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
infrequ