CHAPTER II SALMON “The salmon, monare of the tide" VOLLFIT, Leven Water. THL Norwegian Spring is char eterised by an extraorary exuberace of vitality. One week is winter the next all ture springs to life. 1. may almo. be alme. be compare with the bursting fouch of vegetation on the Son African veldt when the first Spring rains co.. and in a night the burnt-up plains are coved with a mantle of green grass. Here, contrast, with he dazzling whiteness of the snow-clad hills, 1 of the foaming torrents which descend them, the valley floor is rich in colour. i ti hay tields the sorrel is reddening, rivalFng in ghtness its neighbour the Ragged Robin; whit every sandy slope is purple with wild pansies. We are spared the pest of rivers farther north, where with the return of Spring The mosquito rises in clouds to vex the fle From another plague we are also happily an. CHAPTER II SALMON "The salmon, monarch of the tide." -SMOLLETT, Leven Water. THE Norwegian Spring is characterised by an extraordinary exuberance of vitality. One week it is winter, the next all nature springs to life. It may almost be compared with the bursting forth of vegetation on the South African veldt when the first Spring rains come, and in a night the burnt-up plains are covered with a mantle of green grass. Here, contrasting with the dazzling whiteness of the snow-clad hills, and of the foaming torrents which descend from them, the valley floor is rich in colour. In the hayfields the sorrel is reddening, rivalling in brightness its neighbour the Ragged Robin; while every sandy slope is purple with wild pansies. We are spared the pest of rivers farther north, where with the return of Spring the mosquito rises in clouds to vex the fisherman. From another plague we are also happily free. Our scenery is, to our eyes at least, passing fair; but it is not of the sensational order which attracts the tourist and the hotelkeeper; and our excellent roads lead to nowhere in particular. So we are secure from the contemplation of that "unlovely exhibition of high spirits" which too often marks the tripper, and sometimes makes the quiet Englishman blush for his race in Bergen and on the tourist routes. No doubt such visitors bring money into the country, but it is impossible not to sympathise with educated Norwegians who deplore that the most beautiful spots in the land are vulgarised. But to our Salmon. It is now, early in June, that fish really begin to run in any number, As we have seen, a few come in May, but they are only the scouts of the great army. On the whole, perhaps, the fish that run now are the bigger ones, but there is no very marked difference in this respect. At this time our sport is often very good, but it is very uncertain. It is quite possible to see no fish one day and to kill half-a-dozen the next. So I remember it happened two years We had a blank day, an unusual mis ago. fortune, on June the 6th. There seemed to be no salmon in the pools, and the only fish we saw was one in the ladder, a very early date for him to be there. On the 7th we fished the flood-tide in the morning and the ebb in the afternoon with similar lack of sport. Our men fell back on their time-honoured excuse -a north wind. But with the night flood came a run of fish, and the north wind was forgotten. We began at 11 P.M., it being my turn to fish Lervik, while my companion D. waded from The Bank. I mounted a Silver Wilkinson, a very conspicuous fly by reason of the Jungle Cock in its wings. At the second or third cast a fish jumped, or seemed to jump, over my line; so at any rate there was a fish in the pool. A few casts more and I was fast in a fish, a small salmon of 12 lb., which was soon upon the bank. Back again to the head of the pool, where in a minute or two another fish takes the fly. A bigger one this, and a lively fellow too. Down he goes, and across the broad tail of the pool, jumping two or three times like a great seatrout. There is an ancient superstition handed down from one angler to another, and copied B |