Salmon Fishing

    Of all kinds of fishing practised in all parts of the world, salmon fishing is still generally re- garded as the most interesting. Salmon fishing sport is so ancient that a lore has grown up about it and cus- toms and methods have become so fixed that it seems almost a sacrilege to change them, or to attempt anything in the way of innovation. Being an inventor by inheritance, nature, and profession, I happen to be one of those who have no regard for convention, or what others do, unless it appeals to my sense of what is right and reasonable for the result to be accomplished, and it was in this spirit that I approached salmon fishing. My ob- ject was to hook and play the fish on an artificial fly, no matter how it was accomplished and whether I followed the accepted customs or not. In this way I have studied the salmon fishing sport for the last twelve or fifteen years, and have succeeded in devising methods of fishing and tackle which cause salmon to rise in any water and under all conditions, so that I can safely say that in any of our Atlantic rivers, where there are salmon and where they can be seen in the pools, I can always raise a number each day and generally secure a good catch if I am skilful enough not to bungle the casts and the hooking of the fish to too great an extent.

The methods used are largely of my own devising, as I had never heard of using a dry fly or nymph fly for the salmon before I used them for the purpose myself. My friends Ambrose Monell and George La Branche have worked on this interesting problem with me and have given me the benefit of their knowledge and experience. We have fished a number of seasons together in the Upsalquitch and tried out many experiments. In order to understand why it is necessary to have other methods than those in use by the regular fishermen we must look to the habits of the salmon when in fresh water. The science of psychology applies to fish as well as to all other members of the animal kingdom.

To understand salmon we must study salmon psychology as well as know the salmon's physical habits and life history. Even with this knowledge one discovers that the salmon often does most unusual and unaccountable things, some of which will be mentioned in later pages. Perhaps it is because the salmon is away from his natural home in the sea and placed in a confined environment subject to changes from day to day and hour to hour. Perhaps these sometimes get on his nerves. Although I understand him better than most people and am a little like Kipling's captain in "Captains Courageous," who caught more cod than the rest of the fleet because he had a mind like a cod and could think like a cod, I am still far from a complete knowledge of the fish and only write what I have observed and experi- enced, at the request of my friends, for the benefit of brother salmon fishermen who have had so many blank days in low clear water.

My experiences as related in this volume deal only with salmon of Canadian rivers running toward the Atlantic Ocean, and those of New Foundland. My fishing in Scotland and Wales was limited to one visit, and this was taken before I really knew anything about salmon fishing.

I have endeavored to furnish as much detailed information concerning tackle as possible, as I find an almost complete lack of such material in books I have read. The chapter on the appear- ance of the fly to the fish was written in order to give the facts on which I have based my methods of fishing. In working it out I have obtained much useful information which I hope will be of value in the future.