56 OBSERVATIONS ON A SALMON RIVER 



batics by lowering the tip of the rod. The 

 weight of the sunken line will keep the fish 

 down. 



The time-worn theory that an angler must 

 lower the tip of his rod whenever a salmon 

 jumps seems strange to me, yet it is the 

 general belief that a fish jumps for the pur- 

 pose of breaking the cast by falling on it or 

 by striking it with his tail. 



A salmon seldom gives notice that he is 

 about to jump, so that when he leaves the 

 water he is back in the stream again before 

 you can possibly give him the fancied slack 

 that is supposed to be necessary, especially 

 as in most cases the current intervenes and 

 takes the slack before it reaches the fish. 

 Unless the fish is on a very short line I 

 cannot see how lowering the rod can have 

 any beneficial result. 



