United States or New Zealand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
After this it descends without delay to the sea, where it feeds to such good purpose that in a year it has reached a weight of 2 lb to 4 lb or more, and it may then reascend as a grilse. Small grilse indeed may only have been in the sea a few months, ascending in the autumn of the year of their first descent.
Presently he came upon a picturesque portion of the stream where the waters warbled and curled in little easy-going rapids, miniature falls, and deep oily pools. A row of natural stepping-stones ran out towards a splendid pool, in which he felt assured there must be a large trout perhaps a grilse. His modesty forbade him to hint "a salmon," even to himself.
"Well, not just that, but I do manage to fill a basket now and then, an' whiles to land a g'ilse." "A gilse!" cried George in surprise, "what is that?" "It is a small salmon " "Oh! you mean a grilse," interposed Mr Sudberry. "Yes, I mean that, an' I said that," returned McAllister, slowly and with emphasis.
I got a grilse of four pounds, which made a smart fight for fifteen minutes, and Rodman hooked another, but lost him. That evening we went again to the pool, and I killed a small but very active salmon of nine pounds, which fought me nearly an hour: Rodman got a grilse of five pounds. Strange to say, neither Kingfisher nor the Colonel killed a fish to-day, so that I was for once "high line."
I was so absorbed in my work that I did not know I was moving into deep water till I found that my wading stockings had filled. I then stopped, and, lengthening my line at each successive "throw," sent my fly nearer and still nearer to the grilse. How I managed the long, straight cast that presently resulted in my fly passing down the "hover," I do not know.
Returning home the next day our angler found and took charge of it. That he had been successful that day was made plain, not only by the extra stoop forward, which was rendered necessary by the weight of his basket, and the beaming satisfaction on his face, but by the protruding tail of a grilse which was too large to find room for the whole of itself, inside.
Many a man, far away now from "bonnie Arndilly" and the hoarse murmur of the river's roll over its rugged bed, recalls in wistful recollection the swift yet smooth flow of "the Dip;" the thundering rush of Spey against the "Red Craig," in the deep, strong water at the foot of which the big red fish leap like trout when the mellowness of the autumn is tinting into glow of russet and crimson the trees which hang on the steep bank above; the smooth restful glide into the long oily reach of the "Lady's How," in which a fisherman may spend to advantage the livelong day and then not leave it fished out; the turbulent half pool, half stream, of the "Piles," which always holds large fish lying behind the great stones or in the dead water under the daisy-sprinkled bank on which the tall beeches cast their shadows; the "Bulwark Pool;" the "Three Stones," where the grilse show their silver sides in the late May evenings; "Gilmour's" and "Carnegie's," the latter now, alas! spoiled by gravel; the quaintly named "Tam Mear's Crook" and the "Spout o' Cobblepot;" and then the dark, sullen swirls of "Sourdon," the deepest pool of Spey.
The grilse rose sharply at the lure, but I "struck" too late. I reeled in my line, and after a few minutes began once more to cast. Now, however, try as I might, I could not get the line out to the distance required; it would not fall straight and true. In desperation I endeavoured to overcome the difficulty by sheer strength.
Their average weight, as we proved on several occasions, was exactly three-quarters of a pound; but we never succeeded in landing any of the really big ones. A local angler told me he had caught one of two pounds, and lost another "like a young grilse," after he had drawn it on to the bank.
By this time the sun was high in the heavens, and we returned to camp Rodman with a salmon of seventeen pounds and a grilse of five pounds. A salmon has properly four stages of existence. The first is as a "parr," a small bright-looking fish, four or five inches long, with dark-colored bars across the sides and a row of red spots.
Word Of The Day