52 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



and made the acquaintance of a kelt. The 

 next year I did well, with an average of three 

 fish every two days, and for some extraordinary 

 reason I hooked two-thirds of them outside 

 the mouth why, I don't know ; possibly 

 because of trout-fishing methods, but it has 

 always been a puzzle to me. My salmon- 

 fishing experiences have been few and far 

 between, and I always thought that part of 

 the game was a tremendous sprint for a mile 

 or more, with the constant danger of a break ; 

 but in that river I have only known one fish 

 leave the pool he was hooked in, and that one 

 was a seven-pounder, foul-hooked, that took me 

 for a welcome sprint over heather, down-stream, 

 for about two hundred yards, on a very cold day. 

 One other fish made a sudden fast rush, up- 

 stream, the instant he was hooked, and he played 

 fiercely for some time. He weighed 18 Ib. and 

 was pronounced by experts to be a bull-trout. 

 To my mind the horrible " jigging " in which 

 some salmon indulge provides the most thrilling 

 experience in playing them ; it brings your 

 heart into your mouth : it feels as if they 

 were rubbing the gut against a rock or some- 

 thing, to wear it out. 



But to get back to the strath on that first 

 day of a holiday in March, with every sense 



