102 Recreations of a Sportsman 



to the barcarole of the reel took feet and yards, 

 took them at a pace that was irresistible, and 

 when I did stop it, after much wading and 

 stumbling to keep the pace, it sprang into the 

 air in a leap that for the size of the fish seemed 

 the most extraordinary feat I had ever seen, 

 though I was familiar with the aerial play of 

 black bass, seven-pounders, and tarpon. 



There was nothing particularly graceful in the 

 leap; it was tarpon-like; a frenzied rush into the 

 air, a convulsive spring for freedom, to fall and 

 bound again and again. I am not going to even 

 guess at the distance covered, but an angler told 

 me he had seen a twenty-pound salmon trout 

 leap ten feet into the air in the Santa Inez, and 

 I can believe it. 



At every prodigious leap I fully expected to 

 see the delicate line break or the hook come fly- 

 ing at me, for there was method in the madness 

 of the fish and only by the very best of luck did 

 I save it, following down to the foot of the run 

 where it reached smooth water and gave me a 

 marvellous exhibition of its strength and power; 

 rushing from side to side with great swirls, dash- 

 ing along the surface, to plunge to the bottom 

 and come up quivering into the air a splendid 

 and exhilarating spectacle. 



Time and again it tested my tackle and caught 

 me unawares, but some of the saints to whom 

 good anglers burn candles St. Sebastian of the 



