1 6 Salmon Fishing. 



how far short they fell of their own estimate. 

 " I could get out five and twenty yards of line," 

 said a young fellow to me one day, who was 

 over six feet in height, and had a powerful 

 frame besides. " Yes" I replied, " you may get 

 them out, but when and where ? In the teeth 

 of the wind ? Or under circumstances that 

 were not all in your favour ? If so, I should 

 very much like to witness the wondrous exhi- 

 bition." I am speaking, of course, of the 

 ordinary method of throwing a line, and not of 

 the under-cast, by which an adept can, with ap- 

 parent ease, send his fly to an enormous distance. 

 There is nothing, I believe, more trying to 

 the temper, than to find yourself by the side of 

 a good river, and suddenly brought to a stand- 

 still by the fracture of your rod. When I first 

 began, not seldom did I have to undergo this 

 trial. I had then a most unenviable knack of 

 smashing the top joint just above the brass 

 counterfoil. Generally without an attendant, 

 when the fish I had hooked was well-nigh spent, 



