SALMON FISHING MADE EASY 



509 



guide $2.00 a day, including boat and some 

 cooking utensils. Last summer our food 

 cost us, per head per day, 33 cents, and we 

 lived well; last summer a year it was only 

 25 cents per man per day; each year we 

 fitted out almost entirely in Newfound- 

 land. 



But more particularly — hip rubber boots 

 — get those that are held up by a perpendic- 

 ular side-strap from your belt, and not by a 

 horizontal strap around the leg — $4.50. 

 A sole-leather rod-case would go near or 

 over $20.00, but I had one made of fibre, 

 5 feet 3 inches] high, 6 inches^in diameter, 

 leather mountings, $6.00. 



One 14-foot, split bamboo, two tips well 

 silked, double hand-grasp, 30 ounces, 

 $22.50. One black rubber 200-yard reel, 

 $4.50. One silk line, 150-yard, $2.25, I 

 think. Leaders go up to $5.00 apiece, 

 though one gets fine goods at $3.00 or even 

 cheaper. Indeed, we caught some nice fish 

 on 50-cent trout leaders, though good goods 

 here pay. I used a $3.00 leader last summer 

 for most of my heavy fish and never lost one 

 by its fault. Flies vary: in New York you 

 will pay $9.00 a dozen for double-hook 

 flies; in Halifax, $6.00. They are good 

 holders in a fish's mouth, though in very 

 clear water the single hook is, perhaps, more 

 likely to be taken. Again, we landed a few 

 big fish on trout flies that cost only 75 cents 

 a dozen. But then you must be very care- 

 ful, and not expect to get more than one in 

 three you hook. At first you should have 

 a gaff for your guide; after you learn a 



little, and if you can prevent your guide 

 from gaffing, and have a proper beach, your 

 fish can be beached by his own flopping and 

 picked up without that unsightly gaff gash 

 in his side. 



To sum up, then, I should say you could 

 set yourself up, without frills, for a three- 

 weeks' fishing, and supposing you know 

 how to use a fishing-rod, for $50.00. Of 

 course, you will see old sportsmen using 

 really useful things not in your stock, but 

 $20.00 a year after that will gradually fit 

 you out more comfortably. There are lots 

 of hints I should like to give you about little 

 things, most useful and really quite inex- 

 pensive, but already I have visions of the 

 Editor's blue pencil. 



If you have a friend that goes for salmon, 

 talk to him. And if you go once, you'll go 

 till you die. Last summer our camp neigh- 

 bor was eighty-four years old. Another, a 

 retired English Colonel, who gave me many 

 points, had hunted tigers in India, and after 

 the salmon season was over was going for 

 tuna in Texas. 



What I have told is my plain, truthful 

 experience, not a sunset, imaginative, 

 amusing story. You may notice I have not 

 told you where I fished. If I did, you would 

 have learned too much. But if you get to 

 Newfoundland between the middle of June 

 and the middle of July — possibly the mid- 

 dle of August some seasons — you can catch 

 salmon, if you know how. Even if you are 

 too late for salmon there are grilse, and after 

 them fine, big trout. 



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