ioo Recreations of a Sportsman 



man or guide to the effect that about a mile 

 above only a few years before a clergyman, a man 

 of veracity even in matters pertaining to fishing, 

 hooked a large salmon when standing, waist- 

 deep, in the Rogue. The fish made a rush down- 

 stream, forcing the angler to follow, and after 

 a desperate struggle, carried him to a point 

 where the river entered a narrow defile between 

 two rocks, running down a sluice-way, a mini- 

 ature canon. The fish on reaching this rapid 

 took line so rapidly that the angler saw it was 

 impossible to hold it. He had a few seconds in 

 which to decide, and when the last coil of line 

 was reached, he struck out and swam after the 

 salmon. He shot down through the canon, came 

 out into the shallows a quarter of a mile below, 

 where he gained forty or fifty feet, but was then 

 forced into deep water again to save the fish, 

 which seemed determined to reach the lower 

 river, and the plucky clergyman swam on until 

 he stranded on a shoal and then ran the big 

 fish into shallow water, where it proved to be 

 one of the largest salmon ever taken in the river. 

 This story is told to the newcomer on the Rogue, 

 and the appearance of big salmon rushing 

 through and over the rapids of every rift and 

 riffle lends color to the possibility of the tale. 



I walked up to the head of the narrows and, 

 wading out, cast about thirty feet, and as the 

 swift current took the bait, followed it down 



