The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-04-04
TRICKS 0F SALMON
Devices Used by Guides When
the Fish Won't Bite.
SECRET OF THE WOODS
Jiseerins and Listering Effective,
Though Regarded as Unsportsman-
Iike-EHorts Of Guide to Please
Employers-How the Fish are Pre-
served for Days Without Ice.

served for Days Without Ice.
No salmon fisherman of expert nee
will deny that he has owed consider
able portion Of his pleasure ana OF
his success to his guide. To a young
fellow who was triumphantly dis
playing a grand catch Of several large
salmon, the question was put by an
expert friend, How many OF those
did you hook yourself?" To which
the reply was, well, l played them
all, but every one was really hooked
by my guide.
There was nothing unusual about
the statement, except perhaps It's
frankness, for on most OF the large
rivers II Is the guide who does good
deal of the casting. For one thing,
Il is no easy task to keep up a dill
gent whipping Of the pools for hours
at a time Salmon rods, with their
huge reels, are Of necessity heavy
It Is we'll known that no respectable
Ash will think Of rising II he has
caught sight Of the angler, so that
as rule the fly has to be cast with
long line from a point above, and out
of sight OF the salmon lying at the
bottom Of the pool.
The back cast must be carefully
and somewhat laboriously made, and
the fly kept in constant movement
when once 1t has touched the surface.
There are not many city men whose
unaccustomed muscles can keep up
this kind of thing for very long.
Sometimes the lazy salmon are con-
tent to lie with their great fins and
tails waving in the ripping stream.
without responding a bit to the in
ducements of the fly fishers. Then.
while the employer Is not watching, or
sometimes, alas, when he is the insti-
gator, the fly Is allowed to sink, ano
is brought directly underneath the
unsuspectlng fish. A quick Jerk, and
the hook is sent home into the under
part, and the fight is on in good
earnest. Many and many good ftsh
Is caught foul that way.
I
be expected to find that the guides
are such intense sportsmen that they
are most unwilling to be beaten by
salmon. A lessee OF one expensive
river was lying back. his hat over his
eyes. while HIS guides tried to wake
up the sleepy big fellows in the pool.
under a bridge. when VI movement In
the buss directed HIS attention to
where one Of the men was cutting
q long stout pole.
When he had smoothed the end OF
this he fastened to 1t with bit or
string a villainous looking gang OF
three huge hooks, which were az
tached in place OF fly to his leader.
Cautiously the man pushed down the
hooks directly under the finest OF the
waiting fish. There WAS a fierce
snatch upward, which pulled his
hooks into the belly Of the salmon
and at the same time pulled them
clear Of the smootser, slippery end
of the pole, and the owner was sig.
nailed to come and play the fish.
He had long stern fight with this
fish, which he declares gave him the
best sport he had ever had. When
II was gated, at the lower end Of the
pole, the men deftly removed the
poaching outfit from the leader and
tied on the fly again.
The angler made only one comment,
but It set grin a-golng on the faces
OF the two unsophisticated children Of
the woods:
Curious, that. The fly you were
fishing with has changed from Jack
Scott to a Silver Doctor during the
fight
For the guide had removed the
wrong hook from his old felt nat In
hi.. haste to substitute a fly for the
triple drag hooks.
When the handle OF the gan Is
firr1ly grasped up near the end and
the guide wades out toward the in
corning fish, one has ascertained that
the salmon's course Is about run, and
that it Is the time for tn eadministra-
ticn of the death clutch. When
killer it Is the guides who know the
cool spots where it will be safe to
dig temporary grave In the cold
ground for the fish to lie buried for
a few days until 1t can be placed on
ice.
How he does II one cannot say, but
80 it is that when It is time TO go
down to civilization again the Ash
killed days before Is sure to be forth.
coming, and IL the guides instruc'
tions are closely followed and catched
salmon are taken home to be washed
they win always be found to be per
fectly preserved and as sweet as
though Just taken from their native
Alement