WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 55 



not, you can only force back your canoe against the impetu- 

 ous current to where your fish is sulking by the most her- 

 culean efforts. When that point is reached and you find 

 your line happily free, you can only hope that he will 

 start; and when he does start under such circumstances it is 

 almost invariably down stream, with a rush, and you after 

 him under such a pressure of excitement as renders you 

 equally indifferent to danger and unconscious of fatigue. 

 When the foot of the rapids is reached the fight is renewed, 

 but you are master of the situation if you have shown ordi- 

 nary skill thus far, and it is only a question of time if you 

 are well hooked when the gaff will be called into requisi- 

 tion. 



When you are casting from the shore and you are obliged 

 to follow your fish on foot through even shallow rapids, 

 you need to have all your wits about you, and to bring out 

 all the highest skill there is in you; first, to preserve your 

 footing upon the slippery rocks over which you must pass, 

 and secondly, to take care that your fish does not run faster 

 than you do yourself, and so get out more of your line than 

 you wish him to have. In this sort of fishing you have one 

 advantage over the canoe, you need not move faster than 

 your fish, and if he chooses to take a rest midway of the 

 rapid, so can you. But it is an unpleasant time for a fish to 

 sulk when you are waist-deep in the water awaiting his 

 pleasure. I have more than once stood thus an half hour at 

 a time, finding it impossible, by any skill at my command, 

 to start the stubborn brute. Once I was dragged to the foot 

 of a rapid which terminated in a deep hole, through which 

 there was no way of passing but by a plunge and a swim. 

 Of course, no one in such a contest would give up beat 

 when a cold bath gave promise of victory. The provoca- 

 tion in this particular case was that immediately after the 

 gamy fellow had compelled me to take this plunge he sur- 

 rendered coming up to the gaff so soon as I could reach a 

 footing and give him the butt. 



But these rapids tussles are glorious when the fish makes 

 a straight wake for the easily flowing water below them. It 



