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CHAPTER VII.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE SALMON; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.

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THE SALMON - . Salma salar. - LINNEUS.

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Piscator. THE Salmon is accounted the king of fresh water fish; and is ever bred in rivers relating to the sea, yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no tincture of salt or brackishness. He is said to breed, or cast his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of August:* some say, that then they dig a hole, or grave, in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs,

very eagerly. When you fish for him with a fly, you can hardly use one too small.

The Grayling is much more apt to rise than descend; therefore, when you angle for him alone, and not for the Trout, rather use a float, with the bait from six to nine inches from the bottom, than the running line.

The Grayling is found in great plenty in many rivers in the north, particularly the Humber. And in the Wye, which runs through Here fordshire and Monmouthshire into the Severn, I have taken, with an artificial fly, very large ones; as also great numbers of a small, but excellent fish, of the Trout kind, called a Lastspring; of which somewhat will be said in a subsequent note. They are not easily to be got at without a boat, or wading; for which reason, those of that country use a thing they call a thorricle, or truckle; in some places it is called a coble, from the Latin corbula, a little basket; it is a basket, shaped like the half of a walnut shell, but shallower in proportion, and covered on the outside with a horse's hide; it has a bench in the middle, and will just hold one person, and is so light, that the countrymen will hang it on their heads like a hood, and so travel with a small paddle, which serves for a stick, till they come to a river, and then they lanch it and step in. There is great difficulty in getting into one of these truckles, for the instant you touch it with your foot it flies from you; and, when you are in, the least inclination of the body oversets it. It is very diverting to see how upright a man is forced to sit in these vessels, and to mark with what state and solemnity he draws up the stone which serves for an anchor, when he would remove, and lets it down again: however, it is a sort of navigation that I would wish our piscatory disciple never to attempt.

Their usual time of spawning is about the latter end of August, or the beginning of September; but it is said that those in the Severn spawn in May.

or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones; and then leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which he infuses into that cold element, makes it brood and beget life in the spawn, and to become Samlets early in the spring next following.*

The Salmons having spent their appointed time, and done this natural duty in the fresh waters, they then haste to the sea before winter, both the melter and spawner; but if they be stopped by flood-gates, or weirs, or lost in the fresh waters, then those so left behind by degrees grow sick, and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper; that is to say, have bony gristles grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a Hawk's beak, which hinder their feeding; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine away and die. It is observed, that he may live thus one year from the sea; but he then grows insipid and tasteless, and loses both his blood and strength, and pines and dies the second year. And it is noted, that those little Salmons called Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that might not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet they never thrive to any considerable bigness.†

But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which shews him to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, as the Eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there possessed him; for, as one has wittily observed, he has, like some persons of honour and riches which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh rivers for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in; which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his History of Life and Death, above ten years. And it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers; and it is observed, that the farther they get from the sea, they be both the fatter and better.

Next, I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they will make a harder shift to get out of the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the pleasures that they have formerly found in them: to which end, they will force themselves through flood-gates or

Walton's phrase, "some say," expresses a doubt; but I can affirm, from repeated observation, that his account is correct.-J. R.

A great deal of this is obviously fanciful and erroneous.-J. R. The migration of the Salmon, and divers other sorts of fishes, is analo. gous to that of birds; and Mr Ray confirms Walton's assertion, by saying, that "Salmon will yearly ascend up a river four or five hundred miles, only to cast their spawn, and secure it in banks of sand till the young be hatched and excluded, and then return to sea again."— Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation, p. 130.

over wears or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are known to be above eight feet high above water. And our

Camden mentions, in his Britannia, the like wonder to be in Pembrokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea; and that the fall is so downright, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see the Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said river; and the manner and height of the place is so notable, that it is known far by the name of the " Salmon-leap." Concerning which, take this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old friend, as he tells it you in his Polyolbion:

As when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find
(Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind,)
As he towards season grows; and stems the watery tract
Where Tivy, falling down, makes a high cataract,
Forced by the rising rocks that there her course oppose,
As though within her bounds they meant her to enclose;
Here, when the labouring fish does at the foot arrive,
And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive;
His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow
That's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw,
Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand
That bended end to end, and started from man's hand,
Far off itself doth cast: so does the Salmon vault;
And if, at first, he fail, his second summersault
He instantly essays, and from his nimble ring
Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling
Above the opposing stream.-

This Michael Drayton tells you of this leap, or summersault, of the Salmon. *

And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon than in England; and that though some of our northern counties have as fat and as large as the river Thames, yet none are of so excellent a taste.†

And as I have told you, that Sir Francis Bacon observes, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years; so let me next tell you, that his growth is very sudden. It is said, that after he is got

In the Statistical Account of Benley, we are told of a Salmon leap, by the side of which a kettle was kept boiling, and the Salmon frequently, on missing their spring, fell into this kettle and were boiled alive.-J. R.

+ The following interesting article of intelligence appeared in one of the London Journals, 18th April, 1789.-"The largest Salmon ever caught was yesterday brought to London. This extraordinary fish measured upwards of four feet from the point of the nose to the extremity of the tail, and three feet round the thickest part of the body; its weight was seventy pounds within a few ounces. A fishmonger in the Minories cut it up at one shilling per pound, and the whole was sold almost immediately."

into the sea, he becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon, in as short a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this has been observed, by tying a riband, or some known tape or thread, in the tail of some young Salmons which had been taken in weirs as they have swimmed towards the salt water, and then by taking a part of them again with the known mark, at the same place, at their return from the sea, which is usually about six months after; and the like experiment hath been tried upon young swallows, who have, after six months' absence, been observed to return to the same chimney, there to make their nests and habitations for the summer following: which has inclined many to think, that every Salmon usually returns to the same river in which it was bred, as young pigeons taken out of the same dovecot have also been observed to do.

And you are yet to observe farther, that the he Salmon is usually bigger than the Spawner: and that he is more kipper, and less able to endure a winter in the fresh water than the she is yet she is, at that time of looking less kipper and better, as watery and as bad meat.

And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an exception, so there are some few rivers in this nation that have Trouts and Salmons in season in winter, as it is certain there be in the river Wye in Monmouthshire, where they be in season, as Camden observes, from September till April. But, my scholar, the observation of this and many other things I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large for our narrow compass of time, and, therefore, I shall next fall upon my direction how to fish for this Salmon.

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And, for that: First you shall observe, that usually he stays not long in a place, as Trouts will, but, as I said, covets still to go nearer the spring-head; † and that he does not, as the Trout and many other fish, lie near the water-side, or bank, or roots of trees, but swims in the deep and broad parts of the water, and usually in the middle and near the ground, and that there you are to fish for him; and that he is to be caught, as the Trout is, with a Worm, a Minnow (which some call a Penk,) or with a Fly.

And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed to bite at a Minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at a Fly, but more usually at a Worm, and then most usually at a Lob, or Garden Worm, which should be well scoured, that is to

In the River Lea, which runs into the sea at the Cove of Cork, Salmon are likewise in season the whole year round, as I can myself testify, having resided at Cork the greater part of a year.-J. R.

The Salmon delights in large rapid rivers, especially such as have pebbly, gravelly, and sometimes weedy bottoms.

say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them: and if you double your time of eight into sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still the better; for the worms will still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook. And they may be kept longer by keeping them cool, and in fresh moss; and some advise to put camphor into it.*

Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon with a ring of wire on the top of their rod, through which the line may run to as great a length as is needful, when he is hooked. And to that end some use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or near their hand, which is to be observed better by seeing one of them, than by a large demonstration of words.

And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now with God, a noted fisher both for Trout and Salmon; and have observed, that he would usually take three or four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his pocket, where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more, before he would bait his hook with them. I have asked him his reason, and he has replied," He did but pick the best out to be in readiness against he baited his hook the next time:" but he has been observed, both by others and myself, to catch more fish than I, or any other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could do, and especially Salmons. And I have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and secret friends, that the box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of them to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tried it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis Bacon's Natural History, where he proves fishes may hear, and, doubtless, can more probably smell; and I am certain Gesner says, the Otter can smell in the water; and I know not but that fish may do so too. It is left for a lover of

* Baits for Salmon are: Lob-worms, for the ground; smaller Worms and Bobs, cad bait, and, indeed, most of the baits taken by the Trout, at the top of the water. And as to Flies, remember to make them of the most gandy colours, and very large. There is a Fly called the Horse-leech fly, which he is very fond of: they are of various colours, have great heads, large bodies, very long tails, and two pairs of wings, placed behind each other. In imitating this Fly, behind each pair of wings whip the body about with gold or silver twist, or both; and do the same by the head. Fish with it at length, as for Trout and Grayling. If you dib, do it with two or three Butterflies of different colours, or with some of the most glaring small Flies you can find.

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