208 Fishing in Estum Chapt. xvii. 



" him if he tried bo make up for the bridge. Next day I went out. 

 " I had hardly begun when a brute came and took me and instantly 

 " went round a pile and broke me. This made seven consecutive 

 " fish that had broken me here. I then hooked and landed a 6- 

 " pounder, using the ladder and boat. I have lust three fish round 

 " piles after they have run away fairly down stream, and this, of 

 " course, is avoidable ; but if they go at the pier at once, there is no 

 " remedy. It seems to depend on where one's bait is. The fish 

 " naturally pulls against you ; and if your bait has been swept 8 or 

 " 10 feet down stream he runs down ; but if he takes almost under 

 " the arch, he runs in. 



" In one case I purposely gave a fish line instead of breaking, 

 " to see what he would do, and tins was the result." 



Here was a sketch of a labyrinth of piles with which, dear 

 reader, you must kindly dispense. 



" I unravelled the maze, and finally, after going from pier to 

 " pier in a boat, caught sight of my friend at the eighth pier. The 

 " run I must tell you, was all done in a few seconds. It took ten 

 " minutes or a quarter of an hour to work it out, and I could at 

 " one moment have checked the fish, had I been ready. Seeing me 

 " close to him he took three turns round the pile and broke. The 

 " last few days I have been out fish have not been feeding. I 

 " have a theory that every fish left there has got a phantom in 

 " bis gills. 



" I think you will admit that they treated me badly that 

 " morning. They seemed to have determined toshow me what they 

 "could do. They straightened one treble, broke another, a large 

 " strong one, filed the casting line, pulled off one phantom's bead, 

 " demoralized a reel (one of Bowness' best Mahseer reels) by sheer 

 " bard running, and, finally, the big chap tried all he could to break 

 " the rod, and has given it a permanent bend." 



In the Pamban channel, just opposite the Superintendent's 



house, there are, or at least there used to be some twenty years 

 ago, a number of splendid runs. It is to be hoped the Govem- 

 1 1 it i it has not cleared them away for the benefit of the shipping!! 

 Probably not, for they were uot in mid channel. There was a 

 fish there that we used to call the Pamban salmon ; and were well 

 content with the name, for in those days I had Dot troubled my 

 head with lish nomenclature and classification, It funis out to be 



