314 Reminiscences of 



the boat, and quickly removed by one of the boat- 

 men. But not always does this method succeed, as 

 the salmon may be off before it can be accomplished 

 and the sinker in such case may remain, clogging the 

 free runs, until the last one. 



I devised a much better method later on for throw- 

 ing off the sinker. My steel hooks of three quarters 

 of an inch spread at the bow, and long shanked, I 

 had soldered on to a stout brass wire of four inches 

 in length, and this connected by two more pieces of 

 similar wire and length, by stout brass swivels. My 

 four-ounce leaden sinkers, round and tapering at 

 each end, and having a hole through lengthwise, I 

 strung over on a not overstrong cotton string, and 

 caught up the lower end of one of the brass links 

 below, connecting it with the one above by the cotton 

 string carrying the sinker. The string was strong 

 enough to carry easily the pull of the trolling bait, 

 but would break and drop off the sinker by the strike 

 of the salmon and leave my line free. The loss of 

 the sinker would, of course, occur, but was of slight 

 importance and value. 



As the hooked salmon approaches the light at the 

 surface, and has been unable to throw off the hook, 

 his alarm is much increased, and he starts out with 

 great rapidity in some direction opposite from the 

 boat, and with an impetuosity impossible to speedily 

 check. It may be two or three hundred feet, or 

 more, before the hard-pressed reel pad on the line and 

 the strain of the rod almost surely incline the head 

 of the fish to one side or the other, which being once 

 accomplished practically settles the successful take; 

 for the salmon, once being turned from a straight 



