82 Salmon Fishing. 



to his weight. Without running out much line, 

 he tried to free himself at first from durance vile 

 by throwing himself three times out of the 

 water ; and then he fairly took, I was going to 

 say, to his heels, down the stream, till he came 

 to a large rocky projection, by the side of which 

 he paused for a moment or two, and then turned, 

 and came back again to his old quarters. A 

 fresh-run fish like this may fight in a frantic way 

 for a season, but if you press on him hard with 

 as short and tight a line as possible, he will be 

 sure to give in, far sooner, in my experience, 

 than a well-rnended kelt (so called). Though I 

 had soon tamed the fish in question, being alone, 

 and no sand or gravel near to coax him on, very 

 fortunately a friend came up in the nick of time, 

 and gaffed him for me. He turned out to be a 

 grilse rather over eleven pounds ; the largest 

 two-year-old fish I had ever killed, or indeed 

 seen. 



Being naturally rather incredulous, it was some 

 time before I could bring myself to believe that 



