24 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



a long or a short line, &c. The fisli himself generally 

 takes the matter pretty much into his own hand (or 

 rather fin), and the simplest recommendation to the 

 angler is to keep all the command over him that he 

 can, consistently with the safety of his tackle. It is 

 more frequently the case that a fish escapes from not 

 being tightly enough held, than from the line breaking 

 or the hold giving way, through too heavy a pull be- 

 ing put upon it. When the fish leaps into the air, it 

 is judicious to give a little line, or perhaps slightly 

 to lower the rod, in order to save the line from being 

 tested by the whole weight of the salmon as he falls 

 back. When he appears to be making for a dangerous 

 place, for rocks or tree-roots where the line might be 

 cut, the angler must unflinchingly present his butt, 

 keeping his rod back over his shoulder, thus bringing 

 all possible pressure to bear upon the fish. Should Sal- 

 mo, indeed, try to go down f other side of an island, or 

 through the wrong arch of a bridge, or anywhere else 

 that the angler cannot follow, there is nothing for it 

 but " pull devil, pull baker," until the line breaks or 

 the fish gives in — although we may mention that a 

 salmon has, on such occasions, been sometimes induced 

 to alter his course by a sudden relaxation of the strain, 

 the notion being thus put into his head that he was 

 told to go on ! A hooked fish will sometimes " sulk," 

 — that is, lie down in the bottom of a pool, — and it 

 has happened that no amount of tugging or of stone- 

 throwing at him could then induce him to move. If 

 the angler in such a predicament retains his desire to 

 possess the fish, he must just sit down, or in any other 

 way strike the attitude of patience on a monument, 



