96 TREATISE ON FLY-FISHING, 



The capture of a large fish, is a fatiguing 

 operation, and requires the utmost skill and 

 patience ; one jerk one diverted look the least 

 slackening of the line and your labor is lost. 

 The following are a few instances of well re- 

 quited proficiency. Although I cannot hold out 

 much promise of similar good fortune in the 

 present day, as salmon are now rarely taken, 

 even in nets of equal size, it may be satisfactory 

 to the aspirant to know, that the largest fish do 

 not necessarily afford the best sport ; they are 

 apt to turn sulky and will lay doggedly at the 

 bottom of a pool, endeavouring to cut the line, 

 by grating it against a rock, or other hard sub- 

 stance with the nose ; when this occurs, throw 

 gravel or small stones over the spot, where the 

 fish is thus engaged, and it will try some other 

 expedient. 



In the Thames, on the 3rd October, 1812, 

 Mr. G. Marshall, of Brewer Street, London, 

 ( caught and killed a salmon with a single 



