TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 91 



first-rate sport, more than once being literally unable to carry 

 home our spoils. I revisited the spot some years later, but 

 whether I had incautiously betrayed the whereabouts of our 

 'happy hunting grounds,' and they had been invaded by 

 tourists, or whether the trout thought they had done enough 

 for me on my first visit, I cannot say, but the fishing was indif- 

 ferent, not to say decidedly poor. 



FIG. I. 

 INCORRECT FORM OF GAFF. 



FIG. 2. 

 CORRECT FORM OF GAFF. 



But where am I wandering to ? I started at gaffing salmon, 

 and I find myself now describing the catching and eating of 

 half a dozen troutlings, whose united ounces would not have 

 outweighed a Devonshire peel. . . . Let me for the sake of 

 consistency finish where I began, and end this part of my notes 

 on Tackle with a few practical hints on the subject of Gaffs and 

 How to Gaff a Fish. To the novice, at any rate, they may 

 not be altogether useless. And first as to Gaffs : 



