DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 179 



This is one of the many questions incidental to 

 this sport that cannot be answered other than by 

 an inference from what has happened. Captain 

 Hargreaves was the last who put this question to 

 me. He had during the day caught three splendid 

 fish, all over twenty pounds, and he got them so 

 quickly and so early in the day that there was time 

 to catch a dozen more. The answer I gave him 

 was : "In the first place, Captain, three fish are 

 not very frequently caught in a day. The average 

 is about three per week half-a-fish per day and 

 those who get one a day are very lucky if they are 

 fishing many days. When you get two it is a grand 

 day, and when three there are no words for it or 

 too many. The fourth fish is a miracle that has 

 only happened twice, and to get beyond four would 

 be a miracle that has not happened yet." 



My son's great hopes resulted in four fish in the 

 six days that business permitted him to stay, so 

 very probably during that time his ideas of fishing 

 for salmon varied much. The capture of two 

 strong kelts that so nearly resembled clean fish 

 while in action as to deceive old John, his gillie, 

 who, though eighty years of age and with in- 

 different sight, can generally say when a kelt is 

 being played : " I am fearful it's no a clane fush, 

 sir," lowered his hope a bit, and the two blank days 

 which followed removed any question as to his 

 captures exceeding the number of his friends who 

 would accept a January Tay salmon. 



