The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-07-12
HOW SALMON TAKE THE FLY,
And How They Fight After They Take II
The Suikc-'s Tactics.


The Suikcr's Tactics.
~ salmon doesn't Ike the fly as a
trout does, and it n-~er rises to one
while i IS passing up or down a
sire said an experienced angler for
tIi, king OF fish. lit is only while the
salmon is lying at rest in pools, the
repOsing water at the .Oot Of some swift
rapid, or the silent starting place OF
such a rapid. that it S.lI respond to the
fsherman'S cast. Salmon may be NOV
ing along by the thousand in the deep
stretches Of Il stream that extends, per-
haps, for mile between rapids, but the
angler might drop his flies above them
for yea +, if it were possible. without
ever being rewarded by a single rise.
The pool is the place to whip, and the
time early morning or late in the after
noon. If the epicurean dcniZen of the
pool is SO inclined there is sport ahead
for the angler. He drops his fly light
ly on the water, and the salmon in the
humor will rise to it and seize it at once.
'Then the excitement begins. 1t is
divided between the fish and the fish
erman. The more the salmon tries to
get out of trouble the deeper he gets
the angler in. The fish no sooner feels
the hook in his jaw that he seems to
realize that he has got to get it out as
soon as possible or it will be bad for
him. Then things begin to boil. The
first thing the fisherman knows hun
dred feet of line have spun from his
reel, and he thinks he is in for a long
chase down stream, when suddenly the
salmon doubles and dashes straight
back toward the boat. Then there is
work for the angler if he expects to
reel in the slack of the line and get it
taUt again in good time. No sooner is
the line taut once more than the sal
mon feels it's tension through the hook
in his jaw, and the chances are that he
will shoot upward and out Of the water
his entire length and more. Taking
his header, he dashes madly down
| into the depths again, tearing
this way and that way, darting
around and around, and making
| lively work for the fisherman and the
| handler of his boat. After an exciting
| series Of nlaneuverS such as this, the
mad fish may take it into mis- head to
| start down stream like a steam engine,
! putting the guide at his best to keep
| the boat along with him. The salmon
| may lead a chase of a mile in this way,
| then stop suddenly and resume it leap
| ing and doubling tactics The fight
| may last an hour or more, and if the
angler is skillful and cool, and his
| guide, or ga ffman, deXtcrOuS and watch
| full. the contest should have but one
| ending. and eventually the glittering
| prize will be stretched at the bottom of
| the canoe. If the angler is not Skillful
and cool the fight will also have but
| one ending. The glittering prize will
| not be stretched on the bottom of the
canoe but in very short time will be
at the bottom of his pool, congratulate
ing himself that his foeman was not
worthy Of his steel.
THE one thing in a fight with sal
mon that the fisherman most fears and
| breads is the liability Of the fish to sull.
| A sulller is always big fish. He will
not show fight at once, but will sink to
| the bottom and lie there. Whenever he
| does make up his mind to fight the fisher
man knows that the fight will be a good
one But the sull1ing fish may lie for
half day or more, despite all the an
glcr's efforts to start him. No salmon
fisherman can with honor retreat from
| a fish he has once hooked, and he must
possess his soul in patience, and wait
until the sullIer concludes to open the
performance, if he has to sit all night
1t is on record that in 1888, in the Mar
guerite river, Canada, a fisherman
| hooked a salmon at about seven O'Clock
! in the morning. 1t was sul1er, anC
it lay in the dumps until four o'clock il
the afternoon. Then the big fish sud
denly started down stream and ran a
railroad speed for a mile without stop
ping. Then he quit running and Tough
the angler, by all the salmOn's known
tactics, up and down and across thu
river. for two mortal hours without
moments rest, before he gave up anC
submitted to the gaff. The fisherman
was almost as nearly played out as tn
salmon was when the end came, ant
would have been compelled to hand tll
old war horse over to some one else t.
finish if the fight had lasted many min
utcs longer That salmon weighed
forty pounds-the largest killed in tina
watcr."-N. y. Sun.