120 THE SALMON 



Left off at 5.50. 



, . i Salmon 1 5 

 Result of seven hours nsnimf- ,. .. 



iGnlse 5 



20 

 Weight 304^ lb., or an average of a little over i 5 Ib. 



From this it will be seen that in rather heavy 

 water it took on an average 13}- minutes to hook, 

 play, and land fish, three-quarters of which averaged 

 nearly 20 lb. in weight. How many rose without 

 taking hold is not stated, and probably could not be 

 ascertained, as in harling many of the fish come at 

 the fly deep under water, and are felt and not seen. 

 But the most instructive part of the record is the 

 manner in which, for a little more than an hour, 

 from 12.30 to 1.45 fish after fish was hooked and 

 lost. 



During the first hour and fifty minutes eight fish 

 were brought to the net out of nine hooked ; in the next 

 period of the same duration seven out of nine were 

 lost, notwithstanding the fact that the fly was to all 

 appearances presented to the fish under precisely the 

 same conditions, there being no such disturbing 

 element as might possibly be presented by casting or 

 striking. To an outsider it would hardly seem possible 

 that such a difference should be caused by the way 

 in which similar fish took a barbed hook into their 

 mouths ; but every fisherman must have had seme 



