158 The American Salmon-fisherman. 



without protracted effort that he finally forces us to be- 

 lieve that that was the fish we are fast to. It is so very 

 far off, and in so different a direction from that indicated 

 by the bending rod and the running line, that it seems im- 

 possible that it can be so, though so it is. 



So the canoe drops down with the swift current, halting 

 at times as the fish becomes very obstreperous, and then 

 resuming its course. And the salmon follows, sometimes 

 freely, sometimes reluctantly, and sometimes in absolute 

 rebellion compelling us to let him have his own way for 

 a time. 



We near a landing-place. The canoe is brought to the 

 bank, and we take to the shore with every precaution that 

 the pressure is not slackened upon the line for an instant, 

 and that the foot makes no slip on the smooth stones. 



The fish now exhibits symptoms of discouragement, 

 and gradually yields until he is not forty feet from the 

 bank. But there he draws the line, and not another foot 

 will he yield. Were he changed to one of the rocks im- 

 bedded in the bottom of the stream he could not seem 

 more immovable. It is a case of the " sulks." 



The rod, which heretofore has been kept in an approxi- 

 mately perpendicular plane, is now held almost horizon- 

 tally that the strain may as far as possible coincide with 

 the direction in which we wish to move the fish. The 

 bend of the rod, however, and the tension it imparts to 

 the line remain unchanged. We walk down below him 

 fifteen or twenty feet. This disturbs his equilibrium. 

 He turns his head toward the strain for a moment's res- 

 pite, and instantly the implacable current sets him down 

 and inshore. As we feel him yield we walk back from 

 the water, thus keeping up the tension. He struggles and 



