AS A FISHING GILLIE 349 



back and pulls. The moment he does this he stands 

 erect, with the end of the gaff-handle pointing upwards, 

 and the fish hanging on the gaff hook. He then walks 

 quietly to a safe place, seizes the fish by the tail, takes 

 out the gaff, lays the fish on the ground, and gives it 

 three or four sharp knocks with his little baton ; ex- 

 tracts the fly, weighs the fish, carefully washes it, and 

 puts it away in the bag provided for the purpose. A 

 note of the weight is then recorded in his book. The 

 whole of this procedure should not take more than three 

 minutes, at the end of which time the angler is again 

 ready to begin. 



He fishes down the pool, sees nothing more ; walks 

 on to the next pool, and is directed in the same way as 

 at the last. This pool is fished down without a rise, 

 and the gillie begins to think the fly is either too large 

 or too small, or is not of the right kind ; and advises 

 that a more sombre-coloured fly two sizes smaller should 

 be put on and the pool fished over again. This is done, 

 with the result that other two spring fish are added to 

 the bag. The angler by this time sees that the gillie 

 understands his work, and is accordingly willing to place 

 every confidence in him. The two become friends, and 

 the fishing turns out a success, being a source of pleasure 

 to the angler, and of profit to the gillie. 



When the fishing is over the rod is taken down, 

 everything is carefully packed up and taken home. 

 The gillie unwinds the wet portion of the line on to a 

 line-drier, so that it may be thoroughly dried and ready 



