THE SALMON. 199 



usually gives. In no case, however, should an inch of slack line be 

 allowed if it can be helped. 



A wonderful lot of dodges have these clever fish when hooked to aid 

 them in breaking away. When one is lightly hooked I notice he gene- 

 rally rises, and shakes his head about on the surface of the water. If he 

 be impaled securely, however, he usually begins to fight under water, and 

 violent indeed is his fury. Not that his advent above water is never 

 made ; far from it. In nine cases out of ten this acrobatic business is 

 gone through, and the only thing to do is to lower the point of the rod 

 when he springs, so that the weight of the pulling fish may not tear out 

 the barb. " I have sometimes hooked a salmon," says Fitzgibbon, " and 

 seen him to my dismay throw, in rapid succession, several somersaults, 

 6ft. high or more, and then with a species of ferocity plunge beneath the 

 water, and there 'jigger away,' making the rod quiver as though he who 

 held it were stricken with palsy. The somersault would be repeated, and 

 finally the fish would have recourse to a lengthened rush. At length, after 

 a protracted struggle, my quarry would yield and be bagged." This 

 ' ' jiggering ' ' sensation is exceedingly unpleasant, and clearly shows that 

 the fish has a good idea of how to get the hook out of its mouth by 

 shaking and " champing " his jaws. 



When a fish " sulks " there is only one thing to do that is, wake him 

 out of his bad humour as soon as possible by whatever means are the 

 readiest to hand. Throwing stones at the spot of his going down, or 

 even stirring him up with a long pole, may be resorted to. In general, 

 however, Salmo salar may be roused by a few smart twitches of the rod' s 

 top, so as to make the barb of the hook felt. Be prepared for a 

 determined rush, for a fish roused out of sulkiness is often excessively 

 violent. 



I will conclude this short homily on fly fishing for salmon by giving 

 such directions as occur to me in connection with the most advisable way 

 of fishing a salmon river, and where most fish are chiefly to be found. If 

 convenient, it is better to fish up a stream than down, for reasons that 

 will be given in the chapter on Trout, and from the fact that if a fish be 

 hooked in the upper waters, ten chances to one but he will race down 

 stream and upset the mental balance of every other fish en route. 

 Always fish the water next you, then the middle, and then as far as you 

 can throw without difficulty. Of course, there are often unconsidered 

 trifles which seriously interfere with fixed rules, but either by wading or 

 walking a stream a pool may be pretty nearly always compassed. I 

 recommend the up-and-across throw, for it is just at the bend of the curve 

 described by your bait when thus fishing that the fish usually takes one. 



The best parts of the river cannot be easily detected to a certainty 



