SPORTING SKETCHES. 253 



returned to our homes that night with all the fish we wanted, 

 our faces and hands well burnt by old Sol, a little tired, perhaps, 

 but satisfied and thankful for a day's outing such as only "jolly 

 anglers " know how to enjoy. 



MY FIRST SALflON. 



BY D. D. 



(The ivoodcut is from a photograph by the late 

 Spencer T. Ram,say, Esq.} 



Reader, did you ever see a Canadian salmon stream? I shall 

 never forget my first sight of one such water, rushing along in 

 its purity over stones, clean and smooth. No weeds, always 

 cold and bright, hiding nothing, too cold for the fishermen to 

 bathe in with impunity, but for the salmon a very paradise. 

 Pool after pool becomes the resting place of the fish as they 

 ascend the river, moving up quietly to the spawning grounds, 

 sometimes leaping as only salmon can leap over waterfalls that 

 a novice would think they could never pass. The graceful curve 

 of a salmon's body as he leaps in the summery air is almost 

 beyond description. Standing in your canoe, anchored at the 

 head of some favorite pool, your two guides having dropped 

 their iron-shod poles with which they have worked so hard in 

 bringing you up the stream, you examine your well-chosen 

 flv. Your fine cast of salmon gut is well soaked and ready for 

 the battle you hope to fight. Your line, a 100 yards or more of 

 best quality, has been well chosen and placed carefully on your 

 favorite reel by your own hands. Now, you commence with a 

 short cast, then a little longer and now with a nice easy motion 

 of your right, your fly drops just above where you saw that forty 

 pounder rise last evening. You are just thinking you have 

 selected the wrong fly when a message ascends your line telling 

 you that "Jock Scott" has proved too enticing, and the next 

 moment some distance above you a fish shows himself, a magni- 

 ficent leap. Down goes the tip of your rod and across the pool 

 goes the fish with such a rush, then another leap and down in 

 the deep water, almost under your long canoe, there he lies 

 sulking. You give him a strong lifting strain, just about as 



