AN EXCELLENT ROD. . 209 



"SiK, Not the least pleasure of the angler consists in 

 looking back upon the summer-time when he 'wandered 

 dreamily away up among the hills by the side of a tiny beck, 

 new to the angler, with no sound but the plover or the cur- 

 lew, or the distant tinkle of the bell-wether ; no incumbrance 

 but a light rod ; no bother about what flies will or will not 

 suit ; no tackle beyond a yard of gut and two or three hooks 

 in a piece of brown paper ; a small bag of moss with well- 

 scoured worms within ; a sandwich or cold mutton chop 

 the latter for preference in one pocket, and a flask of the 

 dew " that shines in the starlight when kings dinna ken in 

 the other," etc., etc. ; and when autumn, with its bracing air, 

 succeeded summer, to the wild, excited, yet concentrated 

 thrill that shot through his frame when he hooked the " lord- 

 ly salmon," and which lasted till he could say to himself, "It 

 is my turn now ; you shall not have all your own way with 

 me." ' 



" Such have been my feelings this cold, stormy winter even- 

 ing, as I sat over a cosy fire in my easy-chair. I felt inclined 

 to good fellowship with all anglers, especially such of them 

 as have arrived at my time of life, when they naturally look 

 back to what they have been in preference to what they are 

 now, but are still fond of the sport when strength and oppor- 

 tunity allow of following it. For the especial benefit of the 

 latter, if you and they think it worth accepting, I have turned 

 to my writing-case to give you the particulars of a light sal- 

 mon-rod, equally good for worm or. salmon fishing, which I 

 got made at home last year. 



"Its weight is lj Ib. ; length, 15| feet; first fish killed 

 with it, 1 8 Ibs. weight. 



"The first week in September this season I hooked and 

 killed a male fish, 17 Ibs., and hooked and killed on successive 

 days seven fish, aggregate weight nearly 90 Ibs., without los- 

 ing any thing once hooked. Two or three had the sea-lice 

 on them one especially, a 15^-pounder, which for running, 

 jumping, wheeling round and round in circles, shaking its 



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