LEAF FISHING A narrow line separates fishing and poaching at
times, for, after all, there were no poachers until laws were framed. When salmon fishing became more democratic the poacher lost his aura of romance and even the common man with whom he rubbed shoulders called him blackguard. Neverthe- less, salmon poaching, refined and cloaked in respectability, continues and flourishes where it can. I watched a gentleman at it the other day. He was using polarising glasses and cast a short line in the hope that the swift current would drive his treble- hooked bait into the side of a stale red salmon. He failed for lack of patience but perhaps his method was wrong. An authority on the subject, who stood at my elbow, said it was a perfectly simple operation. A hook and an autumn leaf are the tackle. When the leaf tumbles and rolls past the salmon the rod is , swiftly raised and jerked and the hooks are driven into the underbelly. One merely needs the leaf, the hook, the line, the rod and the licence, and no conscience at all.
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