158 GUT SUBSTITUTES 



and then bir-r-r-r ! away he went, and in a jiffy was 

 into the rapid below. There was no possibility of 

 following him down ; further and further he went, 

 leaping twice among the tumbling waves. I gave up 

 all hope of seeing that fish again, for it seemed out of 

 the question that any tackle could stand the combined 

 weight of the salmon and the stream. However, the 

 fisherman kept his nerve, keeping a perfectly steady 

 strain on rod and line, and letting the latter pay out as 

 slowly as possible. I could hardly believe my eyes 

 when the fish, which must have been nearly one 

 hundred yards down the torrent, turned and ploughed 

 its way slowly back into the pool ; where a few minutes 

 later, I had the satisfaction of putting the gaff into a 

 pretty twenty- pounder. So much for the gut substi- 

 tute. I am convinced that no cast made up of knotted 

 lengths of single gut, however good and sound, could 

 have withstood the violent strain brought to bear on it 

 in that wild water. 



Candour constrains me to add that, not only 

 did I land no fish on that day, but had my eye 

 wiped thrice. I have described how my host accom- 

 plished that in the Strone pool. His brother killed a 

 small fish in the place where I had raised one in the 

 morning, and another of 13 Ib. in the long stream which 

 I had fished without a rise. 



