines, 52 
 
 Dry-fly fishing for trout, 330-345 
 
 FIS 
 
 ' FINE AND FAR OFF,' or trout 
 and grayling fishing with the 
 %, 257-329 
 'Fine fishing,' 3 
 ' Finnock,' 154 
 Fish culture, trout and salmon, 
 
 434-465 
 
 Fish-eating plant, 134 
 Fish food, nutritiveness of va- 
 rious, 166-169 
 
 Fishing tackle and gear, 1-109 
 ' fine fishing,' 3 
 salmon hooks, 4 
 
 looped and eyed, and fasten- 
 ings for, 4-12 
 gut loops to, 9 
 Pennell-Limerick bend, 12 
 defective bends, 15 
 triangles, 15 
 double, 17 
 double barbs, 1 8 
 ' sliced hook,' 18 
 trout hooks, 18 
 
 Pennell ' old ' bend, 19 
 round bend, 19 
 Limerick bend. 20 
 Hall's eyed hooks, 20 
 Knot foi, 21 
 needle-eyed hooks and 
 
 fastening for, 22 
 ' Jam knot ' attachment for, 
 25
 
 468 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 FIS 
 
 Fishing tackle and gear trout 
 hooks (cent. ) : 
 
 turned-afoe/72 loops recom- 
 mended, 27-32 
 ' Pennell-sneck ' bend, 29 
 ' Pennell-Limerick ' bend, 
 
 32 
 
 enamelled rust-proof, 33 
 bronzed, 33 
 gilt and coloured, 33 
 casting lines, 33 
 gut making, 33 
 selection of, 35 
 ' drawn ' gut, 38 
 knots and knotting, 38 
 single 'fisherman's knot,' 39 
 knots for drop flies, 39 
 the ' Buffer' knot, 40-42 
 double ' fisherman's knot, '43 
 twisting gut lines, 43 
 plaited gut lines, 44 
 stains for gut, 44 -47 
 staining hair, 47 
 reel or ' running ' line, 47 
 silk and hair, 47 
 hair, 48 
 
 silk, plain, and hemp, 48 
 'dressed,' 49 
 tapered, 50 
 ' swelled,' 50 
 with wire centre, 52 
 winding new lines on reel, 51 
 receipts for dressing, 51 
 best length of line for salmon 
 
 fishing, 59 
 reels, 52 
 
 Malloch's 'Sun and Planet ' 
 
 reel, 52 
 Malloch's ' casting reel,' 53, 
 
 54 
 
 Slater's ' perfect combina- 
 tion reel,' 55 
 Anderson's 'Excelsior' reel, 
 
 56 
 "Watson's reel, 57 
 
 FIS 
 
 Fishing tackle and gear -reels 
 (cont. ) : 
 . Farlow's ' Lever ' reel, 58 
 
 weights of reels, 60 
 
 aluminium reels, 60 
 
 gun-metal reels, 60 
 
 * plain,' 'check,' and 'mul- 
 tiplying ' reels, 61 
 
 defects in reels, and reme- 
 dies, 6 1 
 
 line- ' hitching ' preventor, 62 
 
 reel fastenings, 62-64 
 
 Plardy's wedge fastening, 
 
 63 
 
 salmon and trout rods and 
 woods for making, 64-72 
 
 split-cane, 65 
 
 steel-centre, 68 
 
 best length of, 68 
 trout rods, 70 
 
 single-handed, 70, 71 
 
 double-handed, 71 
 
 split-cane, 70 
 
 lady's, 71 
 
 joint fastenings, 73-78 
 
 Irish joint, 73 
 
 Watson's waterproof joint, 
 75 
 
 Anderson's ' Simplex,' 75 
 
 Farlow's, 77 
 
 Hardy's ' Lock-fast,' 77 
 landing nets and gaffs, 78-92 
 
 net or gaff, 78 
 
 portable nets, 79-82 
 
 portable gaff, 82 
 
 pocket gaff, 82 
 
 the art of gaffing one's own 
 fish, 83 
 
 anecdotes of, 83-86 
 
 poaching ' confessions,' 85- 
 88 
 
 fishing for a breakfast, 89 
 
 maxims for the 'gaffer,' 92 
 
 correct and incorrect form 
 of gaff, 91
 
 INDEX. 
 
 469 
 
 FIS 
 
 Fishing tackle and gear (cant.} : 
 fish carriers, 92-97 
 
 ba gs, 93-95 
 
 creels or baskets, 95-97 
 wading boots and trousers, 97- 
 
 102 
 
 experiments with, 99 
 life-belt wading trousers, 101 
 boots and stockings, 102 
 lady fishers and dress, 102-105 
 waterproofing for fishing coats, 
 
 &c. 106 
 
 fishing etceteras, 106-109 
 knife for fly fishers, 107 
 portable india-rubber boat, 
 
 108 
 Mr. Eardley Holt's clearing 
 
 knife, 109 
 
 Flies, rubber and horsehair- 
 bodied, 334-345 
 Fly fishing for salmon, 178-255 
 ' Fly protector,' 25 
 Food of salmon in the sea, 141 
 ' Foul' fish, 114 
 ' Fresh-run' salmon, 115 
 Fresh water, salmon confined in, 
 145 
 
 GAFFING, the art of, 83 . 92 
 
 anecdotes of, 83-86 
 Gaffs and landing nets, 78 92 
 ' Gillaroo ' trout, 161 
 Grayling, fishing with the fly, 
 
 3H-3M 
 
 bait fishing for (artificial grass- 
 hopper. &c.) 314 . 394 409 
 location and ' acclimatisation,' 
 
 317 - 395-401 
 Great Lake trout (Salmofdrox) : 
 
 fishing for, 368 -375 
 distribution of, 171 
 ' dolachans,' I/I 
 night feeders, 172 
 large specimens, 176 
 distinguishing marks of, 
 163. 177 
 
 LAK 
 
 'Grey trout,' 171 
 Grilse, 141 
 
 Gut and gut making, 33-38 
 twisting and plaiting, 43 
 staining, 44 . 47 
 knots, ' fisherman's,' ' buffer 
 
 knot,' &c. 38-42 
 for drop flies, 39 
 
 HAIR, staining, 47 
 ' Hiding,' 154 
 
 Horsehair and india-rubber- 
 bodied flies, 334-345 
 Hooks : 
 
 salmon hooks, 4-18 
 looped and eyed, 4-12 
 double and triangles, 15- 1 8 
 'Pennell-Limerick ' bend, 1 2 
 trout hooks, 18-33 
 round bend, 19 
 Limerick bend, 20 
 Hall's eyed, 20 
 Needle-eyed and attach- 
 ment, 22 
 
 'jam -knot' attachment, 25 
 Pennell ' old ' bend, 19 
 ,, turned-down loops, 
 
 31 
 
 ,, sneck bend, 29 
 ,, Limerick bend, 32 
 rust-proof and bronzed, 33 
 gilt and coloured, 33 
 
 JOINT fastenings, new and old, 
 73-78 
 
 KELTS,' 132, 133 
 
 ' Kippers,' 114 
 
 Knife for fly fishers, 107 
 
 Mr. Eardley Holt's clearing, 
 109 
 
 LADDERS, salmon, 122 129 
 Lady fishers, and dress, 102-105 
 Lake flies, standard patterns, 
 281-284
 
 470 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 LAK 
 
 Lake spinning for trout, fario, 
 
 ferox, &c. 368-375 
 Lake trout (Great) Salmo ferox 
 
 (vide Great Lake trout), 171- 
 
 177 
 
 Landing nets and gaffs, 78-92 
 Lerncea salmonh, 132 
 Lines : 
 
 reel lines, 47-51 
 
 silk and hair, 47 
 
 hair, 48 
 
 silk, ' plain,' and hemp, 48 
 
 dressed, 49 
 
 tapered, 49 
 
 'swelled,' 50 
 
 wire-centred, 51 
 
 winding on reel, 51 
 
 dressing for, 52 
 
 best length for salmon fishing, 
 
 59 
 ' Loch Leven ' trout, 160 
 
 MAY-FLY fishing with the blow 
 
 line, 391 
 Migration of salmon divided or 
 
 irregular, 114 . 120 
 Minnow spinning for 
 
 streams, 375~3 82 
 
 ' OLD SOLDIERS,' 131 
 
 PARR MARKS, 139 
 ' Phinnock,' 154 
 Poaching 'confessions,' 85-88 
 Prawn or ' shrimp bait ' for sal- 
 mon, 'and tackle, 361-368 
 
 ' RED FIN,' 154 
 
 ' Red ' fish, 130 
 
 Reel or ' running' lines, 47-51 
 
 Reel fastenings new and old, 
 
 62-64 
 Reels (see Tackle and Fishing 
 
 Gear), 52-62 
 Rivers, early and late salmon, 1 1 5 
 
 SAL 
 Rods: 
 
 salmon rods, and woods for 
 
 making, 64-72 
 split-cane, 65 
 steel-centre, 68 
 trout rods, 70, 71 
 split-cane, 70 
 single-handed, 70, 71 
 double-handed, 71 
 lady's, 71 
 
 SALMON : natural history of, 
 
 110-148 
 
 proved facts in history of, 112 
 nomenclature, 114. I2O 
 irregular or ' divided ' migra- 
 tions, 114 . 1 20 
 
 illustrated in case " of 
 
 trout, 121 
 ascent of, from the sea, 
 
 115 . 119-121 
 ' fresh-run ' fish, 115 
 rivers, earlyand late, 115-117 
 best holding grounds for, 117 
 ' barren' fish, 120 
 ' clean ' fish, 120 
 leaps, 121 
 ladders, 122-125 
 
 ,, floating, 125-129 
 spawning of, 130-132 
 'red' fish and 'black' fish, 
 
 130 
 
 combats of, 131 
 ' old soldiers,' 131 
 ' kelts,' 'spent 'or 'unclean' 
 
 fish, 132 
 return to sea after spawning, 
 
 132 
 
 re-ascent as ' clean fish,' 133 
 increase in weight, 133 
 ' well-mended kelts,' 133 
 hatching eggs, I33-I3 8 
 destruction of young fry, 1 34 
 
 138 
 growth of young fry, 139
 
 INDEX. 
 
 47 i 
 
 , SAL 
 
 Salmon : history of (cant.} : 
 ' Parr marks ' and colours of, 
 
 139 
 
 change of parr into smolts, 140 
 smolts migrate to sea, 140', 141 
 return as grilse, salmon, &c. 141 
 increase of weight, 141 
 habits and food in sea, 141 
 large specimens on record, 143 
 confined in fresh water, 145 
 distinctive marks, as compared 
 with bull trout and sea trout, 
 
 ISS-I58 
 Salmon fly fishing, 178-255 
 
 notes on history, &c. 179-186 
 
 rods, 1 86 
 
 reel and line, iSS 
 
 dressing for lines, 191 
 
 casting lines, 193 
 
 Mr. Pennell's' buffer knot,' 194 
 
 flies, 197 
 
 standard flies, 207-223 
 
 casting, 224-234 
 
 working the fly, 234 
 
 how to fish a pool, 235 
 
 striking a rising salmon, 237 
 
 playing a salmon, 240 
 
 gaffing and landing, 245 
 
 miscellaneous, 248 
 Salmon-fishing, other than witli 
 the fly, 346-368 
 
 spinning for, baits and tackle, 
 346-352 
 
 worm fishing for, and tackle, 
 352-361 
 
 prawn or 'shrimp bait,' and 
 
 tackle, 361-368 
 
 Salmon and trout culture (arti- 
 ficial), 434-465 
 
 the ' hatchery,' 436 
 
 collection of eggs, 440 
 
 impregnation of eggs, 442 
 
 treatment of eggs, 445 
 
 rearing of fry, 450 
 
 p.alural food, 454 
 
 TRO 
 
 Salmon and trout culture (cont. ) 
 ponds, 456 
 on stocking, 460 
 Salmon trout (vide Sea Trout), 
 
 152-158, 368 375 
 SEA TROUT or salmon trout, 
 natural history, notes on, 
 152-158 
 
 distinctive marks of, from sal- 
 mon and bull trout, 155- 
 158 
 
 ditto, from brown trout, 153 
 distribution of, 154 
 confined to fresh water, 145 . 
 
 154 
 
 large specimens, 154 
 local names of young, 154 
 fishing, with fly, and spinning 
 
 for, 254 . 368-375 
 ' Shedders,' 114 
 ' Shrimp bait,' or prawn, for 
 
 salmon, 361-368 
 Smolts, change of parr into, 140, 
 
 141 
 
 Spawning of salmon, 130-132 
 ' Spent' salmon, 132 
 Spinning and bait fishing for 
 
 salmon and trout, 346-393 
 Spinning for salmon : baits and 
 
 tackle, 346-352 
 Spinning for trout in lakes, 368- 
 
 375 
 Stone fly and ' creeper ' fishing, 
 
 3 S 9 -391 
 Stream minnow spinning for 
 
 trout, 375-3 s 2 
 
 TACKLE and fishing gear, 1-109 
 Thames trout fishing with fly 
 
 and spinning bait, 410-433 
 Thames trout, large specimens, 
 
 165 
 Trout (Salmo fario), common 
 
 or yellow trout, notes on 
 
 history of, 159-171 
 distinguishing marks from sea 
 
 trout, &c. 153
 
 472 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT. 
 
 TRO 
 
 Trout, notes on history of (cont. ): 
 distinguishing marks from 
 
 Great Lake trout, 163 
 distinguishing marks from 
 
 charrs, 164 
 
 variations in colour, 159 
 'Loch Leven' variety, 160 
 'Gillaroo' variety, 161 
 ' Botling,' 162 
 deformed, 162 
 croaking, 162 
 large specimens, 164-166 
 growth rate, and various foods, 
 
 166-169 
 spawning time, and growth of 
 
 fry, i"o 
 Trout-fishing, lake spinning for, 
 
 368-375 
 May-fly fishing with blow line, 
 
 391 
 stream minnow spinning for, 
 
 375-382 
 
 worm fishing for, 382-388 
 creeper and stone fly fishing, 
 
 3^9~39l 
 
 wasp grubs, &c. 392 
 Trout and grayling fishing with 
 
 the fly, 257-329 
 introductory, 257 
 'fine and far off,' 258 270 
 up or down stream casting, 
 
 269 273 
 artificial flies, 273-292 
 
 ,, flies, 'exact imita- 
 tion' theory, 277 . 332 
 standard flics, 281 
 lake trout flies, 281-284 
 river and stream flies, 284-292 
 ' temporary ' flies, 290 
 
 YEL 
 
 Trout and grayling fishing(<wzA ): 
 'local' flies, 291 
 management of rod, line, and 
 
 flies, 293-295 
 landing and playing, 295 
 breeding and feeding trout, 
 
 295-3H 
 hints on tackle, dress, &c. 
 
 319-323 
 good and bad weather and 
 
 water, 323-328 
 last words, 329 
 chalk stream fishing with ' dry 
 
 flies,' 330-345 
 grayling fishing and flies, 311- 
 
 3H 
 
 ,, artificial grasshopper 
 and bait fishing, 
 314 . (394-409) 
 ,, location and 'accli- 
 matisation,' 317 
 
 Trout nnd salmon culture, arti- 
 ficial, 434-465 
 
 ULLSWATER trout, 171 
 ' Unclean' salmon, 132 
 
 WADING BOOTS and trousers, 
 
 97-102 
 Wasp -grubs &c. for trout fishing, 
 
 392 " 
 Waterproof for fishing coats, c. 
 
 1 06 
 
 ' Well-mended kelts,' 133 
 Worm fishing for salmon and 
 
 bulltrout, new tackle, 352-361 
 Worm fishing for trout, 382-388 
 
 'YELLOW FIN," 152 
 
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