APRIEST is a priest as far as I am concerned: something weighted that fits in a suitable pocket in my fishing vest and comes easily to hand when I want to knock a fish over the head for supper. Traditionally, it’s a small priest for trout and a large one for salmon. The idea being to have a sufficiently heavy implement to despatch your fish as quickly and humanely as possible. Every fisherman should carry one, even if you are pure catch and release. But what if you inadvertently land a fish that is bleeding from the gills or an invasive rainbow where it is wild brownies only? It happens, and when it does we all need a priest.
I once had an elegant brass and wood Hardy trout priest that I treasured as it was a present from my daughter. Inevitably, along with sundry hook disgorgers, it ended up in the long grass on some long-ago riverbank. Since thendoesn’t even appear to make a Hardy priest any longer. We modern fishermen, it would seem, prefer cheap and efficient to expensive and elegant.
