70 CHATS ON ANGLING. 



applied or licence given ; see how long it takes him to land the 8 lb. or 

 10 lb. fish; count the number of times that he has to thank a beneficent 

 providence that he has not lost him ; and if, after so doing, you still 

 incline to your statement that there is nothing in landing a fish, that 

 the whole pleasurable excitement is concentrated in hooking him, then 

 I can only reply that I don't agree. The contest between the hooked 

 salmon and the fisherman is no uneven one — witness the number of 

 hooked fish that escape — and it is one that is still capable of giving 

 a thrill of real excitement to those who really love angling. 



A salmon hooked from a boat in a large loch is, of course, a 

 different matter ; here the odds are so largely in favour of the rod 

 holder as to unduly diminish the chances of escape to the fish. Such 

 salmon fishing is outside the scope of our present argument, and falls 

 into a totally different category. With river-bank fishing, and it is 

 with that that we are dealing, it would be a bold fisherman indeed 

 that would count a fish hooked as a fish landed, and a half-hearted 

 angler that would be content to hand over to the gillie the cream of 

 the contest between the fish and the man. 



Apropos of this nervous excitement, in October, 1900, I formed one 

 of a shooting party on Don side. The river Don ran within half a 

 mile from the house, forming as perfect a series of natural pools as 

 the heart of man could desire. My mouth watered when I saw it, and I 

 longed to wet a line in it. I found, however, that my host not only loathed 

 fishing, but was absolutely devoted to bridge. We had but short days 

 out shooting, everyone rushing back to the lodge to get a rubber or 

 two before dinner. Professing ignorance of bridge, I begged my host 

 to let me try the river, as, having been lately fishing on the Dee, I 

 had my rods and waders with me. With a pitying smile he told me 

 that I could, of course, amuse myself as I thought best. With no 

 loss of time I made my way down to the river side, and found it in 

 grand ply. I was fully aware that the particular part of the Don that 

 we were on was not popularly supposed to contain many fish at that 

 time of the year, but it was well worth a trial, and I knew that a 

 ship laden with lime had lately been sunk at the mouth of the Dee, 

 and I fancied and hoped that some of the autumn fish might be finding 

 their way into and up the Don. The pools were so perfect in shape 



