Shin only half believed Godfrey's words but he got ready anyway. He pulled on another sweater, put on his Jacket and then his knee boots. He also decided to take his waders along, just in case. He usually put them on before he got into the car so that he could start fishing as soon as they got to the river but today, with this weather, he just didn't feel like it.

But Godfrey was not wrong. The river, which this morning could only have been described as a muddy torrent, was beginning to clear, as Godfry had said. The water level was still high, however. The river was silty but certainly not muddy anymore. Shin realised that Scottish mountains may look like gentle slopes but they are actually quite steep; steep enough to clear the river.

The wind was still blowing and it was still raining. There were two choices available; either return to the cottage for another sherry or get straight into the river. It took Shin, as an angler, less than a second to make a decision.

"Shall we give it a go, Godfrey"
"You bet we will, Shin"
"If we wait a little while we should be able to fish"
"We can't wait, Shin. We have to start now"
"But surely the water is still too high? It's dangerous"
"Shin, the salmon are swimming for their lives. They've been waiting for this rain for ages and now it's come they're desperate to swim upstream. They are running up, I know it."

Godfrey took Shin to a pool where the water level was relatively low, despite the rain.
A boat pool. It was a calm pool with a steady, shallow current; the kind that would be perfect for sailing toy boats on. But even in this pool the current was strong and when Shin waded in up to his waist he bobbed up and down and felt as though he might be swept away.

In such conditions an angler puts a lot of unnecessary force into his upper body so he cannot hope to keep his balance when casting. What is worse is that, to counter the current, he has to use a no. 8 sink-tip fly line which makes things even more tricky.
After casting for about an hour, Shin was sitting on the bench by the riverbank. He had put his rod in the rod holder next to the bench and was taking a rest when he saw Tony, the owner of the river, plodding towards him along the path running by the riverbank. This was rather unusual sight, being three p.m. on a Monday afternoon.

"Good afternoon, Shin. It looks like it might be a good day afterall"
"Good afternoon, Tony. I thought you'd gone to Edinburgh"
"Aha, Shin, I finished up at lunch-time and then headed back here. That rain last night was just marvellous, wasn't it?"

Shin had heard from Godfrey that Tony held an important post in the Scottish parliament but, from the look of Tony it was no wonder that Scotland was going downhill. What was even more surprising was Tony's laid-back attitude amidst the turmoil.
Shin knew that Tony drove over from Edinburgh with his family by Range Rover to stay in their cottage every Friday night, but it seemed that the heavy rain had not only affected the salmon but had also caused Tony to abandon his work and hurry back to the river.

"So have you seen the salmon jump yet, Shin?"
"No, not yet. There's just too much water; it's difficult for me, Tony"
"Too much water? Shin, you've always come when the river was low, you just don't know how the river usually is. How it should be. Shin, this is the normal state of the river. In fact, it's in top form. Shin, maybe you don't remember but, last year I showed you a sketch I was making of the river. I was thinking of the river with the water level as it is now. Look at the tree canopies, aren't they lovely? And, look at the layout of the hardcore; it's great, isn't it? If there was less water the stones would stick out all bare and look terribly ugly, don't you think?"
"But, I'm not built like you, Tony. You're so big. I need a handicap!"
"Ha ha ha, Shin, there are no handicaps in salmon fishing. It's the same as sumo wrestling in your country, you have to use all your strength and cunning otherwise you won't catch a thing. Oh, I know. I'll let you have a couple of my flies. The big one is best when the river is high, like today, and the smaller one is best used when it's low. They're of the same kind though"
"Treble hook?"
"Ahh, that's right. You should be able to land a couple of salmon with these. These are the only handicap I can give you, Shin. Oh, by the way, have you finished fishing in this pool?"
"Yeah, I'm going to move to a pool with better footing"
"So, it's OK for me to fish here, then?"
"Of course, Tony"
"Thanks, Shin. See you later"
"Tight lines, Tony!", shouted Shin after him.