EGGS FOR GRANDMOTHERS 47 



What I recommend, and try to practise myself 

 in strong water, is a steady pull at the fish, not when 

 the rise is seen, but when it is first felt. There 

 is a good chance that the point of the hook will be 

 thus driven in well over the barb, and if the hold is 

 so slight that the fly comes away you are saving 

 time by hastening a catastrophe which would cer- 

 tainly have occurred later on. But in a lake or the 

 still part of a sluggish river it is necessary to strike 

 fairly quick, although hand and eye should not act 

 together as rapidly as if you were fishing for trout. 

 Dig it into him just as he turns, and if he has meant 

 business you are nearly sure to have him fast. Of 

 course, even in still water, when the fish are taking 

 low down, you often feel them before seeing the rise 

 at all, but then the question settles itself, and there 

 is no need for advice. 



Next comes the important operation of playing 

 the fish, and here there is at one time little or no 

 difficulty, but at another all the highest qualities of 

 the sportsman may be brought into play. Know- 

 ledge, presence of mind, courage, strength, endurance, 

 activity, readiness of resource and invention may all 

 be required to meet the cunning and wiles by which 

 the 'foeman worthy of your steel' endeavours to 

 overcome you, and too often succeeds. A spring 



