DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 171 



to these troubles a lead had to be forced into the 

 body of the fish. Impatient of these difficulties I 

 tried to make something better, and the spinner 

 shown below is the result of my efforts. With it 

 the same sized head as the one cut off can be firmly 

 fixed, as the screw works round the spine, and, 

 what is more, the solid head gives the necessary 

 weight where it is needed most. 



THE EEL-TAIL SPINNER 



Spinning for salmon has seemed very easy to 

 some fishers, who, not having tried it, have given 

 expression to this thought of theirs by telling me 

 of their experiences with , fly-rods, and adding : 

 " So, of course, I should soon be at home with a 

 rod like yours casting a minnow across the stream 

 and drawing it back until a tug is felt." It is some- 

 times a little saddening to see an acknowledged 

 expert with the fly fall a victim to his desire to 

 show that this acccomplishment of his enables him 

 to speak authoritatively on, and act proficiently in, 

 what he is pleased to assume the inferior art of 

 casting a minnow. 



Lending my rod to novices to make a cast or 

 two was the surest way to vex my gillie Mac into 

 fearful Gaelic until the day on which I told him the 

 tale of the sheep-stealer who, in a dark shed, got 

 hold of a bear instead of a sheep, and, in answer 

 to his impatiently-waiting comrade, who asked : 



