242 AMERICAN FISHES. 



easily frayed and cut by its own friction, and the slightest imperfection 

 will often cause the loss of a very heavy fish. 



The great beauty of gut is, to be correctly round and perfectly equal 

 in thickness, which enables it to stand a strain which, if it were une- 

 qual, would cause it to give way. 



The reel should be of brass, which I prefer to German silver, 

 bushed and rivetted with steel. It should have a balance handle, and 

 a click, which is of great use, as preventing more of the line than is 

 required from running off it while in the act of casting, before a fish 

 is struck ; but a catch or stop must on no account be used, as it will 

 frequently stop the line at the very moment when it should run the 

 fastest. I had almost forgotten to add, that the simple reel is vastly 

 preferred by all truly scientific anglers to the multiplier, which in fact 

 is now almost exploded. 



The fly-hooks should unquestionably be of the Limerick bend, and 

 even for spinning with the parr, or fishing with the worm or the deadly 

 roe-bait, all of which are very killing to the Salmon, the same form 

 is the preferable. 



The great size and weight of the Salmon renders the use of the 

 landing-net impossible, and it is, moreover, at the best, a clumsy and 

 unportable machine. For it, therefore, the angler substitutes the 

 gaff a sharp, unbarbed hook, of convenient size, which screws 

 securely into the head of a stout ashen shaft, the butt of which may 

 conveniently be hollowed so as to contain spare fly-tops, as it is inad- 

 missible to subtract from the weight of the rod-butt by hollowing it. 



With this hook, so soon as the fish is sufficiently exhausted to be 

 drawn within striking, held in the right hand while the rod is trans- 

 ferred to the left, he gaffs the fish steadily and sharply in the solid 

 portion of the tail below the abdominal cavity, which gives it a firm 

 hold, and enables the lucky sportsman to pull out even a forty-pounder 

 with but little trouble. 



It is not a bad plan to have a stout knife-blade, with the inner edge 

 sharpened, hinged on the back of the gaff, which will often be found 

 of use in cutting away any twig or other obstacle which may entangle 

 the fly. 



A creel is of little use to the Salmon fisher, as in order to carry 

 any number of these noble fish, one would be requisite of the size of a 



