Page:Tourist's Maritime Provinces.djvu/71

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HOTELS—CUISINE—SPORTS
47

pounds, and after the fifth year, salmon. In salt water they choose the day for their migrations, in fresh water the night. The winter habits of the salmon are a further mystery. One that was tagged with aluminum in a river having its debouchement in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was caught months later in Norwegian waters. Yet it is ordinarily supposed that Canadian salmon remain always on this side of the Atlantic.

The season for salmon fishing in New Brunswick lasts from February to the middle of August; in Nova Scotia from April through September, the date of the opening and closing of the season varying according to locality. The angler usually fishes the pools from a boat manoeuvred by his guides. An American split-cane rod having a casting capacity of a hundred feet may cost $50. The heavy silk line has a gut leader and is wound at least 100 feet to the reel. As to flies. Silver Doctor, Admiral, Durham Ranger, Jock Scott are recommended by salmon savants, but each fisherman has an individual preference for some flies which he believes especially potent in certain waters. When the contest between fisherman and fish is decided in man's favour, and the guide has done his work with the gaff, then there comes "a struggle, a heave, a mass of silver in the boat," and, finally, the all-important weighing.

The most renowned salmon rivers of New Bruns-