7 6 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



his side. One fish gaffed by the side is better than 

 a dozen missed by trying for his gills. Get him by 

 the gills, if you can, but get him however. Down 

 on your knees as you draw him to the bank, and 

 quickly, quietly, and firmly fix the hook of the gaff 

 in him, and out with him, as a fisherman from 

 Robin Hood's Bay hauls a cod from the hold of 

 a five-man boat. Kill him directly with a few 

 smart blows on the head, with a life-preserver, if 

 you have one in your pocket ; if not, with any stick 

 or cobble-stone heavy enough ; slip through his 

 gills a cord, one end of which you "will fasten to 

 a bank-runner, or the stump of a tree, and throw 

 him into the water till you want him. He will eat 

 as firm again as he would do had you left him to 

 die on the shore by inches,- a dreadfully protracted 

 death to a salmon three feet long, or a human 

 being upwards of six feet high. 



SIMPSON. I never caught a salmon in my life, 

 though I have killed some trout which for size 

 might be considered such. I should, however, like 

 much to catch a few "brace" of salmon before I 

 hang tip my rod as a votive offering to ihe water 

 nymphs. But it seems you cannot depend on 

 catching salmon with the rod, however skilful, 

 though you should fish for a month, unless you 

 go to the west of Ireland, or the extreme north 

 of Scotland. Sir Humphrey Davy has said 

 "fuit" of salmon-fishing in the southern counties 

 of Scotland; and the "Angler in Ireland" declares 



