132 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



You thus prevent the strain and snap which must 

 otherwise ensue. This movement of the rod at the 

 right instant, under such circumstances, is the 

 most difficult lesson to learn in the whole art of 

 angling. No incident in the sport is more excit- 

 ing than these salmon leaps. If you do not then 

 preserve your wits you will most certainly lose 

 your salmon. The lesson I learned in maple pool 

 (of which anon) in this direction, was a lesson 

 which I had to learn sooner or later ; but the 

 recollection of it will be a grief forever. 



What the long-roll is to the soldier the reel- 

 click is to the angler. It is the call to battle and 

 stirs the blood like the sound of a trumpet. 



No salmon ever takes the hook when alarmed. 

 He may come to it with a rush, but with his mo- 

 tion so exactly graduated as to have but little mo- 

 mentum after the lure is reached like a jumper 

 making for the goal. The result is that on the 

 very instant of striking the reel seldom gives out 

 more than a click or two, unless the angler strikes 

 simultaneously which most anglers do ; whether 

 wisely or not, is a problem yet unsolved by the 

 masters of the art. The moment, however, the 

 fish feels the sting of the hook he shoots off with 

 a rush, causing, by his rapid movement, that whiz 

 and whir-r which, to the angler, is the most thrill- 

 ing music that ever falls upon his ear. The delib- 



