184 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



must be made of a large hook, which hook must carry six wings, or 

 foure at least; there is judgmente in making these flyes." This is all 

 Barker says, and quite enough too. I simply quote these two mono- 

 logues that the reader may contrast the state of knowledge then with 

 what follows. 



It has been said, and said wisely, that at the moment of the salmon 

 taking the bait the actual culmination of all the difficulties of salmon 

 angling ensues. The necessity of keeping one's vibrating nerves under 

 control is the supremest of tasks when this moment arrives, and the 

 result is ever one of two either the fish is not hooked, or he is. If the 

 former, there is a partial remedy in allowing the bait to remain perhaps 

 some five seconds near the spot, when the fish may turn and take it ; if 

 the latter, the unalloyed pleasure of playing and ultimately conquering 

 presents itself. 



Before going into the widely extended subject of how these alternatives 

 are realised, I will jot down one or two "notes" as to the proper method 

 of striking a salmon. First, what say the tribunes of the angling 

 world? Mr. Pennell observes that the "art is to resist for a moment 

 the inclination to strike, only for one moment, but long enough to allow 

 the fish to take and turn down again with the fly, and then strike, if you 

 will, not a slight, hesitating blow, like the tap of a lady's fan for there 

 is often a long line and a heavy strain on it between the salmon and his 

 would-be captor but a strong, steady, determined stroke, bringing the 

 line up as flat as a knife and driving the tapering hook point well in to 

 the barb." This method of striking of course arouses all the pugna- 

 ciousness not fear of the gallant fish, and then comes the brief 

 contest, in which all the pleasures and doubts of hours and days seem 

 compressed. 



Now, what says Mr. Francis Francis ? " Ten times more fish are lost 

 from striking too quickly than from striking too slowly ... If you 

 strike and pull the fly away from him he goes down, disgusted with the 

 rudeness of the gentleman who asked him to dinner and then snatched 

 his dinner out of his mouth ; you might almost as well have assaulted 

 him with a fork, or, in other words, pricked him . . . Then some 

 salmon fishers say you should not strike. Yes, I know that ; but what 

 they mean by striking is, you should not hit a salmon as if the roof of 

 his mouth were a paving stone, or you were punching a whole flight of 

 spinning tackle into a bony old pike, with a mouth like a quartz crushing 

 machine. ... To hit a salmon violently, as you would a pike, is in some 

 respects certainly not advisable, as you may force him into his most 

 violent and dangerous action when he is best prepared for it, and when, 

 possibly, the guard is not the most suitable ; whereas, by a gentler 



