A Three-Minute Salmon

Bill Graves pays tribute to legendary Atlantic salmon guide Richard Adams with a story about how Adams made short work of a 27-pound fish with some deft use of the net. (There’s also an interesting note about how “strumming” a line can make a big fish move.) “‘Keep leading him right up beside the boat if you can’, Richard said, “but all at once he’s going to take off like a scalded cat.’ I knew he was right; large salmon are seldom netted from a canoe, they are too wily. Then, all at once, the fish was right alongside. There was a quick flash as my old guide swept the net and snared the passing fish. That’s when the salmon really got wild, I thought it would beat a hole in the side of the canoe as I held the net overboard while Richard poled to shore.” In the Bangor Daily News.