58 AMERICAN FISHES. 



Screwed joints are, I think, not lasting ; they very soon get worn and 

 shaky, and make a man timid ; for in Salmon fishing, one should have 

 the most unbounded confidence in his tackle. I cannot overcome my 

 respect and reverence for the old-fashioned spliced rod ; with it one 

 has elasticity, firmness, and strength, combined with lightness. A 

 modern eighteen-feet rod must weigh at least two pounds twelve 

 ounces. The spliced rod, same length, will not weigh more than two 

 pounds two ounces ; and ten ounces additional weight is no joke in a 

 day's cast. 



Every Salmon-rod should be provided with a spike to screw into 

 the butt ; it is all-important for many purposes, and every Salmon- 

 fisher knows the use of it. The great fault in most Salmon rods is the 

 imperfect and ignorant " ringing." The modern rods have too few 

 and too small rings; too many are better than too few, particularly 

 on the top joint. The very best rods now have sixteen rings. 



One hundred yards of line is abundant for the heaviest Salmon ; 

 and I believe that no Salmon was ever lost owing to shortness of line, 

 with one of this length on the reel. Every experienced angler for Sal- 

 mon knows that a Salmon is, unlike the Bass, not a " run-away" fish. 

 His run seldom exceeds fifteen or twenty yards, and even then, like a 

 trotting horse, he requires a tight rein to make him " go." In Salmon- 

 fishing it answers very well where you have eighty or a hundred yards 

 of line on the reel, to have the taper gradual from the fortieth or fif- 

 tieth yard, the centre of the line, to the reel end, and from the cen- 

 tre to the fly end ; and thus, when necessity requires it, the reel end 

 can be changed to the fly end, and the old fly end made the reel end. 

 I have killed my share of Salmon, and I never had a fish take seventy- 

 five yards from me, even in a large lake, where they had plenty of 

 " sea-room." 



A friend of mine struck a very heavy fish on Loch Corrib, in the 

 County Galway, in Ireland. The water was very rough, and he 

 was standing on a projecting rook which ran out of a small island, 

 opposite to the beautiful village of Ouchterard. He had lio-ht tackle, 

 and not more than seventy yards of line on his reel. He killed the fish 

 after about one hour's work ; and that fish did not run oiF fifty yards of 

 his line. His weight was eleven pounds, much lighter than the angler 

 expected when he first struck him. 



