36 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



devices practised upon him, but all without avail. Now, 

 as your line is necessarily so frail that you can do nothing 

 when a dead lift comes; nothing is left you, but just to 

 pull away until you break your gut or cast line, and 

 leave the gentleman for another bout. 



Some anglers provide themselves with small leaden 

 rings, which being put on the line, run down till they 

 hit the nose of the sulking fish, when off he bolts with 

 revived strength and activity, to renew the exciting and 

 dubious strife. But sometimes even this plausible scheme 

 fails in its object; and then the disappointed angler must 

 console himself as well as he can for the loss of his 

 anticipated prey. 



The salmon reaches a considerable size in many of the 

 rivers of Europe ; some attaining the enormous weight of 

 seventy or eighty pounds. The general weight is greatly 

 below this; and from ten pounds to five-and-twenty may 

 be considered a high average, even in the best salmon- 

 rivers. 



There has been a controversy among anglers and 

 naturalists, whether the salmon-trout and the salmon be 

 one and the same fish. The prevailing opinion seems to 

 be, that the salmon-trout is a distinct species from the 

 genuine salmon. 



^tottt Ha 



Next in importance to the salmon in the estimation of 

 the genuine fisherman stands the TROUT. He is the stand- 

 ard commodity of the enthusiastic angler. There are many 

 expert and experienced fly-fishers who never enjoyed the 

 exciting luxury of hooking and killing a salmon ; but no 

 man can fairly lay claim to the appellation of an "angler," 

 if he cannot kill trout with the rod and line in some way 



