HOW TO DEAL WITH SALMON-SOMERSETS. 59 



under water ; whereas, on the other hand, a fish 

 slightly hooked, forthwith commences his struggles 

 on the surface, and very speedily takes it into his 

 head to show you what a very clever voltigeur and 

 tumbler he is, by throwing somersets out of the 

 water. I like not these exhibitions. They are 

 proofs of consciousness on the part of the salmon- 

 saltinbanque, that he has the power of disappear- 

 ing through some trap -door. I know but of one 

 way to undeceive the silver-bedecked harlequin. 

 When he made his vault I should do nothing to 

 impede it, and in his descent I should offer no 

 check of tightened line. On the contrary, the 

 point of the rod should be lowered until the fish 

 had descended into the water, and then it should 

 be elevated, but not so much as to produce ex- 

 treme tightness of line. Nothing can be more 

 dangerous than to hold hard on a springing fish, 

 particularly in its descent. The mere weight of 

 the falling fish, if resisted, will break the hook-hold. 

 If you can manage by gentle treatment to per- 

 suade a slightly hooked fish to contest the matter 

 with you, for a moment or two, beneath the water's 

 surface, there is every probability of the hook 

 getting more firmly fixed, and then you will have 

 nearly the usual chance of success. I have some- 

 times hooked a salmon, and seen him, to my dismay, 



