326 IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



will be hugely increased. If, however, it be found necessary to 

 strike, this must not be done by a jerk or backward whip move- 

 ment of the rod, but by the slightest possible turn of the wrist 

 inward and downward ; what that turn is, every angler knows, 

 but it certainly cannot be described in writing, nor can it be, I 

 think, very easily demonstrated — so exceedingly slight it is — by 

 example. 



More fish are, in my opinion, lost by clumsiness, and espe- 

 cially by over- violence at this moment, than at any other time ; 

 the utmost caution, therefore, and delicacy of manipulation are 

 indispensable; and at first, until he has killed some fish and 

 obtained some practical experience in the art, I confidently 

 advise the novice to beware of striking; to allow the fish, if 

 possible, to hook himself, and rather to lose him from his not 

 doing so, than from his own act by whipping the half-swallowed 

 fly out of his imperilled jaws. If strike he must, let him do it 

 with the least possible force or exertion. 



When first a large and lively fish feels the hook, he will not 

 unft-equently, if checked suddenly, throw himself clear out of 

 the water to the height of several feet, and so endeavour to cast 

 himself across the tightened line, which, if he succeed in doing, 

 he shall break it surely, and escape. The counter-movement to 

 this dodge, which is often repeated many times in rapid succes- 

 sion, is to sink the top of the rod quickly, so as to slacken the 

 line, and suffer the fish to strike it only when lying in a bight 

 on the water ; but care must again be taken here to reel it in 

 again quickly, lest it may become entangled by the fish rushing 

 suddenly in towards the angler. 



Beyond this there is not much to say on the score of playing 



