as high as if they had to scale a cataract, close to the boat. One which had jumped too far, was caught on the rocks by two of my boys whom I had left on the beach… For about an hour, I should say that the spot in question was the finest angling quarter I ever saw."[1]
The author of "Wild Sports of the West" has described in his lively manner Salmon-fishing in Ireland. Fly-fishing commences in March, but many are not caught in this way until the succeeding month. In June, net-fishing begins. The weir is raised to stop the passage of the fish, the water being allowed to find vent only through a small aperture provided with a trap.
The fishing is carried on only in the estuary where the river meets the sea. The draughting is confined to the last quarter of the ebb, and the first of the flood; five or six boats with as many men in each are necessary. When the Salmon are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity of the net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the boat makes an extensive circle round the place where the fish are believed to lie. This curve is gradually diminished; stones flung in on each side prevent the fish from escaping; at length the extremity of the net reaches the bank, the semicircle is complete, and the inclosed fish secured. They
- ↑ "It is supposed that the first taste of the admixture of fresh water gives the fish a ravenous appetite for the fly, which occasions their extraordinary jumping and easy capture. At the spot referred to, the admixture of fresh water would hardly be perceptible to our taste at half-tide, as the stream is inconsiderable, and the sea covers, at that time of tide, many hundred acres. The fish certainly forbear from their gambols at high and low water, and during the flow." Page 255.
