50 EFFECT OF STRIKING AT FISH VIOLENTLY. 



fly, and you are not, consequently, liable to snatch 

 it from jaws half open. A fourth reason : a fish 

 gently struck and hooked scarcely feels the opera- 

 tion, and is less inclined to dart off in the water 

 or out of it instantly, and give you furious battle 

 with unimpaired vigour. On this point I find, 

 in my " Handbook of Angling," the following 

 words: — "The critical fish-stroke is made by a 

 quick, but very gentle, wrist-motion, by which 

 the hand is canted upwards, being displaced about 

 two inches only. Such a stroke made instantly 

 the fish actually reaches the fly, at the moment 

 he has closed his mouth on it, and before he has 

 time to throw it out again, is sure to secure the 

 entrance of the hook within the substance of the 

 mouth, without causing great alarm to the fish 

 by any unnecessary violence ; for it cannot have 

 escaped the observant angler that, when a fish 

 has been harshly tugged in striking, he commences 

 at once a more determined resistance than when 

 the stroke has been less violent, and his alarm 

 less sudden. Neither can we w^onder that his 

 efforts should be extreme, wdien he is made sen- 

 sible of his situation by a stab and a drag which 

 have half pulled him out of the water." Though 

 this was written respecting trout, it is perfectly 

 applicable to salmon-fishing. Mr. Scrope, an ex- 



