Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-04-16
Salmon Fishing.

The angling on Loeb Tay Scotland,
is chiefly done by trolling the minnow.
Seated in the stern of his boat, the
angler has on either side of him stout
trolling rod similar to Thames spinn-
ing rod, only longer and stronger. To
each of these is fixed heavy reel hold
ing one hundred or one hundred and
twenty yards or more of stout tolling
line. A good length is requisite, as
Loeb Tay salmon when first struck will
often make rush of sixty or seventy
yards in length, and if you have some
forty or fifty yards of line out at the
time, as is often needed, an active fish
will soon clear your reel out and break
away; l20 yards, therefore, is better
than 100. To the end of this is fastened
twisted gut trace some three or four
yards long, furnished with as many
swivels, and terminating in couple of
strands of stoutish single salmon gut.
To this is fixed a phantom minnow of
medium size, blue or a yellow one be-
ing used on either rod, so that the fish
may have choice of color, as they
will often run on one to the exclusion
of the other, being capricious in their
tastes. The open loch now being
reached, forty or nifty yards of line are
paid out from either rod. The rods are
fixed at right angle, projecting over
the boats side. A good sized stone
or lump of lead of two or three pounds
weight is taken; the line is wrapped
around it once, and the stone is laid up
on the seat of the boat, holding the line
down. When a fish strikes the stone is
shaken off and the fish hooks itself.
And now you have rowed for many a
mile under the lofty shadow of Ben
Lawlers, but not fish visited your rod.
Possibly for two or three days you have
been out of luck, nothing but an odd
kelt OF a wretched pike or hill trout
or two have come to look at you. Old
Donald, your chief boatman, rows
along with a subdued steady swing, as
if he were used to waiting, as in truth
he is; half asleep aud half awake he ap-
pears, but he is quite ready for action
at any instant nevertheless. You are
just leaving the point, and thinking it
no better than all the rest of the lake
and the whole thing delusion, snare
and swindle, when "spang" the big
stone bounds into the air.
'There he is" yells Donald, as the
terrible screech of the reel heralds
run at last. Down goes the novel, the
cigar goes into your pocket, or over
board; the rod is grasped upright in
your hand, and is bending like a bow
as the strong fish hurries off at top
speed for the middle of the lake. while !
Donald carefully reels up and lays
aside the other rod, so as 20 he quite /
clear for the play. Forty or fifty yards /.
are run out when the line seems to lift l
in the water towards the surface, and |
the next moment a huge silver column /,
almost three feet and a half long, shoots 1
out of the water good yard or more, /.
and falls back with tremendous splash. I
"Mon, but he's a proper fusshe, Yon,"
SAYS Donald; "canny win canny; he's |
lepper"-and out dashes the fish /
again with another wild but futile leap /
for liberty. Then he plunges down,
down, down to the very bottom of the /
lake, forty fathoms down. How do 4
you feel now? No more laziness no
despondence No, indeed excitement |
is wound up and turned to top concert
pitch as the mad fish bounds over the
wave, or cuts the depths in forty or
fifty yards rushes time after time, till /
you wonder at his strength and endur-
ance. But everything must have an
end, and after fifteen or twenty min
utes he begins to slacken and run short
er and shorter, and Donald takes up
stout stick of some three or four feet
long, with a neutrality-suspicious.
butchers hook tied 10 it, yclept "the
gaff." He takes off the cork, feels the
point, and bides his time, watchfuIly
No. =, who takes the oars.
Once or twice the huge fish comes roll
ing over near the boat, but he manages
to wallop OFF again to a more respectful
till a dextrous turn of the
oar brings him within reach. Donald
leans over. There is flash in the wa
ter, splash, and a mighty Hopping as
the noble fellow is translated from his
native element to yours. A tap on the
head soon quiets his struggles, and a
lovely fish not forty-eight hours in the
lake, and weighing thirty-two pounds
by the steelyard, is placed your cred
ir. "Whoop,'' resounds across the
lake, and a solemn libation of the liq-
uor which cheers and inebriates too, if
taken in quantities, is poured out to his