SALMON- ANGLING. 333 



pected, may not be true. The surprise impresses it more on 

 the memory, when failure would scarcely have been disap- 

 pointment. In the present case, when a salmon sucked down 

 my fly at the eddy formed by the rock in the middle of this 

 pool, and the web of his tail proved him no minnow, iny 

 satisfaction was somewhat damped to feel the very slight bond 

 that united us. The narrow stream stopped all risk of the 

 trouting-reel being run out ; but, though clear as silver, and 

 fresh from the sea, the fish never attempted it. For two 

 hours he only scraped the bottom or sulked, and when per- 

 suaded out of one deep linn, he floated down to its neighbour 

 below, only to repeat the weary round of every stock and 

 stone against which he could rub my chafing line. Twice, 

 when tumbling over shallows, I could easily have clipped him, 

 but had no gaff. At last, without a struggle on the fish's 

 part, or a strain on mine, the worn and ragged casting-line 

 parted in two, and the little rod straightened in my hand. 

 His weight was evidently from sixteen to twenty pounds. 



When a boy, trolling Loch Lomond for yellow trout, I 

 hooked a large clean salmon with materials as slender. He 

 quietly followed my lead when I wound him up to the very 

 stern of the boat, wondering what kind of accommodating 

 creature I had got hold of. Under my very rod's point there 

 was a sullen plunge on the top of the water, and that was all 

 I saw of the first salmon I ever hooked. The practical lesson 

 was worth far more than the fish namely, never to come to 

 such close quarters, at first, with so formidable a customer, 

 especially when he seems much inclined to humour you : you 

 are sure to have the worst of it. 



In some of our northern rivers, such as the Ness, the under- 

 handed up-stream throw is much in use. But the whole style 

 of fishing is so ungainly and unsportsmanlike, that few gentle- 

 men would willingly adopt it. The one great advantage con- 

 sists in being able to fish water thoroughly hemmed in by 



