SECRETS OF THE SALMON 



looked the place over and made up my mind that 

 I could not keep them out of the sluice if they 

 wanted to go there, so that the only thing to do 

 was to make them run into the lake where I could 

 play them easily. Knowing that a salmon always 

 fights away from the pull of the leader I stood on 

 the dam and cast into the lake just above the 

 sluice about twenty or thirty feet. As the fly 

 came toward the sluice the salmon would rise and 

 as I saw him come I threw a loose line into the 

 rapid sluice. The pull of this line made the salmon 

 rush out into the lake where I could fight him 

 easily and keep him away from the sluice. I took 

 seven fish in succession in this way and did not 

 lose a single salmon on the sluice. 



Another instance of the same trick happened 

 when my son took his first fish. It was on the 

 Indian River at the tail of a rocky pool above some 

 rough rapids. We were obliged to cast from a 

 cliff about ten feet above the stream and could 

 not move from our position without dangerous 

 climbing. We could see a dozen or so salmon be- 

 low us at the tail of the pool. Ashley cast out and 

 soon hooked a ten-pound fish which ran up into 

 the pool and was easily gaffed. He remarked that 

 he did not think much of salmon as game fish; 



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