Outfit The Gaff. 75 



secure a hold on the slippery fish by which he can suffi- 

 ciently control its movements to drop the gaff and resort 

 to the club; the blood flies in every direction from the 

 wounds of the gaff, and generally there is what the vul- 

 gar might call " a regular circus." If it is a fair-sized 

 fish, say of twenty pounds or over, this performance will 

 last long after the angler wishes it were finished. It is a 

 brutal piece of business, and after it is done and peace 

 reigns once more, that end of the canoe looks like a 

 slaughter-house. 



If my humanity were a little greater or my cupidity a 

 little less, I would never permit a fish of any size to be 

 gaffed into a canoe. As it is, though I vow I never will, 

 still when the moment comes when resolve should pass 

 into action, since confession is good for the soul, I may 

 confess that I prove recreant to my vow. 



Not only is the proceeding more in keeping with a 

 Spanish bull -fight than the gentle spirit of angling, but 

 it is dangerous as well mainly dangerous in that unless 

 everything goes just right the fish will be lost, but still 

 somewhat dangerous in that during the struggle the canoe 

 may decline to be a party thereto, and discard its occu- 

 pants into the water. Salmon-streams are uncommonly 

 thin and wet, and he who plunges therein will find no 

 just cause to growl at his bath because it is overheated. 



The Mic-mac type of birch-bark canoe that used on 

 many salmon-streams is a three-man canoe, in which one 

 with a fair knack of balance can readily cast standing, as 

 indeed many do. But it is no place for a Greco-Roman 

 wrestling-match. 



It is quite aggravating to be spilled out of any form of 

 boat; but to so part company with a "birch," as it is 



