UNKNOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 526, 16 September 1871, Page 2

UNKNOWN.

[A SKETqII bV-BINGH.B.] not, gentle readerjat the above heading, if-fbis'-He the first' ihtimatio;i you have hacf pi ; "feljW result ofniy piscalorial rapirJles.; nor-'Wonder how it is, so great a faict.has:beeh so long suppressed.: The fact is* it; ia ; dangerous for. any> celebrity now-a-days fo acquaint anyone with the cause of his .fame, for:fear he should be " interviewed:" and rendered possibly more notorious than famous. • It will-matter but little now. I may say nothing, indeed, to anyone bu^, the Acclimatisation Society member?, and the Salmon Commissioners in Tasmania, how I hooked my first grand fish, where I hooked him,and what I did with him: and even they shall not know all, though, in the* interests of acclimatisation, and to satisfy public anxiety,l feel I am doing wrong in justnqw suppressiug.spme of the facts.' My only apology is that we all do wrong at times, and that self : in'terest prompts ike' to dowrong in this instance; and as it is a small transgression—a whitesin—that time will easily atone for, I feel apprehensive of no serious results, as I know no one won't " peach" upon me. Well, then, Ineed not tell on what "information received" I wos induced to visit the tight little sister island, nor from whom I get the kind hint to take my salmon-rod and taokle with me, a=; well ns my trout gear ; but, little birds' whispers often lead to important results. It was about a fortnight since that, I found myself pacing the deck ofa smart screw boat, bound for t'other side, with a,yery, motley lqt of passengers. The weather wns delightful m the extreme—-a cppl-bracing breeze blew from the eastward that kept the good ship very steady-on the rising seas, for wind and canvas help very much to steady a steamer in the" Straits, and she bowled along benutifully, reminding me of these lines:—

" The Washingtou, the Washington, How nobly she goesShe flnd3 before her fields of ereen ; r . She leaves them fields of snows.'

I had, bys some rare chance, got on terms of familiarity with one of the passengers, a rough Highland gillie, ju.-t the man for my:he!pniate on suck a salmon fishirig excursion. Duncan■ -M' —_ had been a salmon catcher^ if'not on liis native heath, at least in the streams that divided the romantic bills on which it grew, and impressed ou.me. strongly the facts that he was as expert fwitu the rod .and line as with (ho bister, but he-'sseined to pride himself most on the dexterity with" which iie haiidlcii tlie landing-net. On .learning that there was a chance of getting a sulinon in tlio Dcrwent or the Plenty, and that I was bent on: the business of trying to catch the fish, he..almost leapt with joy, and his Gaelic gurgled out with remarkable fluency. : '.in broken' English he risk'td, " Micht hersel gang wi' her mainsej'.,.tae hejp to.catch te.sawmon ?" As he seemed a decent fellow, I thought I could npt do better than engage his services. Hisbusirness, ov.er the water was of.no importance, and he acc,epte,d my offer most heartily. He had been .spine years in the colony, though he had not yet mastered the linglish language so far as to be able to shake off what he called his, " ruither's tongue."- A. bargain having, been; concluded for his services, we commenced, an examination of my fishing tackle, of which he expressed his entire approval,but..not \Vith6ut a hint that his skill in "buskin' flees" would have enabled him to ; improve my stock (Jf artificial flies. The rods were taken dut;'the joints''cleaned^ andioilfd, tb.e wood well rubb*tl: with a« oiled rag, the i lines eikmined, and everything put in sucbra':forvv,ard state of proparatiouj, thut, buti'for'.tlip ab.s<;nce of 'naiujfal bait, we mij^ht'liayo, commenced ou'i' labors from the deck. <jif the boat, had 'there beta, any snlmpn tp caitch.,,,, ■> ' j K'L'j ■ ; Arrived. iji.liaunoesto-i I met an. old l'rieudtjvlio..hiid; been.yitiuii)|,' die Utrwent r/ver, add lie : ,assured iuo;pf. the ceitainty of success it'l could only wait long enougti for a good opportunity, but that when lie :\ as over the river was «oo turbid aiitor the hi'avy rains, but he was so confident ol salmon, being there—of his having, seen them, in' fa<K—-BlmtQie determined (is soon as his busiaesa_Wi>ulci let him, to follow iri'e, and spend a few days more with his rod aud'litie^ '"''' '•"' lji

1' "I 'began to ;'g'ct! so dXcitecV on the 'pro'spects-of my success,arising out of: the■infonn'atioa. jtist/c^nveyed .to> me, that I barely knew what.-J ;Vi:aa ;i doing half ruy ; tia3(j,;a.iid my Higbjancl, aide .was about as r '!,crau > lp:" ap r.yvas myself;, but lie was much' .fiiore demonstrative'!alid: more, wdrst of his volubility was th'atf feWlieopleunderstood a word ho said. 'Epeil Scotchmen1 seemed to. think., that Duncan's tongue must have been provided by nht'ureivufclrtfre faculty of accomplishing a, double or treble action at. the same moment. 'However,,thodrive across the island from Launceston to Hobarti Town, helped to keep tho salmon-onthe-brain.l was afflicted with down a liltle, and both Duncan and I enjoyed the trip amazingly. Arrived at Hobart Town, we' tike up our quarters at one of the principal hotels, andset-'to 'work immediately to obtain information privately as to the bestiroad to f the .river; the lilost hospitable [of the farmers, and the best parts of tile rani for •fi,shing, arid having obtained' all we required, \yith a supply of worms, aa|d a good bigilask ofmountaiu dew—withoat wliiciEi it 'would liave been.impoisible to, get my gillie out of town.—we decided on an early start.the ; n>'xt morning, as therejiad been no rain for i'our'days", and us tlie weather was all that cbuld'be desired, aud there was no • knowing how soon it might change. ~ "AX h'alf-past'fivb- o'clock next moriiiiVga knobk came to my dpbi*, followed by the '^itfii'mativo question " She's a waw|k P It was Duncan, and I was nob long in .being' up and dressed. An early make-shift breakfast had been ordered for six. ■■■.!Wv lost no time ia disposing of it ; and started. What little wiud there was was keen, and the frost was sharp, but by smart walking we soon got into a glow, and before we reached the fishing ground, the sun began to impart a good deal of v» urmih, ■ ■ At length we reached the river, but at a place where it was impossible to east aline with any. degre.e of freedom, aud where it liavo been impracticable'to follow a 'strong lish hiid he.determined to; run my Hne''out, and theu tp try the strength'of it Iby afarthei-rush. • The watt* was slightly turbid Irom. the late rains; but I; thought it'was nono the* Worse-for! that; as it was r ,clear enough for an^y tish On the'look out

for flies to see one some feefclk I without reßdily displaying tl o ie H the gut ThewindbadinUJC.^l and blowing U p stream, it Z n A?"% I splendid ripple for the occasff « ' causing the water to break w """t soft much more open ground on ft,* Nd ! |L-3 river on which we were aC? 4 * higher up, and as we reached tCW l hill that commanded a fine 21^1 * stream immediately below us « J't h some distance up and down niv !»?!? ** '■'■' I took our scats to reconnoitre .Jf^i «' same time I jointed my rod, fis'^V^ 1 ran the line through the -rings ai T^ to the reel again, and began L ■ *V :p; whnt would ba the best L fnV 0"^ ' The brightest colored ones IW^ ' black and yellow banded wasm an/I 6' dragon, both bent on to splendid??™ ing lines, Duncan's opinion wastfe' wasp would show best in the <t.i *™ water, but I faacied the dra^n 3" tlt had never seen a yellow wasp in t^■ ' nies, and thought it just possible tffl' ■ silver-belhes might beshy o f a«t I I took the precaution, however t""^' both these casting lines from my flyV^ and to fasten them round my \J' 5 00', for any emergency, and proceeded to? 7 :my pipe before starting f or the ■ I ground above. i°h ji Just at that moment, D uncanny some yards ahead, uttered a shrill *" leaped up in the air, s winging f gj ,'• round at the same time to face a cxclrtimeH. " She'll sawa great sattaSJ noo, and pointing a little way-nnai, I- could distinctly observe • "^Jy* wavelets circling to the shore"—^evident! 7 ' the result ofa rise, or. of a leap, On:re'i \ ing the bank opposite to which the U had risen, and which was mostprorokin ] thickly Umbered, we stood to W^tcli for i while, when the same. fellow, qr .Jus mife i came up again, and. showed hig nose <fo 1 tinctly.as his jaws snapped at wmeunfoT I tunate insect on the surface. Duncan w -i in ecstasies ; I was ditto.; "We hurried '' to the clear ground, and after followiJjj up to where a flat ledge of brote tt . r( 4, ran into about four feet of water, tilt, fine gravelly bed for "some distance atfe bottom of a pretty strong rapid;! defer. mined to make my first cast, and bent oi I the blue dragon. I became quite feverish I with excitement as I saw another riseiust W where I wns aboutto Jaymyfly. if,™ |X and fear seized possession of me, and shook Wme for mastery. Hope^wai^trong that I 1 would succeed in landing.'but one of the If king of fishes ; and fear contended that, 9 from my long inexperience, I might iose i my prize after I had hooked him. Visions of congratulatory addresses from the salmon commissioners—of a raedaj or some <: mark of honor from .the Acclimatisation:. Society—flitted rapidly through my brain, „ and I was half drunk or more withexcitf fcmeut as I dropped my. fly over the spoil m had seen the last rise. p iDuncan in the meantime had got tic ■ V landing-net ready, and'he too quivered ■■* with excitement, like a piece of blancmange ' when it is roughly placed on a table. At -• the third cast 1 fancied I had a rise,but it was close to ah eddy in the stream, and 1 I was not certain. Duncan was sure of it ft Once more, no result; again, ditto; and | aigain—this time there Was no room In | doubt. I saw the fish make his dart, lj| struck him. and- had him ; the rtnoment Hi he felt the hoolr he turned up his silver; side, and showed fight. I immediatelj • felt partially stupefied and sicli. atiny sac-1 cess, and I ordered Duncan to pour meott I a stiff glass of the usquebagh tonerfemi L .for the.trying t.me I expected, lhelsfcli was very strong, and before I could get | from the rocky ledge on to the grassybaiifi to follow him, he had run out about 65 I yards of line. As he took down stream I followed him, and, as fast as I, could,l g reeled up, to be ready to let him makt another rush, for I had no idea of letting liiuj-have too much play wh'eretheremiglit |' be dead trees submerged. fter Jeading | me down stream about 250 yards he cams ' t,o a halt, and 1 was afraid he had fouled A the line round a log. I strained gently, but steadily ; he couldn't standithe pain ' of the hook in his jaw, and away he rusbedj ; up stream this time. I hud noV to be careiul that-he did not get into the rapid,; aiid. to keep him out in the, still water, Down, stream he went again, I after liim/ and Duncan after me. In about twenty minutes he began to get sick aud weak but ah ! how 1 dreaded any little catastrophe that mi«ht:cheatme of ray prize, and:of the honor of catching theiirsfc t™ Australian sahnon, .. '■ ■': .i ~ Further visions of presenting the nobli trophy to the Governor:oftb/ifgnfc little island, and of being invited to^ Government | House to dine with'thonubohsbftheplaw off the dainty pink flesh began to l«t | me, and for the first time since I asW I Duncan lor the whiskywaslable tospw | a word to him. The fish began to P« way readily now to an easy strain, and w about half ah hour from the time IW» him liooL-ed 1 had the pleasure of bringing him so near the surface as to be able to get a good view of him. He seemed to be »n 18or 20 pounder, and in splendid condition. Duncan advised me strongly to gethunup to the kdge of rocks as the best place to land him. I consented, and Duncan too* up his position, landing-net in hand, tog«t it under the prize as soon as I gofchimnOT enough, tte began to get fractious ,«g««i I and I had to fbtlow him on to the rocP I vvith a short Hue. A t last hi came to V» | surface and turned belly up for a moment. | 1 ventured.Ja strain,aud had- the une^| pressible joy to see him in a?very siwr time, fairly in the landing-net, mAPwm hadhim safely on the rocks. , , • Duncan. had taken the hook out oWWJ fish's.mouth and got him safely on tot« bank, where I was going to join uim'?S| another large fish rose close to. me. A«'V| too faint to trust myself with another aiJM| the ■ excitomeut Iliad with the fa«t,a^i declined tiie ternpti^lnvitation; ASJi yras passing over thie ledge of roc■ I where Duncan sat ad\<siriug the *^r~:\ out beauty, I called ffcUiim to gi™ cheers for our luck ; ; ">.a wild «'*ttrr^| escaped ■my" throat. k ]fln i^ $&$M my foot sliced, and «v m |g§j was stunned. Qu rS-.;w«»g \ tm2M naked arm round my neck, and a mwg familiar Voice saying, " Good graci Tom, dear, what have you been orpa^'. about for the last hour ? 1. could" tm. | for you."— Leader.