NOTE 6i 



him are, for all practical purposes, out of date ; but his general 

 principles and injunctions hold good ; and his own qualifications 

 for pronouncing with authority are seen in the manner in which 

 he impresses upon the learner that experience must be very often 

 his sole guide, and that the essential part of his skill consists 

 largely in the knowledge when general rules are to be followed 

 and when departed from. The Clyde is mentioned as a salmon- 

 river, but the pollutions consequent upon the development of 

 great industries have long since made it necessary to omit that 

 stream from the list of salmon- waters. 



In the comments upon how to deal with a salmon that is 

 hooked, Blakey suggests that it may be found serviceable to rouse 

 the quarry by comparatively "gentle tugs." I will take the 

 liberty of asking my brother angler to forget that advice ; there 

 can be no better procedure than to hold on with a steady line 

 that shall never be allowed to slacken, and to keep cool, and 

 allow the fish to follow his own course. Blakey was evidently 

 one of those who believe it necessary to allow the salmon to have 

 his own way almost to any extent. He says that few fish of any 

 size get landed, as they ought to be, in less than an hour, and he 

 talks of two or three hours before some will yield. 



This is a matter of opinion ; but in these days, when excellent 

 tackle is made, and reliance can be placed upon every item of 

 it, we allow the fish as little time as prudence permits for loosen- 

 ing the hold of the hook. I invariably, with salmon, proceed 

 upon the average time-rule of a pound a minute ; and although it 

 has not been my good fortune to catch a heavier salmon than 

 thirty-five pounds, I have found that pound-a-minute rule to 

 Work out with wonderful uniformity. There is, to be sure, more 

 long-drawn excitement to be obtained by a prolongation of the 

 battle, but every fresh rush of the fish means new danger to 

 the hold into which the hook has penetrated. The grand essential 

 is to be watchful of your tackle ; by testing it repeatedly, and 

 always after the capture of a fish, from the hook, every inch up- 

 wards of the gut cast, to a portion of the line above it, you may 

 proceed with confidence, allowing the salmon to run without 

 check, but always under mastery from the bent rod. It is by 

 experience alone that one learns these things, and of course there 

 are situations in salmon-angling in which the fish, and not the man, 

 will be master, and in which anything like a hard and fast rule has 

 to be left in temporary abeyance. But with a clear field and no 

 disfavour — that is to say, in water without any unusual obstruction 

 — the pound-a-minute rule, as I have called it, will generally 

 suffice ; an eight-pound salmon, for example, should be brought 

 to gaff in ten minutes, a twenty-pound salmon in twenty-five 

 minutes, and so forth. — W. S. 



