in the use of a small fish, or something that simulates it, and its
devices are aimed almost entirely at those fish which prey on their
fellows. Spinning, live-baiting and trolling[1] are these devices.
In the first a small dead fish or an imitation of it made in metal,
india-rubber, or other substance, is caused to revolve rapidly as it
is pulled through the water, so that it gives the idea of something in
difficulties and trying to escape. In the second a small fish is
put on the angler's hook alive and conveys the same idea by its own
efforts. In the third a small dead fish is caused to dart up and
down in the water without revolving; it conveys the same idea as the
spinning fish, though the manipulation is different.
[Footnote 1: Trolling is very commonly confused in angling writing and
talk with _trailing_, which simply means drawing a spinning-bait along
behind a boat in motion.]
_Bottom-Fishing_.--Bottom-fishing is the branch of angling which is
the most general. There is practically no fresh-water fish that will
not take some one or more of the baits on the angler's list if they
are properly presented to it when it is hungry. Usually the baited
hook is on or near the bottom of the water, but the rule suggested by
the name "bottom-fishing" is not invariable and often the bait is best
used in mid-water; similarly, in "mid-water fishing" the bait must
sometimes be used as close to the bottom as possible. Bottom-fishing
is roughly divisible into two kinds, float-fishing, in which a bite is
detected by the aid of a float fastened to the line above the hook and
so balanced that its tip is visible above the water, and hand-fishing,
in which no float is used and the angler trusts to his hand to feel
the bite of a fish. In most cases either method can be adopted and it
is a matter of taste, but broadly speaking the float-tackle is more
suited to water which is not very deep and is either still or not
rapid. In great depths or strong streams a float is difficult to
manage.
_The Fish_.
It is practically impossible to classify the fish an angler catches
according to the methods which he employs, as most fish can be taken
by at least two of these methods, while many of those most highly
esteemed can be caught by all three. Sporting fresh-water fish are
therefore treated according to their families and merits from the
angler's point of view, and it is briefly indicated which method or
methods best succeed in pursuit of them.
_Salmon_.--First in importance come the migratory _Salmonidae_, and
at the head of them the salmon (_Salmo salar_), which has a two-fold
reputation as a sporting and as a commercial asset. The salmon
fisheries of a country are a very valuable possession, but it is only
comparatively recently that this has been realized and that salmon
rivers have received the legal protection which is necessary to their
well-being. Even now it cannot be asserted that in England the salmon
question, as it is called, is settled. Partly owing to our ignorance
of the life-history of the fish, partly owing to the difficulty of
reconciling the opposed interests of commerce and sport, the problem
as to how a river should be treated remains only partially solved,
though it cannot be denied that there has been a great advance in the
right direction. The life-history of the salmon, so far as it concerns
the matter in hand, may be very briefly summed up. It is bred in the
rivers and fed in the sea. The parent fish ascend in late autumn
as high as they can get, the ova are deposited on gravel shallows,
hatching out in the course of a few weeks into parr. The infant salmon
remains in fresh water at least one year, generally two years, without
growing more than a few inches, and then about May assumes what is
called the smolt-dress, that is to say, it loses the dark parr-bands
and red spots of infancy and becomes silvery all over. After this it
descends without delay to the sea, where it feeds to such good purpose
that in a year it has reached a weight of 2 lb to 4 lb or more, and it
may then reascend as a grilse. Small grilse indeed may only have been
in the sea a few months, ascending in the autumn of the year of their
first descent. If the fish survives the perils of its first ascent
and spawning season and as a kelt or spawned fish gets down to the sea
again, it comes up a second time as a salmon of weight varying from
8 lb upwards. Whether salmon come up rivers, and, if so, spawn, every
year, why some fish are much heavier than others of the same age, what
their mode of life is in the sea, why some run up in spring and summer
when the breeding season is not till about November or December,
whether they were originally sea-fish or river-fish--these and other
similar questions await a conclusive answer. One principal fact,
however, stands out amid the uncertainty, and that is that without a
free passage up and down unpolluted rivers and without protection on
the spawning beds salmon have a very poor chance of perpetuating
their species. Economic prudence dictates therefore that every year a
considerable proportion of running salmon should be allowed to escape
the dangers that confront them in the shape of nets, obstructions,
pollutions, rods and poachers. And it is in the adjustment of the
interests which are bound up in these dangers (the last excepted;
officially poachers have no interests, though in practice their plea
of "custom and right" has too often to be taken into consideration)
that the salmon question consists. To secure a fair proportion of fish
for the market, a fair proportion for the rods and a fair proportion
for the redds, without unduly damaging manufacturing interests, this
is the object of those who have the question at heart, and with many
organizations and scientific observers at work it should not be long
before the object is attained. Already the system of "marking" kelts
with a small silver label has resulted in a considerable array of
valuable statistics which have made it possible to estimate the
salmon's ordinary rate of growth from year to year. It is very largely
due to the efforts of anglers that the matter has gone so far. Whether
salmon feed in fresh water is another question of peculiar interest to
anglers, for it would seem that if they do not then the whole practice
of taking them must be an anomaly. Champions have arisen on both sides
of the argument, some, scientists, asserting that salmon (parr and
kelts excluded, for both feed greedily as opportunity occurs) do not
feed, others, mostly anglers, maintaining strongly that they do, and
bringing as evidence their undoubted and customary capture by rod and
line, not only with the fly, but also with such obvious food-stuffs as
dead baits, worms and prawns. On the other side it is argued that
food is never found inside a salmon after it has been long enough in a
river to have digested its last meal taken in salt water. The very few
instances of food found in salmon which have been brought forward to
support the contrary opinion are in the scientific view to be regarded
with great caution; certainly in one case of recent years, which at
first appeared to be well authenticated, it was afterwards found that
a small trout had been pushed down a salmon's throat after capture
by way of a joke. A consideration of the question, however, which
may perhaps make some appeal to both sides, is put forward by Dr.J.
Kingston Barton in the first of the two volumes on _Fishing_ (_Country
Life_ Series). He maintains that salmon do not habitually feed
in fresh water, but he does not reject the possibility of their
occasionally taking food. His view is that after exertion, such as
that entailed by running from pool to pool during a spate, the fish
may feel a very transient hunger and be impelled thereby to snap
at anything in its vicinity which looks edible. The fact that the
angler's best opportunity is undoubtedly when salmon have newly
arrived into a pool, supports this contention. The longer they are
compelled to remain in the same spot by lack of water the worse
becomes the prospect of catching them, and "unfishable" is one of the
expressive words which fishermen use to indicate the condition of a
river during the long periods of drought which too often distinguish
the sport.
[v.02 p.0026]
_Salmon Tackle and Methods_.--It is when the drought breaks up and the
long-awaited rain has come that the angler has his chance and makes
ready his tackle, against the period of a few days (on some short
streams only a few hours) during which the water will be right;
_right_ is a very exact term on some rivers, meaning not only that the
colour of the water is suitable to the fly, but that its height shall
be within an inch or two of a given mark, prescribed by experience.
As to the tackle which is made ready, there is, as in most angling
matters, divergence of opinion. Salmon fly-rods are now made
principally of two materials, greenheart and split-cane; the former is
less expensive, the latter is more durable; it is entirely a matter of
taste which a man uses, but the split-cane rod is now rather more in
favour, and for salmon-fishing it is in England usually built with a
core of steel running from butt to tip and known as a "steel centre."
How long the rod shall be is also a matter on which anglers differ,
but from 16 ft. to 17 ft. 6 in. represents the limits within which
most rods are preferred. The tendency is to reduce rather than to
increase the length of the rod, which may be accounted for by the
adoption of a heavy line. Early in the 19th century anglers used
light-topped rods of 20 ft. and even more, and with them a light line
composed partly of horse-hair; they thought 60 ft. with such material
a good cast. Modern experience, however, has shown that a shorter rod
with a heavier top will throw a heavy dressed silk line much farther
with less exertion. Ninety feet is now considered a good fishing cast,
while many men can throw a great deal more. In the United States,
where rods have long been used much lighter than in England, the
limits suggested would be considered too high. From 12 ft. 6 in. to 15
ft. 6 in. is about the range of the American angler's choice, though
long rods are not unknown with him. The infinite variety of reels,
lines, gut collars[1] and other forms of tackle which is now presented
to the angler's consideration and for his bewilderment is too wide a
subject to be touched upon here. Something, however, falls to be said
about flies. One of the perennially fruitful topics of inquiry is what
the fish takes a salmon-fly to be. Beyond a fairly general admission
that it is regarded as something endowed with life, perhaps resembling
a remembered article of marine diet, perhaps inviting gastronomic
experiment, perhaps irritating merely and rousing an impulse to
destroy, the discussion has not reached any definite conclusion. But
more or less connected with it is the controversy as to variety of
colour and pattern. Some authorities hold that a great variety of
patterns with very minute differences in colour and shades of colour
is essential to complete success; others contend that salmon do not
differentiate between nice shades of colour, that they only draw
distinctions between flies broadly as being light, medium or dark in
general appearance, and that the size of a fly rather than its colour
is the important point for the angler's consideration. Others again
go some way with the supporters of the colour-scheme and admit the
efficacy of flies whose general character is red, or yellow, or black,
and so on. The opinion of the majority, however, is probably based on
past experience, and a man's favourite flies for different rivers
and condition of water are those with which he or someone else has
previously succeeded. It remains a fact that in most fly-books great
variety of patterns will be discoverable, while certain old standard
favourites such as the Jock Scott, Durham Ranger, Silver Doctor, and
Thunder and Lightning will be prominent. Coming out of the region of
controversy it is a safe generalization to say that the general rule
is: big flies for spring fishing when rivers are probably high, small
flies for summer and low water, and flies medium or small in autumn
according to the conditions. Spring fishing is considered the cream of
the sport. Though salmon are not as a rule so numerous or so heavy as
during the autumn run, and though kelts are often a nuisance in the
early months, yet the clean-run fish of February, March or April amply
repays patience and disappointment by its fighting powers and its
beauty. Summer fishing on most rivers in the British Islands is
uncertain, but in Norway summer is the season, which possibly explains
to some extent the popularity of that country with British anglers,
for the pleasure of a sport is largely increased by good weather.
Two methods of using the fly are in vogue, casting and harling. The
first is by far the more artistic, and it may be practised either from
a boat, from the bank or from the bed of the river itself; in the last
case the angler wades, wearing waterproof trousers or wading-stockings
and stout nail-studded brogues. In either case the fishing is similar.
The fly is cast across and down stream, and has to be brought over the
"lie" of the fish, swimming naturally with its head to the stream,
its feathers working with tempting movement and its whole appearance
suggesting some live thing dropping gradually down and across stream.
Most anglers add to the motion of the fly by "working" it with short
pulls from the rod-top. When a fish takes, the rise is sometimes seen,
sometimes not; in any case the angler should not respond with the rod
until he _feels_ the pull. Then he should _tighten_, not strike. The
fatal word "strike," with its too literal interpretation, has caused
many a breakage. Having hooked his fish, the angler must be guided by
circumstances as to what he does; the salmon will usually decide
that for him. But it is a sound rule to give a well-hooked fish no
unnecessary advantage and to hold on as hard as the tackle will allow.
Good tackle will stand an immense strain, and with this "a minute
a pound" is a fair estimate of the time in which a fish should be
landed. A foul-hooked salmon (no uncommon thing, for a fish not
infrequently misses the fly and gets hooked somewhere in the body)
takes much longer to land. The other method of using the fly, harling,
which is practised on a few big rivers, consists in trailing the
fly behind a boat rowed backward and forwards across the stream and
dropping gradually downwards. Fly-fishing for salmon is also practised
on some lakes, into which the fish run. On lakes the boat drifts
slowly along a "beat," while the angler casts diagonally over the
spots where salmon are wont to lie. Salmon may also be caught by
"mid-water fishing," with a natural bait either spun or trolled
and with artificial spinning-baits of different kinds, and by
"bottom-fishing" with prawns, shrimps and worms. Spinning is usually
practised when the water is too high or too coloured for the fly;
trolling is seldom employed, but is useful for exploring pools which
cannot be fished by spinning or with the fly; the prawn is a valuable
lure in low water and when fish are unwilling to rise; while the worm
is killing at all states of the river, but except as a last resource
is not much in favour. There are a few waters where salmon have the
reputation of not taking a fly at all; in them spinning or prawning
are the usual modes of fishing. But most anglers, wherever possible,
prefer to use the fly. The rod for the alternative methods is
generally shorter and stiffer than the fly-rod, though made of like
material. Twelve to fourteen feet represents about the range of
choice. Outside the British Islands the salmon-fisher finds the
headquarters of his sport in Europe in Scandinavia and Iceland, and in
the New World in some of the waters of Canada and Newfoundland.
[Footnote 1: The precise date when silkworm gut (now so important a
feature of the angler's equipment) was introduced is obscure. Pepys,
in his _Diary_ (1667), mentions "a gut string varnished over" which
"is beyond any hair for strength and smallness" as a new angling
secret which he likes "mightily." In the third edition (1700) of
Chetham's _Vade-Mecum_, already cited, appears an advertisement of
the "East India weed, which is the only thing for trout, carp and
bottom-fishing." Again, in the third edition of Nobbes's _Art of
Trolling_ (1805), in the supplementary matter, appears a letter signed
by J. Eaton and G. Gimber, tackle-makers of Crooked Lane (July 20,
1801), in which it is stated that gut "is produced from the silkworm
and not an Indian weed, _as has hitherto been conjectured_...." The
word "gut" is employed before this date, but it seems obvious that
silkworm gut was for a long time used under the impression that it was
a weed, and that its introduction was a thing of the 17th century. It
is probable, however, that vegetable fibre was used too; we believe
that in some parts of India it is used by natives to this day. Pepys'
"minikin" was probably cat-gut.]
_Land-locked Salmon_.--The land-locked salmon (_Salmo salar sebago_)
of Canada and the lakes of Maine is, as its name implies, now regarded
by scientists as merely a land-locked form of the salmon. It does not
often attain a greater size than 20 ft, but it is a fine fighter and
is highly esteemed by American anglers. In most waters it does not
take a fly so well as a spinning-bait, live-bait or worm. The methods
of angling for it do not differ materially from those employed for
other _Salmonidae_.
_Pacific Salmon_.--Closely allied to _Salmo salar_ both in appearance
and habits is the genus _Oncorhynchus_, commonly known as Pacific
salmon. It contains six species, is peculiar to the North Pacific
Ocean, and is of some importance to the angler, though of not nearly
so much as the Atlantic salmon. The quinnat is the largest member of
the genus, closely resembles _salar_ in appearance and surpasses him
in size. The others, sockeye, humpback, cohoe, dog-salmon and masu,
are smaller and of less interest to the angler, though some of them
have great commercial value. The last-named is only found in the
waters of Japan, but the rest occur in greater or less quantities
in the rivers of Kamchatka, Alaska, British Columbia and Oregon. The
problems presented to science by solar are offered by _Oncorhynchus_
also, but there are variations in his life-history, such as the fact
that few if any fish of the genus are supposed to survive their first
spawning season. When once in the rivers none of these salmon is of
very much use to the angler; as, though it is stated that they will
occasionally take a fly or spoon in fresh water, they are not nearly
so responsive as their Atlantic cousin and in many streams are
undoubtedly not worth trying for. At the mouths of some rivers,
however, where the water is distinctly tidal, and in certain bays of
the sea itself they give very fine sport, the method of fishing for
them being usually to trail a heavy spoonbait behind a boat. By this
means remarkable bags of fish have been made by anglers. The sport is
of quite recent development.
[v.02 p.0027]
_Sea-Trout_.--Next to the salmon comes the sea-trout, the other
migratory salmonid of Europe. This is a fish with many local names and
a good deal of local variation. Modern science, however, recognises
two "races" only, _Salmo trutta_, the sea-trout proper, and _Salmo
cambricus_ or _eriox_, the bull-trout, or sewin of Wales, which
is most prominent in such rivers as the Coquet and Tweed. The
life-history of sea-trout is much the same as that of salmon, and the
fish on their first return from the sea in the grilse-stage are called
by many names, finnock, herling and whitling being perhaps the best
known. Of the two races _Salmo trutta_ alone is of much use to the
fly-fisher. The bull-trout, for some obscure reason, is not at all
responsive to his efforts, except in its kelt stage. Then it will take
greedily enough, but that is small consolation. The bull-trout is a
strong fish and grows to a great size and it is a pity that it is not
of greater sporting value, if only to make up for its bad reputation
as an article of food. Some amends, however, are made by its cousin
the sea-trout, which is one of the gamest and daintiest fish on the
angler's list. It is found in most salmon rivers and also in not a few
streams which are too small to harbour the bigger fish, while there
are many lakes in Scotland and Ireland (where the fish is usually
known as white trout) where the fishing is superb when the trout have
run up into them. Fly-fishing for sea-trout is not a thing apart.
A three-pounder that will impale itself on a big salmon-fly, might
equally well have taken a tiny trout-fly. Many anglers, when fishing a
sea-trout river where they run large, 5 lb or more, and where there is
also a chance of a salmon, effect a compromise by using a light 13
ft. or 14 ft. double-handed rod, and tackle not so slender as to make
hooking a salmon a certain disaster. But undoubtedly to get the full
pleasure out of sea-trout-fishing a single-handed rod of 10 ft. to 12
ft. with reasonably fine gut and small flies should be used, and
the way of using it is much the same as in wet-fly fishing for brown
trout, which will be treated later. When the double-handed rod and
small salmon-flies are used, the fishing is practically the same as
salmon-fishing except that it is on a somewhat smaller scale. Flies
for sea-trout are numberless and local patterns abound, as may be
expected with a fish which has so catholic a taste. But, as with
salmon-fishers so with sea-trout-fishers, experience forms belief and
success governs selection. Among the small salmon-flies and loch-flies
which will fill his book, the angler will do well to have a store of
very small trout-flies at hand, while experience has shown that even
the dry fly will kill sea-trout on occasion, a thing that is worth
remembering where rivers are low and fish shy. July, August and
September are in general the best months for sea-trout, and as they
are dry months the angler often has to put up with indifferent sport.
The fish will, however, rise in tidal water and in a few localities
even in the sea itself, or in salt-water lochs into which streams run.
Sea-trout have an irritating knack of "coming short," that is to
say, they will pluck at the fly without really taking it. There are
occasions, on the other hand, in loch-fishing where plenty of time
must be given to the fish without tightening on it, especially if it
happens to be a big one. Like salmon, sea-trout are to be caught with
spinning-baits and also with the worm. The main controversy that is
concerned with sea-trout is whether or no the fish captured in early
spring are clean fish or well-mended kelts. On the whole, as sea-trout
seldom run before May, the majority of opinion inclines to their being
kelts.
_Non-migratory Salmonidae_.--Of the non-migratory members of the
_Salmonidae_ the most important in Great Britain is the brown trout
(_Salmo fario_). Its American cousin the rainbow trout (_S. irideus_)
is now fairly well established in the country too, while other
transatlantic species both of trout and char (which are some of them
partially migratory, that is to say, migratory when occasion offers),
such as the steelhead (_S. rivularis_), fontinalis (_S. fonlinalis_)
and the cut-throat trout (_S. clarkii_), are at least not unknown.
All these fish, together with their allied forms in America, can be
captured with the fly, and, speaking broadly, the wet-fly method will
do well for them all. Therefore it is only necessary to deal with the
methods applicable to one species, the brown trout.
_Trout_.--Of the game-fishes the brown trout is the most popular,
for it is spread over the whole of Great Britain and most of Europe,
wherever there are waters suited to it. It is a fine sporting fish and
is excellent for the table, while in some streams and lakes it grows
to a very considerable size, examples of 16 lb from southern rivers
and 20 lb from Irish and Scottish lakes being not unknown. One of the
signs of its popularity is that its habits and history have produced
some very animated controversies. Some of the earliest discussions
were provoked by the liability of the fish to change its appearance
in different surroundings and conditions, and so at one time many a
district claimed its local trout as a separate species. Now, however,
science admits but one species, though, to such well-defined varieties
as the Loch Leven trout, the estuarine trout and the gillaroo, it
concedes the right to separate names and "races." In effect all, from
the great _ferox_ of the big lakes of Scotland and Ireland to
the little fingerling of the Devonshire brook, are one and the
same--_Salmo fario_.