92 SALMON AND TROUT. 



It takes, of course, a little longer to gaff one's own fish, 

 for one reason that you have only the left hand ' to show him 

 the butt/ but that it is easily practicable I can testify, having 

 done it myself and seen it done scores of times. One of the 

 most masterly performances with the gaff that I ever saw 

 was my friend Major ' Bob ' Sandeman, of steeple-chasing 

 fame, gaffing six fish to his own rod before lunch in the Usk at 

 Dan-y-Park, he having to wade all .the time he was casting 

 well up to his elbows in a stream which at that point is both 

 broad and strong. 



When wading deep or in rapid currents, some fly-fishers 

 adopt the plan of fastening a good stout stick 4 or 5 feet 

 long round the waist by a cord, using it as a support in 

 moving and when not wanted simply letting go of it, when it 

 floats out of the way. 



It is curious how difficult it is to become a really first-rate 

 gaffer. Indeed it seems to be an accomplishment as a rule 

 entirely beyond the reach of the uneducated, or half-educated, 

 man. I fail at this moment to recall more than two or three 

 instances notable ones, I admit of a gillie or keeper being 

 really an adept in the art, and not once, but constantly I have, 

 I fear, disgusted my professional * fisherman '-attendant by 

 gaffing my fish myself with the right hand, whilst the rod was 

 held with the left. 



On a very rocky bit of the upper part of the Usk where the 

 late Mr. Edwin Darvall and I have killed some hundreds, if 

 not indeed thousands, of salmonida, the gaffing business was 

 the despair of my friend's faithful henchman, Timothy as it 

 is written of him : 



The wily Tim with dextrous gaff 

 Tries hard to cut the line in half ; 



and I am afraid he has many a time thirsted for my blood when 

 his master insisted upon my gaffing for him. On one occasion 

 the wily Tim not only succeeded in thus cutting the line whilst 

 failing to gaff the fish, but also, by what Artemus Ward would 

 call a ' dextrous movement,' managed to bring the gaff point 



