LOCH SALMON -FISHING. 69 



was not until I was thoroughly acquainted Math 

 the nature of fish, and had acquired perfect com- 

 mand of the salmon rod, that the intense excite- 

 ment of hooking a 2 0-pound er tamed down my 

 interest for all minor angling. 



With the exception of boat-fishing in strictly 

 preserved rivers, angling for large fish, in order to 

 reach the deep pools and heavy streams where 

 they lie, requires a length of line which few can 

 ever attain to throw. But when the river banks 

 are at the same time encumbered by trees or other 

 obstacles, the rods who can fish it \vell become 

 select indeed. Of course the rises decrease in pro- 

 portion to the want of power in reaching the casts ; 

 and the angler, however expert with a small rod 

 and fly, loses confidence when he looks over his 

 shoulder and sees a salmon struggling at his neigh- 

 bour's line, hooked in the very pool he was unable 

 a few minutes before to cast over. With the loss 

 of confidence his patience also deserts him, and he 

 returns to yellow trout, a stanch stickler for the 

 theory that trouting is the most scientific of all 

 fishing. But if a man has thorough mastery of a 

 large rod, and quite comprehends the ways of the 



