PLAYING A HOOKED FISH. 327 



a hooked fish ; the great end and object is to keep him, with as 

 heavy a strain as you can venture to support upon his mouth, 

 with his head down stream ; for in that position the water enters 

 his gills the wrong way, so that the vital principle of the oxygen 

 cannot be separated from it by the bronchial apparatus, and the 

 fish naturally dies by suffocation, or by something analogous to 

 drowning. 



To effect this, very much delicacy and nicety of touch are re- 

 quisite ; the rushes of the fish are sometimes of fearful impetus 

 and velocity and sustained for such a length of time as to take 

 nearly all the line oJ9F the reel, and to compel the angler to run 

 at full speed, up or down the bank, as it may be, in order 

 to avoid smashing his tackle. It is well here to observe, 

 that it is in all cases the best plan to follow your fish as early 

 in the game and as rapidly as you can, rather than to let 

 off too much line, as you thereby keep so much in hand for an 

 emergency. 



The great principle is to make the fish pull as hard as possible 

 without ceding line, and never to give him an inch that he does 

 not exact from you by force ; the knowledge of the exact amount 

 of resistance which you may offer, and of the when exactly and 

 how much you must yield, is the grand proof of the Salmon- 

 fisher's science. If he run for a rock, against which to smash 

 your tackle, or for a cascade or cataract, over which you cannot 

 pilot him with a hope of success, you must resist him to the last ; 

 which is done by advancing the butt, firmly grasped, toward 

 him, and bearing your rod backward over your right shoulder, 

 thereby compelling him to strain out the line, the velocity of 

 which you must regulate with the ball of your thumb, incli by 



