CHAPTER VI 



STRIKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING 



" Not gladder Shobden's wealthy peer 

 Views his fat oxen and his deer, 

 Nor peeress, when her alms she gives, 

 Nor those her charity relieves 

 Nor Gripus, as he scans his store, 

 And counts and counts it o'er and o'er, 

 Nor Stella, decked in nuptial pride 

 And just about to be a Bride 

 Than I to feel, O bliss Divine ! 

 A Salmon floundering on my line." Old Song. 



THE advisability of striking a salmon at all is 

 largely a matter of the water in which he is 

 caught. When I first fished for salmon, after a 

 long apprenticeship at trout, I could not for a 

 couple of days resist the impulse to strike as soon 

 as the rise came. The water was heavy, as were 

 the fish, and the result was that I snapped off 

 three or four flies before I learned to command 

 myself. The great force of the current, added to 

 the weight and motion of the fish, not only made 

 the salmon certain to hook themselves without any 



114 



