SALMON FISHING WITH THE FLY. 253 



ing his line, and the fish being quiet at the moment he was able 

 to pass the end through the rings of his rod, and attach it to 

 what was left on the reel. In a few minutes I had the pleasure 

 of gaffing the fish ; he was new run, and weighed 20 lbs. The 

 pool he was fishing was a quarter of a mile long, and very broad, 

 and it was a hundred to one against his recovering the line. 

 On looking round after I had gaffed the fish I missed my 

 attendant, left in charge of my rod, who did not appear on the 

 scene until some time after the fun was over. The fact was he 

 had taken advantage of my back being turned to go into the 

 hut, which was close by, to eat my friend's attendant's share of 

 a very good lunch we had brought with us for an expected 

 visitor. He managed, however, to pick up a very good version 

 of the story, for shortly after we heard all over the garrison of 

 Fermoy how he had been the instigator and prime mover of the 

 whole thing from beginning to end, including the gaffing of 

 the fish. 



There are stories of monsters that inhabit the deep holes in 

 the Blackwater, and the following may be amusing : 



About twelve years ago a man of the name of Maurice 

 Hallahan was trailing a bait out of a boat at a place called 

 Hallahan's Rock, between Clondulane Weir and Fermoy, where 

 the depth of the hole is supposed to be at least forty feet He 

 hooked a big fish, and having no one to help him put down the 

 oars and held on to the rod, the fish dragging the boat and 

 man after him down as far as Ballydoroon stream, up again 

 past the Rock as far as Mount Rivers, and back again to the 

 Rock, where after sulking for hours he took up the Puncheon 

 River hard by, when, getting into shallow water, Hallahan put 

 the gaff in him, but the fish was so heavy he could not get him 

 into the boat, and was obliged to let go. The fish in his 

 struggles broke the line, and made a bolt down the Puncheon 

 again to Hallahan's Rock, and was seen no more that year. The 

 year after a gallant Major quartered at Permoy was fishing the 

 same hole and hooked a big fish, which was gaffed after a 

 long play — Hallahan's gaff still in him, with enough wattling 



