Outfit— The Gaff. 75 



secure a hold on the slippery fish by which he can suffi- 

 ciently control its movements to drop the gaff and resort 

 to the club; the blood flies in every direction from the 

 wounds of the gaff, and generally there is what the vul- 

 gar might call " a regular circus." If it is a fair-sized 

 fish, say of twenty pounds or over, this performance will 

 last long after the angler wishes it were finished. It is a 

 brutal piece of business, and after it is done and peace 

 reigns once more, that end of the canoe looks like a 

 slaughter-house. 



If my humanity were a little greater or my cupidity a 

 little less, I would never permit a fish of any size to be 

 gaffed into a canoe. As it is, though I vow I never will, 

 still when the moment comes when resolve should pass 

 into action, since confession is good for the soul, I may 

 confess that I prove recreant to my vow. 



Not only is the proceeding more in keeping with a 

 Spanish bull-fight than the gentle spirit of angling, but 

 it is dangerous as well — mainly dangerous in that unless 

 everything goes just right the fish will be lost, but still 

 somewhat dangerous in that during the struggle the canoe 

 may decline to be a party thereto, and discard its occu- 

 pants into the water. Salmon-streams are uncommonly 

 thin and wet, and he who plunges therein will find no 

 just cause to growl at his bath because it is overheated. 



The Mic-mac type of birch-bark canoe — that used on 

 many salmon-streams — is a three-man canoe, in which one 

 with a fair knack of balance can readily cast standing, as 

 indeed many do. But it is no place for a Greco-Roman 

 wrestling-match. 



It is quite aggravating to be spilled out of any form of 

 boat; but to so part company with a "birch," as it is 



