A SPRING SALMON. 135 



most other cases I prefer the obtuse angle. As to the 

 argument, " lis avoient raison tous deux." 



In hooking a rising fish, it is best to strike a little 

 sideways, that the hook may fasten in the fleshy part 

 of the mouth ; whereas, if you pull straight up, you 

 are apt to encounter the upper or bony part ; or if the 

 fish has not closed his jaws, and fairly turned off, you 

 may pull the fly away from him too soon, to the dis- 

 appointment of both parties. As a proof of this, if it 

 does not appear sufficiently obvious, I appeal to any 

 one, who has tried it, to say whether or not it is an 

 easy matter to hook a rising fish, the experimentalist 

 being stationed on a high bridge. 



Sometimes, however, when a salmon is clean run, 

 and in high glee, you can scarcely miss him, strike 

 which way you will. 



I remember fishing at the Troughs, under the aus- 

 pices of Rob Kerse, early in the spring, before a clean 

 fish had been caught there that season. I stood over 

 one of those gorges where an immense volume of water, 

 pent up in a narrow passage, rolls furiously between 

 its rocky barriers. Here I fixed myself for a few casts 

 — the rocks being of such a nature that I could not go 

 lower down the river either in a boat or by wading. 

 This cast is called the Clippers, and is in Mackerston- 

 water. 



Here, with a line not given out above my rod's length, 

 I hooked a clean salmon that rose close under me. I 

 struck him as he was at the surface of the water : as soon 

 as he felt the hook, he endeavoured to dig downwards. 

 I gave him the butt of my rod, and he bent the whole of 



K 4 



