THE SALMON. 39 



is no end to the composition and phases of rivers, and, con- 

 sequently, no end to the artifices and methods of the angler. 

 It is this complexity which makes the study and practice of 

 Salmon angling a superlative art, and of all piscatorial accom- 

 plishments the most difficult to learn and master. As in 

 human nature, it is difficult to diagnose or interpret one face, 

 type, or character by another, so it is equally difficult to 

 predicate the disposition of one river by the idiosyncrasies of 

 another. 



The methods of a hooked Salmon in a quiet pool of a 

 placid river are so simple and so uniform, that the angler goes 

 through the process of subduing his fish and bringing him to 

 gaff, in about the same perfunctory way that Gleason or Rarey 

 would quiet a horse that was skittish, but not vicious. The 

 ambitious novice can learn them as easily as he can the 

 fundamental rules in arithmetic. In what the Scotchmen 

 call a "wicked" river, the task is more delicate and exact- 

 ing, requiring much strategic ability, as well as physical 

 •endurance. There is a great deal of personal risk, too, 

 where often a false step or a stumble when wading might 

 cost the angler his life, by pitching him into a rapid as tumult- 

 uous as that of Niagara. On such a river one can never 

 ■count on killing his fish until he has him on the bank, stiff. 



Such rivers try the angler's mettle as well as his science. 

 Tactics of the drill-master fail here. Instinct becomes a 

 better prompter than a "rule of three." Expedients are 

 suggested by emergencies, both to the Salmon and his 

 captor, in marvelously rapid succession. The hooked 

 fish, after his momentary fright on getting fast, collects 

 his senses, and like the chased deer and fox, devises 

 stratagems on the jump. You have no time to dally. Play- 

 ing your fish becomes a desperate struggle, like a Spartan 

 bout. 



You must kill your fish on short line with rod bent double, 

 or have him break away. You must drop your rod-tip when 



