TWO SALMON ON ONE CAST. 



OLD Dr. Clarke, of Maiden-lane, New York city (an 

 Aberdeenshire man by birth), was a great and grand 

 salmon fisherman. For years he and his brother 

 rented the Grand Pabos river, that flows into the 

 southern side of the estuary of the St. Lawrence. I 

 remember asking him the question, " What would 

 you do if you had two big fish on at the same time ? ;> 

 His answer was laconic, and, as I have proved, cor- 

 rect : " Play the nigh one gently, and let the de'il 

 take care of the hindmost." Just so, say I. Two 

 fish hooked upon the same cast will not act in con- 

 cert, but drag and haul against each other, so that if 

 you keep touch with the " muckle beast " next you, 

 they will very soon exhaust each other, unless the 

 line parts, a mishap ever to be dreaded, for there is 

 unquestionably a very severe strain upon the six or 

 seven feet of gut that intervenes between the respec- 

 tive captives when such an episode occurs. 



In fishing the Mingan, Goodbout and Margarite 

 streams that feed the mouth of the St. Lawrence, on 

 the north shore some years ago, I frequently had 

 the experience of hooking two salmon at the same 

 cast, and unless the bank was precipitous, and was 

 considerably elevated above the water line, or the fish 

 took different sides of a boulder or " snag/' and played 

 a game of see-saw with your gut against those impedi- 

 ments, I always followed Dr. Clarke's advice, and 

 invariably came out of the scrimmage victorious. 



I have frequently debated in my mind whether it 



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