out again some twenty miles below at Savona's
Ferry. Its total course being about 140 miles, and almost all of it
fishing water, it is a fine river. The water is usually clear, varying
in breadth and in swiftness of current according to the nature of the
country it flows through. In places it is broad and calm; in the canyons
it is a rushing torrent. Its pace below Savona's is from eight to twelve
miles an hour, above Kamloops probably not more than two to four. The
South Thompson from Shuswap Lake to Kamloops is always clear, owing to
the filtration of the lake, and fine fishing can be had in some of the
upper rapids and pools. Near Kamloops the current is too sluggish, and
sport is not very good. The river flows along the South Thompson valley,
an open country with scattered farms and cattle ranches, bordered by
bunch grass range and hills covered by yellow pine, very beautiful in
spring and early summer. It is the central plateau of British Columbia,
and has an exceedingly dry climate, with hardly any rain, very healthy
and bracing, the altitude being about 1200ft. above sea level; it is
very hot in summer, and sometimes cold in winter. Fishing begins here
early in June, and, though it is little fished, there is no better part
of the river. In Kamloops Lake the rainbow is very plentiful, and good
fishing may be obtained as early as June at Tranquille, where the river
flows into the lake, and causes a slow, wide-sweeping eddy. From
Savona's Ferry, the outflow of the lake, down to Ashcroft is the
best-known part of the river, and here the current is very swift and the
banks are rocky and steep. Near Lytton the canyon is so deep and the
banks so steep and dangerous that fishing is out of the question.

On the whole there is probably no fishing river in British Columbia to
beat this one for the size and quality of the fish, though it does not
afford the large bags that can be obtained on the Kootenay. It is a very
sporting river, owing to the strength of the current, for a big fish is
hard to hold if it once gets out into the main current, away from the
side eddies. Mainly owing to this is the fact that there seems to be no
record of fish over about 4lb., for a larger fish can get into the main
stream, where the force of a ten-mile current drags on it and the line
to such an extent that there is no chance of holding it. Such large
fish are rarely met with, but every fisherman on the Thompson has
stories of them, and they