With Gun Rod in Canada 



with ice, the reel sometimes entirely frozen up, and the 

 fisherman feels as though he were also. 



A direct-acting, very strong reel is used, capable of 

 holding at least one hundred and fifty yards of heavy 

 line; six or eight feet of stout, twisted gut leader, swing- 

 ing a fly two inches long, is the accepted outfit. The fly 

 is home-made and is decorated with a pheasant wing, a 

 little touch of jungle cock, and a silver or gold body. 

 A three-foot gaff with a three-inch hook completes the 

 apparatus. 



When fishing, the fly is cast and allowed to sink from 

 one to two feet under water. It is then swept with slow, 

 j erking motions through the likely pools or eddies. When 

 a fish strikes he is allowed to have the fly a second or two 

 before the hook is set. The salmon do not come up the 

 river in large numbers until the ice is entirely out of the 

 channels. The winter fish make their way but slowly 

 upstream, often lying for several days in the same pool or 

 eddy and some feet under water. Just after rain, or a 

 warm, bright day, they will move a little way upstream 

 and " hole up " again. 



If the fishing is done in extremely frosty weather a 

 short line is used, as too much wet line freezes upon the 

 reel, with the consequent loss of a fish in case of a strike. 



If the river is open, fishing is done from boats or 

 canoes. This is colder work than fishing from the edge 

 of the ice, but gives a fisherman a chance to follow a 

 " bad " one and gaff it. The boats are handled in the 

 swift current with a long pike-pole and kellick, or anchor. 

 The anchor rope passes through a pulley, or hole, in the 

 stem of the boat, and thence aft to a cleet on a rear 

 thwart, near which the fisherman stands or kneels to cast. 



When a salmon strikes, it is usually a short, hard battle. 

 The native fishermen do not believe that it is policy to 

 torture or run the risk of losing a valuable fish by long- 



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