G. W. Soltau

“ You see, then, what a wretch a fish is; no ogre is more blood thirsty, for he will devour his nephews, nieces, and even his own children, when he can catch them, and I take some credit for having shown him up. What a bitter fright must the smaller fry live in! They crowd to the shallows, lie hid among the weeds, and dare not say the river is their own, I relieve them of their apprehensions, and thus become popular with the small shoals. ”

“ The boy, who has been too severely curbed by the injudicious father, I have seen, in after life, a sullen, morose, deceitful man; his pleasures have been sought by stealth; falsehood has been practised, to evade the censure of those who should have encouraged his youthful pastimes. Vice, perchance has been courted, because it lurks in darkness and obscurity, beyond the reach of the parent’s eye, whose unwise command has forbid the joyous pursuits so congenial to the unclouded days of youth. ”

“ Fly-fishing for salmon is seldom pursued in these counties. The fish meets with such a host of formidable enemies as soon as it quits the sea, that comparatively few ascend our rivers. The intent of the proprietors of our fisheries appears to be the annihilation of this prince of fishes. The most impracticable weirs are constructed, over which it is almost impossible for a fish to leap; in the pools immediately below, the rapacious fisherman casts his net every tide ”

“ I trust however they have not been written in vain, but that the hints on fly-fishing, will enable the uninitiated to commence the sport, fortified with some practical information, and that his prospect of success will be more cheering than if he had depended on the assurance so readily given by the vendor of tackle—that his flies are certain killers, and his rods perfection.
I have written for the purpose of aiding the young in the acquirement of an art, which if pursued under proper restrictions, will be found conducive to the health of the body and improvement of the mind. ”

“ After some experience, the eye will apprize you when the fish rises to seize the hook; you are doubly prepared to strike, if your line is on the stretch, in which case, you feel, as well as see your prey.
Striking, signifies a sudden jerk of the rod, at the instant the fish has taken the hook, and forms a very important feature in the art of fishing. ”

“ The expert fisherman must be temperate in all things: the steady hand and quick eye are indispensable; the drunkard must quit our ranks,—the feverish temperament,—the blood-shot eye,—the giddy head, bespeak the peril of the man—not [12] of the fish. ”

“ Before taking leave of trout, I must notice a fly [64] which may be used with success after sunset, in the months of July and August. It is called the white moth, and has often given me sport as late as ten and eleven on fine moon-light nights. Choose an open place on a tranquil portion of the river; the fly may be thrown with less nicety than in the day-time, and catching a fish does not alarm the neighbouring fry, who will frequently seize the moth immediately after the water has been disturbed by the efforts of the captured fish to rid itself from the hook. ”

“ It may be as well to observe that when our rivers present the beerish appearance above described, and the day is fine, with occasional clouds, a good day’s sport may generally be depended on. The wind however must be consulted as well as the water—if the weathercock indicates any portion of East wind, relinquish the rod, and seek some other occupation. Fish have a peculiar aversion to cold wind, and will not be tempted to expose their noses within some distance of the surface; the fly, therefore, though thrown with skill and judgment, will sport on the water in profitless gambols. ”

“ The bridge which crosses the river in the centre of the town, is frequently lined with persons watching the salmon, which are to be seen three or four deep in the pools below, they look like waving weeds, and remain in the same position for hours. Boats are moored about one hundred feet above the bridge, from whence sportsmen catch an occasional fish with a shrimp, impaled on a good sized hook; the tackle being necessarily fine, in consequence of the clearness of the water, some skill is required to secure the prey; the spectators from above, enter with much glee into the sport ”

“ The choice of flies is the next consideration: as a general rule, when the day is bright, use a dark fly, when gloomy, a bright one. The Devonshire and Cornish fish are particular in their food—preferring simple, plain viands; hence I have often seen sportsmen unsuccessful in their efforts to move our trout—they present them with food which instinct tells them is not congenial; they rise probably, look at the monster, and depart to rise no more. ”

“ The epicure must follow his boon companion;—the bloated cheek—the shortened breath—the gouty ancle, are more likely to furnish food for fish, than fish, for food. That temperance has characterised many of our best artists, is evidenced, from the extreme age that several have acquired; for it cannot have been from mere accident, or from their having originally stronger stamina than other mortals, that so many have lived to an age far exceeding the ordinary term of human existence. ”

“ As a general rule, I am in favour of fishing up the stream for trout; the heads of the fish being always against the current, their eyes are pointed in the same direction, looking for flies, &c., which may be floating down on the surface; your approach therefore is not so readily perceived, and your fly when taken is pulled against the jaw, and not from it as is often the case when fishing [47] down the stream. The casting the fly well and lightly is a knack which can only be acquired by experience. The spring of the rod should do the chief work, and not the labour of your arms. ”

“ Although I cannot hold out much promise of similar good fortune in the present day, as salmon are now rarely taken, even in nets of equal size, it may be satisfactory to the aspirant to know, that the largest fish do not necessarily afford the best sport; they are apt to turn sulky and will lay doggedly at the bottom of a pool, endeavouring to cut the line, by grating it against a rock, or other hard substance with the nose; when this occurs, throw gravel or small stones over the spot, where the fish is thus engaged, and it will try some other expedient. ”

“ Here, after a time, their strength is recruited, when as the spring advances, the strongest fish leave the depths and draw into the streams. They now move down the river in their passage to the sea. When they arrive in the deep pools, near the mouths of the rivers, they take rest for a few days; here they may be caught by anglers, as they take the fly and other baits freely. March is usually the best month for this sport—if indeed, it can be called sport, to kill an animal that is worth a mere trifle and resists but little. ”

“ When the fish slackens his pace, reel up as much of your line as you can do with safety; this economy may be most useful when he again rushes off. The length [73] of time occupied in playing the salmon depends somewhat upon the nature of the adjacent banks, and also upon the size and disposition of the fish, some being more lively than others; and a small fish will frequently afford better sport than one of twice or thrice its weight.
A gaff, or landing net, is necessary, as no gut will stand the strain of lifting a large fish out of the water. ”

“ They hunt about, they plunge, they rise a hundred times to the surface, until they have at last found their prey. They then seize it with their beak by the middle, and carry it without fail to their master. When the fish is too large, they then give each other mutual assistance; one seizes it by the head, the other by the tail, and in this manner carry it to the boat together. There, the boatman stretches out one of his long oars, on which they perch, and being delivered of their burden they then fly off to pursue their sport. ”

“ The male, in his turn, lets his milt go over the spawn, and this process goes on for some days, more or less, according to the size of the fish, and consequent quantity of the eggs.
If a strange male interferes, the original one chases him with great fury, and in their combats, frequently inflict great injury upon each other. When the female has spawned, she sets off and leaves the place; the male remains, waiting for another female, and if none comes in twenty-four hours, he goes away in search of another spawning place. ”

“ The reason of the migration of sea-gulls to the land is their security of finding food. They may be observed, at this time, feeding greedily on the earth worms and larvæ, driven out of the ground by severe floods, and the fish, on which they prey in fine weather in the sea, leave the surface when storms prevail, and go deeper.
The different tribes of the wading birds always migrate, when rain is about to take place. ”

“ The excess of heat seems equally unfavorable, as the excess of cold, to the existence of the smaller species of water insect, which during the intensity of sunshine seldom appear in summer, but rise morning and evening. Towards the end of August the ephemera appear again in the middle of the day. To attempt to describe all the variety that sport on the surface of the water at different times of the day, throughout the year, would be quite an endless labour. Some of them appear to live only a few hours, none have their existence protracted to more than a few days. ”

“ They prefer lying upon even rock, or behind large blocks of stone, particularly such as are of a colour similar to themselves. At every rise of the river from floods, the fish move upwards, nearer the spawning places, so that no one can reckon on preserving his particular part of the river, which is the chief reason of the universal destruction of those valuable animals. Previous to a flood, the fish frequently leap out of the water, either for the purpose of filling their air bladder, to make them more buoyant for travelling ”

“ A sportsman should seek instruction from every quarter, and not take for granted that the experience he has acquired in his own neighbourhood, will serve him when he roams from home. But many are too apt to rely on their own judgment; they procure flies, which are totally inapplicable to our rivers; they sally forth on a piscatory trip well provided with these monsters; they have little or no sport; are disgusted with our rivers; and seek in some distant land that [10] amusement, which under more favorable auspices, they might have obtained in these counties. ”

“ Should the fish then take the fly, don’t strike directly, but allow a second or two to intervene, when you will find the fish well hooked. Don’t be frightened—keep perfectly cool—hold your rod well back, the butt end rather from you; indulge the fish with as much line as he requires, taking care however to bear well and steadily against him, so that he encounters much resistance in drawing the line over the rod and off the reel. ”

“ It is very voracious, and as soon as it perceives a fish in the water, it darts down with great rapidity, and clings its prey firmly, by means of saw like indentations on its feet. The fish is brought up with one foot; the other foot enables the bird to rise to the surface, and by an adroit movement, the fish is loosened from the foot and grasped in the bird’s mouth. ”

“ The trout in our streams rarely exceed a pound in weight: this may, in some degree, be accounted for from the circumstance, that the Devon and Cornish rivers are very rapid, consequently, the insects which fall from the bushes, are carried so swiftly down the stream, that whilst a fish is engaged in seizing on one, the others pass rapidly by: the same remarks may, in times of flood, apply to worms, &c. In more tranquil rivers a fly seldom escapes ”

“ A sport which is thus seen to be so universally popular, has naturally been selected as a subject upon which some of our ablest men have written many instructive and interesting pages. The first treatise in our language appeared in 1496 but the earliest allusion to the art, is by Elian, who flourished in the year 225. In the fifteenth book of his History of Animals, he says, “that a fish of various color is taken in the River Austræum, between Beræa and Thessalonica.” He also describes a fly which frequents the river, which is greatly preyed on by this fish ”

“ A Southerly wind and a cloudy sky are as welcome to the fisherman as the fox-hunter: indeed the wind in that quarter generally promises well for all field sports. West, if the weather is settled, is also good ”

“ They have always, when they fish, a string fastened round their throats, to prevent them from devouring their prey, as otherwise they would at once satiate themselves and discontinue the pursuit the moment they had filled their bellies. ”

“ Shaw having thus traced the spawn of the salmon up to this point, it will now be necessary to pursue our inquiries until we find the matured fish. The descent of these little fish takes place much about the same time in all rivers, commencing in March, and continuing through April, and part of May. They first keep in the slack water, by the side of the river; after a time, as they become stronger, they go more towards the mid-stream; and when the water is increased by rain, they move gradually down the river. ”

“ Man is not content with employing his own ingenuity in capturing this delicious fish, he calls to his aid the sagacity of the dog, which we find becomes, by practice, as expert a fisherman as his master: numerous instances of this are on record. ”