168 STRENGTH OF FISH. 



pickle-tub. Try it. But I do not think this can 

 be done with all fish, as their shapes are different. 

 Nor can you well manage a salmon smaller than 

 five or six pounds in such a way. Gaffing dis- 

 colours the flesh when dressed, and destroys the 

 beauty of a fish before-hand, into the bargain, and 

 may thus be avoided if you intend the dead prize 

 to travel far. At the same time, gaffing is by 

 far the more certain and safer plan ; for, at least, 

 the other mode is a dangerous experiment, and I 

 have known many good fish lost in the attempt. 

 But, my good pupil, how you stand staring and 

 gloating over the fallen victim ! Will you never 

 have done ? 



Herb. I was thinking how bravely he fought 

 for his life. Tell me, is any other fish so strong? 



Theoph. The only two that in the least degree 

 approach to it are the carp and the barbel cer- 

 tainly powerful fish ; but with any other, in com- 

 parison with salmon, the difference really is no 

 less than between hooking a straw, and drawing 

 up from the bottom of the river a large post. No 

 one who has not felt or seen a salmon in hand 

 can form the least conception of its comparative 

 power. Hook (even with snap-tackle and a spin- 

 ning-rod) a jack of eight or nine pounds, at first 

 he gives a shake or two, but still you may go on, 

 wind, wind, till he is on shore; but hook a six 

 pound salmon, and for ten or twenty minutes, at 



