Narrative of a Five Year's Residence at Nepaul

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ...of an angler's existence, that appertaining to the hooking, the handling, and the landing of the stately and puissant salmon is by far the most difficult to acquire. No inhabitant of the waters can be compared to this fish in strategic and game qualities, save the brook trout, and that is simply an infantile salmon. Magnify the skill required to surmount the half-pound little salmon of the fountain to the same fish weighing 25 pounds, and a distant idea may be had of the excitement afforded and the skill required in struggling with and overcoming the bigger trout. Hallock says: No fish that swims is the peer of the salmon, and no angling experience or pastime carries with it the exciting episodes, aspects, and vicissitudes of salmon fishing. The tarpum is a John L. Sullivan among fishes, a slugger and a smasher of lines and hooks, filled with ponderosity, brute force, and violence; he is a runaway horse with the bits in his mouth; a tearing toros of the bullring. As for striped-bass fishing, it is a glowing theme of the sounding sea and surf--a symphony of 'what the wild waves are saying.' But, bless me! there are more sides to salmon fishing than there are facets to a cut gem or patterns to a kaleidoscope. It is advisable always to have the best implements in angling, and especially important in salmon fishing. A poor rod, like a bad cold, should be gotten rid of as speedily as possible, for both are fully capable of leading to dire results. The best rod, to my view, for salmon angling is made of the incomparable split bamboo, in three joints, measuring 16 feet in length and weighing 16 ounces--an ounce to the foot; the reel a quadruple multiplier; the line of enameled silk, at least 400 feet in length. The flies used are the most...