1 8 GAFF. 



but, when carried by the fisherman, two feet may 

 be quite long enough. It should be stuck by 

 means of a flat piece of metal into a belt ; and 

 Mr Armstrong, of Oxford Street, has invented, or 

 at any rate sells, a hinge fitted with a screw at 

 each end, which enables the net to hang doubled 

 up out of the fisherman's way, and is fixed with- 

 out difficulty in its proper position by a spring- 

 catch. The invention, whoever may claim it, is 

 an admirable one. 



For salmon, the net cannot, in reason or out, 

 be too long, or too large, or too deep, or too strong, 

 so long as your attendant can readily use it. The 

 hoop should be iron, three feet across, the net 

 five feet deep, and of the strongest material, the 

 handle eight or nine feet in length. After the 

 capture of each fish the net should be thoroughly 

 washed ; there is a sort of slime, especially on the 

 autumn fish, which, if not removed, rots the net 

 very rapidly, and a salmon will go through a 

 rotten net like harlequin through a paper hoop. 



Gaff. The gaff should be made of well-tempered 

 steel, not too large or too small, about the size of 

 a small butchers-hook. There should be an elbow 

 or curve in the back, which gives a better hold. 

 A barbed gaff is an abomination, a poaching im- 

 plement, a sense of the enormous mischief per- 



