FISHING WITH SINGLE GUT. 157 



been hooked exactly three hours, we had the fish a nohle 

 male Krok, weighing twenty-six pounds high and dry on 

 the strand. Had he fought for only a very few minutes 

 longer, however, he must inevitably have escaped ; for of ten 

 hooks, only one the lip-hook remained, and even the lash- 

 ing of this was partially torn away by the teeth of the fish. 



Many people make quite a merit of killing a trout of a 

 few pounds in weight with single gut ; but by tolerable 

 management, and with the aid of a boat and a skilful 

 rower, single gut will hold a fish of almost any size. We 

 frequently used nothing else, and caught great numbers of 

 trout equally large as the one just spoken of. It is true 

 that occasionally single gut has broken with me, and so 

 has the best twisted gut; but in almost every instance 

 this has arisen either from a flaw in the gut itself, its 

 coming in contact with a stone or other impediment at the 

 bottom, or that the gut has been frayed by the teeth of 

 the fish. If the rod has proper play, and the fisherman 

 does his part, almost any sort of tackle is strong enough 

 to hold a fish of the largest size. When spinning in deep 

 rapids, one runs the greatest risk; for being unable to 

 see the curl of the fish as he takes the bait, it not unfre- 

 quently happens that in the twinkling of an eye the line 

 is going off the reel at railroad pace, when if not upon 

 one's guard, or if the line becomes entangled, all is of course 

 irretrievably lost. 



A singular incident once occurred to me whilst fishing 

 in the pools close to Ronnum. Observing at a little 

 distance several large trout, plunging on the surface in 

 pursuit of a shoal of young smelts, we rowed to the 

 spot; when, casting the bait amongst them, one of the 



