92 AX ANGLER'S REMINISCENCES. 



experience with bunglers and lost many fish are chary of strange gillies, foi there is 

 nothing more exasperating, after a forty minutes' tussle with a strong fish, than to 

 have some slouch barely scratch him with the point of the iron as he wallops past an 

 arm's length off, working up renewed energy which gives promise of a long con- 

 tinuation of the fight. However, one cannot always choose his own gaffing place. 

 Gravel beeaches are not conveniently at hand on most rivers. Neither can an 

 angler always keep out of the water when he fishes from the shore. Says one old 

 veteran : "I never wade." Doubtless. But there are rivers where you would have 

 to wade or swim to follow your fish. On such wild water a gaffer is indispensable. 

 One should never be in a hurry when he wishes to fix a fish on his iron. Put 

 the gaff into the water as quietly as possible, and unobserved of the fish, to the 

 depth of sixteen inches or so, and make the clip, point upward and inward, sharply, 

 but without jerking, endeavoring to hock him just abaft the shoulders, which is the 

 center of gravity. If hooked elsewhere in the body, the fish gets a big leverage with 

 head or tail, and will make a ghastly rent in his flesh, if indeed he don't flop off 

 altogether. Never strike a fish in the belly. Nothing is more unsightly than a 

 great gaping wound, especially if the entrails protrude. I notice that a few old 

 anglers have adopted a big landing net with a two-foot span, which has its advan- 

 tages ; but one would think it clumsy to handle, and likely to scare the fish. Veteran 

 river men invariably carry a billet with which to whack the salmon on the head as 

 soon as he is lifted out of the water. It gives him a speedy quietus and a better 

 flavor when eaten. Moreover a thumping fish makes a hideous noise in the bottom 

 of a boat, and scares other fish away. Few anglers think of this. 



Lots of things are to be borne in mind when one goes salmon fishing. One 

 object is the reel. Keep your eye on the drag, and don't let the line back-lash or 

 overrun. An unexpected jerk on a line will do this and make mischief in an instant 

 which an hour of labor will not undo. "Striking" a salmon will lose oftener.than 

 win. In general, a heavy salmon hooks himself by carrying down the fly in water 

 which is curly, else he is not hooked at all. To strike a salmon on a taut line when 

 well down stream would be fatal to tackle. An old angler simply lifts the tip of 

 his rod gently, and so tightens the line at the. proper instant. In dead water, or a 

 back eddy, when the fly is well under the surface, smart stroke is not only admissible, 

 but necessary. When to strike, how to strike and whether to strike at all, are 

 questions of the moment, not to set precept. Categorically, the whole subject of 

 salmon angling is one of varied and continued practice. An angler may fish the 

 same river all his life with best success, and yet fail to kill on a different river until 

 he has studied its different idiosyncracies. It is the intensely specific characteristics 

 of rivers which makes salmon fishing a superlative art and the most difficult to 

 master of all piscatory attainments. A doctor might as well undertake to diagnose 

 one case by the symptoms of another as for one angler to judge of the temper of 

 one river by that of another. The more we fish the more surely we discover this 

 truism and its parallel. One cannot always judge character by physiognomy; we 

 discover it by trial. The master hand may outline the rote and routine of an 

 angler, but he cannot make an adept. Perhaps this is why an old hand is tempted 

 to discard treatises. Fortunate he may be if he is not compelled to hang up his 

 rod now altogether. To the "contemplative angler," still robust and hearty, but 

 poor in purse, it is misery to reflect that he must yield his pastime before his day 

 is run. Rivers continue to flow, and the plash of the salmon is heard in the 

 stream, but he may not fish ; the priceless waters are open only to the few who can 

 afford to buy. The willow wand is superseded by the golden rod. But what 



