Salmon Roe is such a destructive bait for nearly all kinds of fish, and
Trout in particular, that I know nothing comparable to it. It is
moreover a bait requiring but little skill in the use of it. After a
flood, and before the water clears, is the best time for fishing with
Roe. Log, or still water having a gravelly, or sandy bottom, is the
place to be selected, and you may use three or four stiff rods, placed
at convenient distances from each other. You can also have floats if
you like, by doing so you will immediately perceive when you have a
bite. It is a good plan previous to casting in your lines, to sound the
depth of the water, which you may do easily enough with a string leaded
for the purpose; because, it is of material consequence that your Roe
should lie at, or very near the bottom of the water. A hook about the
size of a Limerick May fly hook, is quite large enough to put your roe
on, which should be in regard to size about that of a French Bean or
marrow fat Pea.
Salmon Roe is cured and preserved by spreading it upon thin layers of
cotton wool, pack the layers on each other and cover them tightly up,
so as to exclude air; glazed jars covered with bladder over the tops of
them are the best to keep your Roe in. When you want to use it, mix the
Roe with a little wheaten flour and gum water, to cause adhesion to the
hook. In concluding this notice of Roe, I cannot refrain from
expressing a hope that gentlemen will abstain from the use of it. By
the purchase of Roe they hold out a premium to Salmon poachers who
annually destroy immense numbers of spawning fish solely for the sake
of the Roe, the high price which it commands encourages them in their
illegal pursuits. If there were no buyers of Roe there would soon be a
visible increase of Salmon.