DANGERS IN THE CHANNEL 241 



paving stone, or you were punching a whole flight of spinning 

 tackle into a bony old pike, with a mouth like a quartz-crush- 

 ing machine. But we will effect a compromise, and there- 

 fore you should do what they say and I have described, and 

 which they call " letting him hook himself," but I call " strik- 

 ing." To hit a salmon violently as you would a pike, is in 

 some respects certainly not advisable, as you may force him 

 into his most violent and dangerous action when he is best 

 prepared for it, and when possibly the ground is not the most 

 suitable ; whereas, by a gentler mode, not calculated to 

 alarm quite so forcibly, the sharp edge of the steel may often 

 be taken out of him, and you may negotiate your exchanges 

 upon terms of more equality, in case the hooking place is 

 broken water, dangerous with sunken rocks or other obstruc- 

 tions, as it sometimes is. 



One of the most important points for the angler to master 

 is a knowledge of the hidden dangers, the under-water rocks, 

 etc., with which he will have to contend. A person who 

 possesses this knowledge has, of course, a great advantage 

 in playing his fish over another who has it not. Usually you 

 depend on your attendant to tell you, and warn you of all 

 such dangers. I recollect an absurd but vexatious incident 

 happening to a friend once on the river Wye, near Builth, for 

 the lack of such knowledge. The river was very low, and ran 

 within a narrow but very abrupt rocky channel, a mere broad 

 groove, as it were, in the centre of its natural bed. At the 

 tail of some white water, my friend hooked a good fish, which 

 immediately dashed up into the white water, and came down 

 again close alongside of the near side wall of the channel, 

 which was very abrupt there. Presently my friend observed 

 the salmon, which was still pulling hard, struggling just under 

 his feet, whereas the line was pointing, if anything, rather 

 up-stream ; before he could do anything his line was cut, 

 and the fish away with his cast and some six or eight yards of 

 line. On going to the spot towards which the line had pointed, 

 he found a large stone under water, reclining against the near 

 wall of the channel, but leaving a nice little triangular hole 

 below, of which the stone formed the hypotenuse ; through 

 this the salmon had popped on his down-course, threading 

 the eye of the needle with my friend's line in the most dexterous 

 manner. Of ..course a little knowledge here would have saved 

 everything and captured the fish. 



