LARS 43 



" clipping " a fish. One excellent fisherman, 

 in other ways the brightest and most alert of 

 his race, would do all sorts of eccentric things. 

 His worst performance was to stick the gaff 

 into an eighteen-pound fish and then to let 

 go the handle. Out into the pool again went 

 the fish, with the hazel stick bobbing along 

 the surface. Luckily the hook held and it all 

 ended happily, but I confess that the incident 

 tried the angler's temper, and that he said hard 

 things. One brilliant exception I have met, 

 and if he failed on a certain critical occasion 

 it was because he essayed a task beyond the 

 powers of man. I was fishing the Aaro, 

 perhaps the most remarkable river in Norway. 

 It is barely a mile from fjord to fos ; it is 

 almost entirely a foaming torrent, with hardly 

 a pool that anywhere else would be called a 

 pool, and yet its fish are the biggest of their 

 kind. I believe they average at least 25 Ib. ; 

 at some seasons 30 Ib. Forty-pounders are not 

 uncommon, and a fish of 68 Ib. was killed there 

 with a prawn some years ago. (His effigy, 

 with a fly in its mouth, frequently adorns a 

 shop window in Pall Mall.) It was in August 

 of the very hot season of 1901, and the river 



