20 THE AMERICAN TROUT. 
have I seen escape for want of quickness. It must bo 
done quickly but steadily, and not with a jerk, as the 
latter is apt, by the double action of the rod, to bend the 
tip forward and loosen instead of tightening the line. 
There are days when fish cannot be struck, although they 
are rising freely ; whether they are playing or over-cau- 
tious, I never could determine ; whether they are not 
hungry or the water is too clear, they put man's capacities 
at defiance. Their appearance must be signalled to the 
eye, by that reported to the brain, which then directs the 
nerves to command the muscles to move the wrist ; and 
ere this complicated performance is completed, the fish 
has blown from his mouth the feathery deception and 
has darted back to his haunts of safety. A fish will 
occasionally leap up, seize the fly, discover the cheat, and 
shaking his head, jump several feet along the surface of 
the water to rid his mouth of it, and do this so quickly 
as not to give a quick angler time to strike. How often 
fish are caught when they rise the second time, as then 
the angler is more on the alert, whereas on the first rise 
he was oflf his guard ! How often fish rise when the 
angler's head is turned away from his line, or when he is 
busy at something else, and how rarely are they caught ! 
In my experience it is so great a rarity, that it might 
almost be said they never hook themselves. In the lan- 
guage of youth, the only hooking they do is to hook oflP. 
Dr. Bethune, page 97, says the rod should not exceed 
one pound in weight. Indeed it should not, and if it does, 
it exemplifies the old maxim, so far as to have a fool at 
one end. If we could fish by steam, a rod exceeding a 
pound and measuring over fourteen feet might answer 
