io6 



keep up the strain, and finally uses the gaff. 



In case the fish cannot be followed to a shallow place, it is better, 

 precarious though it be, to submit to the only time-saving alternative, 

 namely, to hold firmly on and chance the tackle bearing the strain. 



To show, however, what can be done by the safer method, 

 perhaps one's own experiences should be recalled. 



Fishing on one occasion at Carlogie, I steered a salmon of 1 8 lbs. 

 a distance of five hundred yards or more before reaching a place of 

 safety. The fish, hooked behind a boulder fifty yards above " Jock 

 Ray," was gaffed at the very bottom of " Clay Pots." The formation 

 of the river and the run of the water simplified matters, and yet it was 

 necessary to let the fish sail through the " Calm Pool " at least sixty 

 yards ahead of the rod. 



Upon another occasion, during a visit to the Usk — a river which, 

 in my opinion, is exceedingly well preserved — a row of high bushes 

 necessitated a longer line than that. The fish sailed from " Weaver's 

 Pool," all the way down to the shallow water just above " Church 

 Meadow." It weighed 24 lbs., and was hooked late in the afternoon 

 of the last day of the season 1881. 



