

»•»■' 



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Voss and the Evanger River. 217 



tactics always to be dreaded here, i.e. making down 

 stream for the rapid. 



" I was now standing at the extreme end of the 

 platform, with fifty yards of line out and a big fish 

 pulling his hardest at the end of it, assisted by a heavy 

 stream. 



"It was a case of 'pull, devil; pull, baker,' and as I 

 was speculating which portion of my tackle would give 

 way first, to my delight the fish gave a bit, and hauling 

 hard, step by step, I regained the top of the platform, 

 and reeled the fish up to close quarters. It was im- 

 possible to net the fish (I am using a net this year 

 in place of a gaff) from the stage, so I again took 

 to the land above, and got him a good way up, when, 

 to my disgust, down he ran, giving me all to do over 

 again. . > , 



" Three times I held him with all my strength at that 

 rapid neck, and got him fairly spun out, then hauled 

 him up by sheer force to the top of the stage, and by 

 getting into the water over my knees contrived to bring 

 him alongside a sloping, grassy bank where the landing- 

 net claimed him for its own. 



" He was indeed a fine cock fish in prime condition, 



and scaled 36 lbs., and took three-quarters of an hour 



to kill. 



" The dry boarding of the stage and the weight of the 



2f 



ji,\ 



