THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



l)ut the overhead or hand is, doubtless, the average used. The 

 fly is sent out over the water and drops thirty or forty feet, we 

 will say, at an angle of forty-flve or fifty feet downstream. The 

 current swings it down and around in the arc of a circle, the angler 

 dropping the rod slightly, keeping, if possible, the Hne from 

 bellying ; he anticipates a strike when it reaches the centre, and 

 from now on until it is trailing parallel with the shore. If nothing 

 occurs the angler casts again, moving on, and on, from pool to 

 pool. Suddenly the strike comes ; the salmon hooks himself on 

 the steady strain and goes into the air in a splendid leap, giving 

 the angler the sensation that can not be described — a mild 

 angling delirium known only to anglers with the artistic tempera- 

 ment of the, athletic tjrpe. AU the tricks that fishes of aU seas 

 are heir to this salmon tries. He leaps, he comes in, he rushes 

 upstream and down ; he sulks and defies the angler and the gods, 

 and at this time is pointed, head down, his powerful tail moving 

 to and fro, exactly as I have seen a thirty-pound yeUowtail 

 when I attempted to Uft him tail first, only fooling him by suddenly 

 giving him all the hne. In from twenty minutes to a half 

 hour the salmon comes to the net or gaff, his silver sides are 

 gUstening in the sun. The achievement is accompUshed. 



* Nearly equal,' to quote Lord Gordon, on Whyte Melville, to a 



* fine run with the hounds,' though this is hardly a just compari- 

 son. I have tried to compare my sensations as Master of Hounds 

 of the Valley Hunt Club during a hard run after the lowland 

 wolf and landing a salmon or some fine fish, but they are in a 

 totally different class ; both joys complete, and perfect de- 

 finitions of true sport. 



It is interesting to compare the methods of salmon fishing in 

 England and America. In the latter the streams Uke the Eesti- 

 gouche, Matapedia, Upsalquitch, l^episiquit are often so large 

 that the fishing is done from canoes manipulated by Indians or 

 white guides, the angler playing the salmon and going ashore on 

 some convenient ledge to land him. In England the fishing is 

 mostly from the shore, or from the river when wading — ^the 



12 



