Nothing, my dear George, can be more beautiful than the play of a vigorous salmon. The lubberly struggles of a pond fish are execrable to him who has felt the exquisite pleasure that attends the conquest of “the monarch of the stream.” His bold rushes—his sudden and rapid attempts to liberate himself from the fisher’s thrall—the energy with which he throws his silver body three or four feet above the surface of the water, and the unwearied and incessant opposition he makes until his strength is exhausted by the angler’s science. All this must be experienced, to be adequately conceived. In ten minutes I mastered my beautiful victim; and Mortien Beg gaffed and landed a splendid summer fish, which, if the cook’s scales be correct, weighed thirteen pounds and seven ounces.
Salmon laws.—The Scotch in early times had most severe prohibitions against the killing of the salmon. In the Regiam Majestatem are preserved several laws relating to their fisheries, couched in terms expressive of the simplicity of the times. From Saturday night until Monday morning they were obliged to leave a free passage for the fish, which is called the “Saterdaye’s sloppe.”
Alexander I. enacted “that the streame of the water sal be in all parts swa free, that ane swine of the age of three years, well feed, may turn himself within the stream round about, swa that his snowt nor taile sal not tuch the bank of the water.” By a law of James IV. the third offence was made capital (before that, the offender had power to redeem his life). “Slayers of reide fish, or smoltes of salmond, the third time are punished with death; and sic like he quha commands the samine to be done.” Salmon were in the reign of Henry VI. thought a present worthy of a crowned head, for in that reign, the Queen of Scotland sent to the Duchess of Clarence ten casks of salted salmon, which Henry directed to pass duty free.
Salmon Rod.—The salmon rod is, all but the top, made of ash, as being the lightest wood. The structure of the trout or fly rod has been variously recommended; the most ancient is, the butt to be made of yellow deal, seven feet long; next, a straight hazel, of about six feet; and then a delicate piece of fine-grained yew, exactly tapered, and ending in a point of whalebone, both making about two feet: to colour the stock, a feather dipped in aquafortis, and rubbed into the deal, gives it a cinnamon colour; for a nut-brown colour, a quartern of spirit lacquer, half an ounce of gamboge, the like quantities of gum sandarach and dragon’s-blood (the three last to be powdered very fine), and as much of each of them as will lie upon a sixpence, put into the spirit lacquer, which must be kept stirring, until properly mixed: the phial must be warmed as well as the wood, and the mixture gradually laid on with a camel’s-hair brush; after it is dried, a second and third coat is to be applied. To make the colour redder put double the quantity of dragon’s-blood; to make the rod mottled, get green copperas and dissolve in spring water; dip linen tape in the liquid, and while wet twist it round about, and let it remain on the rod eight or ten hours in the cool; unbind the tape, which will be dry, and use the above-mentioned varnish, which will give the desired effect. The varnish also preserves the rings and the bindings that fix them to the rod. To fasten a fly rod of the above make properly, a piece of shoemaker’s wax was rubbed upon each splice; a handle of a knife, or any hard thing, was rubbed over them, until they were smooth; they were then tied neatly together, and were as firm as any part of the rod.
The following comparison is made by Sir Humphry Davy, between trout and salmon:—The salmon is broader, has a tail rather more forked, and teeth in proportion are rather smaller. The trout, likewise, has larger and more black-brown spots on the body; and the head of the trout is a little larger in proportion. The salmon has fourteen spines in the pectoral fins, ten in each of the ventral, thirteen in the anal, twenty-one in the caudal, and fifteen in the dorsal. The salmon measures thirty-eight inches and a half in length, and twenty-one inches in girth; and his weight, as you see, is twenty-two pounds and a quarter. The trout has one spine less in the pectoral, and two less in the anal fin, and measures thirty inches and a quarter in length, and sixteen inches in girth, and his weight is eleven pounds. When opened, the stomach of the salmon contains nothing but a little yellow fluid, and, though the salmon is twice as large, does not exceed much in size that of the trout. The stomach of the trout, unlike that of the salmon, will be found full of food.—Daniel—Wild Sports—Lloyd—Davy, &c.
Salmon-trout, s. A trout that has some resemblance to a salmon.
The salmon trout is handsome in its form, is more richly adorned, and is longer, thicker, rounder in proportion than a salmon; the scales are small, beautifully intermixed on both sides of the lateral line, and also the covers of the gills, with spots; the fins are strong, and the tail shorter, but not so much forked as the salmon’s; the flesh is exceedingly rich, and in some countries better esteemed than any fish of the salmon kind; they are generally from two to six pounds weight, some run larger; they are often taken when angling for salmon or large trout, their haunts being the same. Early in the spring they enter the rivers, are in prime season from the end of April until July, and spawn chiefly in September; but that period varies in different waters; the rod should be as for salmon, the reel line strong, and foot length about three yards of fine twisted silkworm gut, or the strongest single, with the knots well whipped.—Daniel.