The Arizona sentinel., 1886-07-24
CATCHING A SALMON.
Three Men Quite Exhausted by a
 "Gamey" Fish.


 Clancy" Fish.
 With Tom, the presiding genius, in the stern, the angler in the middle and Peter in the bow, the canoe is anchored at the head of a salmon pool" The water is from three to six feet deep, clear as crystal, and flowing at the r.tte of perhaps three miles an hour c.1er q clean stony and gravelly bot om On the right, as the angler fires down stream, the bank is perhaps a hundred feet distant, while on che other side an unbroken expanse of more or less rapid ana Tn places dfcper water extends to an island about. quarter of a mile distant. A neaVy rapid, with waves about two 1eet n -gh, terminates the ''pool' below, wh -Ie above the water differs but little Tom that of the ''pool'' itself.
 ' Again and again has the canoe been dropped down with the current to af- ford the angler a fresh field upon which he may display his fly, but without re- suit. At last, ''when he least expects it most, " the water boils in the neighbor- hood of his ''Silver Doctor" his heart gives bound, and then seems to stop its action, for the fly is untouched For a few seconds he moves the fly in the 'subsiding whirl, hoping the fish may turn and take it, but hoping in vain. The line is then drawn through the rlngs-not reeled in-the slack falling on the bottom of the canoe until the fiy is regained.
 "A fine fish," says Tom, with dis appointed air, Ca fine fish altogether, altogether fine fish," for repetition is an Indian S idea of rhetorical emphasis. ''Now we rest hrm little bit-give him little fly, p'r'aps we get him anyhow" !"
 Out comes the watch, and five min- utes, each seemingly of abnormal length, are allowed to elapse. Then the angler begins again, cast following cast over barren water, until the slack line is all out and the exact range of the rise is again in hand. Then follows a cast about twenty feet to one side of the appointed spot, and smaller ''Silver Doctor careers in the most appetizing manner across the pool, passing in it's orbit over the place where the rise oc- cured.
 The fly sweeps over him, he rolls, he seizes ib and bears it downward with him. A few yards of line draw slowly from the reel, to the free acton of which no impediment is offered. The rod is raised to meet the demonstration that we knOw-though he seems so in- different nOw-will not be long post pOned. The anchor is at once lifted, and the canoe is brought in close against the bank
 All is suspense-what he is about to do; for so far he has acted as though the fly had been quite forgotten. The inexperienced may wonder at his appar- ent apathy, but he who has been there before feels as though the heavens were about to fall, and waits for them to come. It comes; slowly the reel speaks; faster faster; the handle becomes but 8 burr of light, and the voice of the click rises to a scream. The line melts away from the reel like salt in water, and the coil that was nearly four inches in diameter is now three-two-one will he never stop? ''Go for him, Tom, f6s for him, or the beggar will break with spd the canoe starts in pursuit can imnar9f speed two powerful paddles n when scarely ten yards of line o,,t of ti .no l.o remain in reserve. awav across one rlVer a fragment of silver. annar- sir sHlia a5d q}ssfIs bacr into fb ,,o. t1 splash. The line ceases to be with drawn, and, taking immediate advan- tage of the possibility, it is recovered as rapidly as the handle of the reel can be | manipulated, yet with every precaution that each turn is distributed evenly and | soIidly on the spool For this is but the | overture of the opera, so to speak, and | again and again will the line be snatched i from us until almost the bare axle of | the reel appears. Thus two-thirds of the line are recovered, and the angler | breathes again, supporting his rod. | doubled up under all the strain he dares impart, with the butt against his body.
 Again the fish starts-this time .1p reel shrieking as it parts with the line. Wild is the anglers iov. to be succeeded by doubt, and then by as the quantity of line in re- serve grows less and less, and the fish seems to have no idea of stopping. Again the canoe is forced to follow, and again the fish concludes his run by bounding into the ar once--twiceE thrice. Again the line is recovered, all put about thirty yards, when away he starts across the river again, if possible more rapid that ever, finishing with an- other jump or two. The line is recov- sred almost altogether, never emitting, DO matter how hurriedly the act may De performed, so to distribute it upon he spool that it will be free to render arain without the slightest hitch. L
 Then Tom says: ''We will have to axe him through the rapids-no land ng-place here"
 That the fish will take us up on some ,f the neighboring hills seems fully as but the effort must be made. The canoe is run into an eddy, then