320 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



the fish down carefully, saving every bit of line so as to be ready 

 for any sudden rushes. Well, it was a great fight, my small 

 rod and the big fish, for he made several dashes back into 

 the heavy water, after having been coaxed into the nearer 

 shallows, but my prayer that everything would hold was 

 answered, and at last the gallant fish had to give in, and 

 to my intense relief was cleverly gaffed and brought on to 

 dry land, where he scaled 27Jlbs ! That was indeed a triumph ; 

 to " meet" a salmon at all in that pool was a rare occurrence, 

 and I don't know who was prouder that day, the ghillie or I. 

 He carried home the fish in his arms like a baby, and no doubt 

 told the story of its capture to all the haymakers on the way, 

 while I in one half-hour had landed a fish, it was my only one, 

 heavier than any got on that river during the season, and 

 on a rod intended for grilse only. 



We left Norway soon afterwards ; sea-trout even became 

 scarcer and smaller, and beautifully less, and we travelled home 

 in a ship full of fishermen, thoroughly disappointed after the 

 worst season on record. 



Apropos of a fish pulling hard, I extract the following from 

 Frank Buckland's " Curiosities of Natural History." In order 

 to judge the pull of a salmon when suddenly frightened, 

 Buckland, having harnessed a " big" fish, got into a tank with 

 him ; then he attached one end of a steelyard to the traces and 

 the other to his own waist. The fish, when touched with a twig, 

 pulled in the subsequent rush 23 Ibs. the first time, 20 Ibs. the 

 second, and 15 Ibs. the third. A 9 Ibs. salmon weighed but 

 in the water (river). 



