h, thus giving easy access to the river, while hotels exist at most
of the stations. The railway company publishes a pamphlet on shooting
and fishing, but the Thompson River is altogether omitted, which is
certainly very strange, as the line runs along the banks for its whole
distance, and there is no part of British Columbia in which such
excellent fishing can be obtained, and no part of Canada which enjoys
such a climate or offers such strangely attractive scenery.

CHAPTER III.

The Kamloops District--Kamloops as Headquarters--May Floods and
Fishing in Shuswap Lake--Silver-bodied Flies--Streams Running into
the Lake--The Eagle River--Advantages of a Steam Launch--A Big
Catch--Possibilities of the Prawn--A July Spectacle--Fishing at
Tranquille--Kamloops Lake--Savona's Ferry--Great Sport in
June--Dolly Varden Trout--A Fifteen-Pounder--Falling-off of Sport
when Salmon are Running--The "Salmon Fly"--Size of Catches on the
Thompson--August a Bad Month.

The Thompson district may be described for fishing purposes as beginning
at Sicamous junction and ending a little below Spence's Bridge,
including the Shuswap and Okanagan lakes, Kamloops, Nicola, and Mammit
lakes, and the mountain lakes in the neighbourhood, all of which are
more or less part of the Thompson watershed. Of this country the town of
Kamloops is the centre, situated at the junction of the north and south
branches of the river, and seven miles above Kamloops Lake, its name
meaning, in the Thompson language, "the meeting of the waters." By
virtue of its position it is an excellent headquarters for anyone
wishing to fish in the district, for by rail, stage, or horseback every
portion of it can be reached from there, and there are good stores to
outfit from, and good hotels--for British Columbia. Fishing in this
district cannot be said really to begin till May is well advanced. It is
when the snow begins to melt in earnest and the rivers and creeks come
down in flood that real sport commences, and this usually happens
towards the end of May. No sport can be obtained in the Thompson River
below Kamloops Lake at this time, as the water is discoloured by the
North Thompson flowing in at Kamloops, which makes fishing useless, and
it is only in the South Thompson and the Shuswap Lake that good sport
can be obtained.

As the rivers begin to come down in high flood the trout congregate at
the places where the streams f