I02 SHOOTING AND SALMON FISHING 



kneel down and put his gaff into the water as far as he can 

 reach, while keeping motionless. The fish can then be floated 

 down over the gaff, and will see nothing till too late ; and the 

 greatest duffer could not want two strokes at such a chance. 



By this method the fish will be gaffed from underneath, 

 which will not be such a pretty or dashing stroke as when 

 the gaff, in the hands of a skilled man, is stretched out over 

 the captive and passed through the back ; but when this is 

 done, the fish must always see both gaff and gaffer, a 

 sight which will cause it to make bolt after bolt into deep 

 water, and sudden rushes with a short line in shallow water 

 are always dangerous. 



Over and over again, we have seen a nervous gillie prolong 

 a struggle fully ten minutes more than needful. He will 

 perhaps scratch the fish at the first attempt, and so make 

 it extra wild, and then, by running up and down to meet 

 it each time it comes near, he will be the cause of so many 

 short rushes and head and tail splashes, that unless the hold 

 is very good the fish is too often lost at the finish ; and 

 under such circumstances the fisherman is fairly entitled to 

 a good growl. 



If the angler is alone, the same plan — i.e., that of getting 

 the fish above him and floating it down over the gafT — 

 can be practised ; one of the heaviest fish we ever killed, a 

 'fhirty-eight pounder, was secured in this way one August 

 day from the Long Pool of the Taynuilt Hotel water of the 

 Awe. We also once, when alone, lifted a forty-two pound 

 hen fish one February from the Mill-stream Pool on the 

 Crathes water of the Dee ; but as she was on the point of 

 spawning, we returned her to the water, hoping that there 

 might be a mate about, although it was of course very late 

 in the season. 



The heaviest fish we know of, and saw landed with our 

 own eyes, came from the Awe ; it scaled fifty-four pounds, 

 and was captured by the schoolmaster at Taynuilt, in October. 



