fter the close of August, as only very few fish come
up from the sea later, and those remaining in the river are wearied
from their long journeyings, or are torpid from their protracted
absence from the sea.

Within the period named--June to the middle of August--salmon are gamy
and muscular, wherever found, whether one or fifty miles from the
ocean. But the pools most coveted are those in closest proximity to
salt water. Salmon are at their best when they begin their upward
journey. The fresh element in which they find themselves seems to give
them new life and friskiness, and when hooked they fight with a
strength and fierceness not exhibited in the same measure afterward. A
twenty-pound salmon fresh from the sea gives you the play of a
thirty-pound fish taken weeks after he has made his way far up toward
the headwaters of a fifty or a hundred-mile river.

This fact, however, is not only not perceptible to the novice, but the
sport furnished by the capture of a salmon at any point in a river, or
at any stage of his sojourn in fresh water, is so grandly exhilarating
and so full of the intensest excitement, that it is a matter of but
trifling moment where a fish is struck so long as the angler strikes
him.

But the season _is_ important. The earlier weeks on any river are to be
preferred, not alone because the fish have more vitality, but because,
as a rule, they are more abundant. With an unerring instinct which is
as mysterious as it is wonderful, they seek the rivers where they were
born upon the return of every spring. If the rivers are in condition
for their ascent, they begin their journey at once. But the rivers are
not always in this condition when salmon first come to them; and if
they are not, they wait their opportunity, and then move forward with
the regularity and steadiness of an army under marching orders. Hence
they are ordinarily found in greatest numbers at the first rush; and
they are most fortunate who are duly placed, at favorite pools, to bid
them welcome.

What I know of this phase of salmon angling I have learned from
experience and observation, under circumstances which enable me to
speak with more confidence than would be otherwise becoming. I have
fished for three years on what I believe to be one of the very best
rivers on the continent; best not merely because of the abundance and
weight of its fish, but because also of its size and length, the
magnificence of its scenery, and the great