Prawn fishing for Salmon. 139 



it advisable to allow the reel to gently pay out a little line 

 while the bait swings round in the water, so that the 

 prawn is always dropping down stream instead of being 

 held up against it. 



Letting the prawn down to a fish is the most interesting 

 phase of this class of angling ; in fact, to my mind, it is 

 prawn-fishing proper, and should be effected with great 

 care and delicacy. 



I find a spinning-rod, with Nottingham reel and light 

 silk line, dressed with stearine (as described in " By Hook 

 a,nd by Crook "), the best tackle for this purpose. The 

 angler, from bank or boat, should let the bait at an even 

 pace down to the fish ; and I find the best way to do 

 this is to remove the check from the reel, and to allow the 

 line to run off between the forefinger and thumb, while 

 the forefinger of the other hand applies to the reel what- 

 ever friction may be required. 



When a fish touches or takes the bait under these 

 conditions, it is best not to strike or check the line until 

 he has sailed away with a yard or two, for until he has 

 done so, it is most difficult to determine if he have it 

 between his jaws, and occasionally a fish will mess a prawn 

 about before he actually seizes it ; but when he carries off 

 a yard or two of line it may be assumed that he has the 

 bait between his jaws, and is carrying it down to his lair, 

 and then is the time to strike. When a fish runs off with 



