42 Where to Fish for Salmon. 



" Was baited with- a dragon's tail, 



Who sat upon a rock and bobbed for whale." 



but to us it sounds like coarse fishing, and so it is. 

 Yet the Salmon is a noble fellow, and when hooked 

 affords noble sport, and what is more, the tackle, 

 when comparatively fine, will raise, and with skill 

 likewise land, more fish than rougher materials. 

 With the strongest tackle we do not haul out at 

 once even an eight or ten-pound salmon. Our 

 material cannot break, it is true, but how are we to 

 ensure the hold which the hook may have taken in 

 the fish's mouth ? Cleopatra's diver, who stuck the 

 salted fish on Antony's innocent hook, might feel 

 quite secure ; but we, who are satisfied to skim the 

 surface, to rank among the superficials, to sport o'er 

 the glad waters like any other ephemeral, must 

 take our chance. Where, then, is the advantage of 

 such coarse stuff? Fish are killed with it, I know, 

 " and fish are frightened with it, too." 



Salmon should be fished for with salmon tackle, 

 or what is usually termed such, but not with trout 

 tackle, as some do who pride themselves with fine 

 casting lines and small trout flies. They do a vast 

 deal of harm to their brother anglers. They hook 

 and lose many fish by their mode of proceeding, 

 thus preventing them rising again for some time. 



There is, however, one important maxim to re- 

 member, wherever you may be fishing, you never 



