74 



THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



variety, I have found many moth-eaten and not fit 

 for use. An excellent fly -fisher of my acquaintance 

 generally carries his whole stock in the two pockets 

 of an old Scots' Almanack, with two or three links 

 of salmon-flies between the leaves. There is one 

 of the salmon-flies which he shows as a trophy. It 

 is rather a plain-looking one, with a yellowish- 

 brown coloured body, brown wings of a bittern's 

 feather, with a blood-red hackle for legs, and the 

 link of a pepper and salt mixture, formed of five 

 black and five white horse-hairs. With this fly he 

 killed, in one day, five salmon, the last of which 

 weighed twenty-five pounds, the largest that he 

 had ever taken with the fly. He landed this last 

 salmon after a severe contest of upwards of an 

 hour, during the whole of which the fish never 

 sulked, but kept continually dashing about the 

 pool where he was hooked, which was not more 

 than eighty yards long, and was too shallow at its 

 head to allow of his pushing up the stream ; and 

 the angler managed to keep his station towards 

 the foot, to prevent his escape downwards. There 

 is nothing like keeping a fish in constant exercise 

 for speedily killing him. I have seen many a good 

 fish lost by being trifled with holding him lightly 

 or allowing him more line than you can manage 

 when he contrives either to break the link or 

 entangle the line, and escape. I never allow a 

 salmon a slack line, and thus give him the benefit 

 of a run, when he is almost certain to carry all 



