ANGLING 



the rule that the standard varieties are the most 

 reUable. The Jock Scott, Silver Doctor, and Black 

 Dose proved the best killers upon the river in 

 question. The vt^ater being comparatively low and 

 warm, the fish in the pool paid scarcely any atten- 

 tion to the Indian's casts. After many fruitless 

 efforts, however, and two or three changes of the 

 fly, — for of course only one fly is used in salmon 

 fishing, — the screech of the reel and the sudden 

 bend of the rod told of a fish fast to the line. 

 Everybody rushed to see the novice play his first 

 fish. It did not take long. No sooner had he 

 taken the rod in his hand than it straightened as 

 quickly as it had bowed a minute before, and the 

 line came back minus the fly and half the casting 

 line. My friend had forgotten all his reading up 

 on the subject in the pages of Wells and Forrester, 

 and the others, and all the verbal instructions that 

 had been poured into his ears, and in the excitement 

 of his first salmon had grasped both line and rod 

 together in the hollow of his hand, with the inevi- 

 table result that something gave way. The same 

 angler is not very likely to repeat an error of that 

 kind, and the next fish that took his fly was prop- 

 erly killed by him in fairly good time, and weighed 

 thirteen pounds. I had the good luck to hook 

 another fish for the novice, which he killed on my 



223 



