

74 CHATS ON ANGLING. 



of the rod and line. It has several times happened to me personally, 

 and on two occasions that I can call to mind I was within an ace of 

 being able to gaff the free fish when bringing the exhausted and hooked 

 fish past me for the gaffing process. I feel confident that, had I not 

 been too much engaged in seeing that my hooked fish did not get free 

 through any unintentional slackening of my line at that most critical 

 moment, I could have done so successfully, so assiduous was the 

 (apparently) hen fish in attendance upon the fish at the end of my line. 

 Is this a mere matter of curiosity on his or her part, or may it be 

 attributed to a feeling of camaraderie or friendship? I think no one 

 can seriously contend for the latter hypothesis, as instances of affection 

 between such cold-blooded animals as fish have never to my knowledge 

 been even suggested. We must therefore, I take it, assume that it 

 is mere curiosity, a desire to see why the hooked fish is acting so 

 capriciously ; and, if this be so, has it not a tendency to modify somewhat 

 our views as to the necessity of resting pools after a fish has disturbed 

 them by his being played ? The following fish will, of course, have 

 been taken out of the place where it would probably rise at a fly, and, 

 therefore, out of any danger for the time being ; but travelling fish 

 are not infrequently hooked and landed. 



My observations of salmon, such as they have been, have rather 

 tended to inspire me with the belief that salmon, when resting in a 

 pool, take little or no notice of what is going on round them. They 

 will move just so far aside as to let a rampant fish pass them, gliding 

 back into their former position the moment he has passed. How often, 

 when fish are really " on the job," have fishermen caught their four, 

 five, or even more fish out of one pool of very moderate dimensions, 

 every square yard of which must have been disturbed by the vagaries 

 of those caught before them ? It seems to me that we are all inclined 

 to be a bit too cautious and careful in this respect. When the water 

 is in order, then I should be inclined to say, seize the happy moment, 

 often short-lived enough, and don't waste time in going to other pools 

 as long as you have any reason to suppose that the fish are " up," and 

 that there are other occupants of the pool that you are fishing that 

 may be grassed. 



Somehow or other, if a fish be lightly hooked the information is 



