32 A CURE FOR VIOLENT STRIKING. 



contrary extreme. We have fished with many 

 young hands who have struck the instant they 

 saw a fish rise even, and, consequently, though 

 the bait must have been risen at, the mouth had 

 never received it, or, if it had, it had not time 

 enough to close upon it. Striking a fish should 

 be done with a smart, but not a violent effort. 

 The ardent angler will often strike with such force 

 as to tear away his hold on the fish, or to become 

 minus gut and fly, which snap by the sudden 

 jerk. There is nothing better calculated to cure 

 a young practitioner who strikes too forcibly, than 

 to oblige him to whip for bleak, and to pay for- 

 feit for every one he raises above the surface of 

 the water, receiving forfeit for every one he hooks 

 without raising it into sight. The forcible stroke 

 that wholly misses its object often throws the 

 bait out of the water by the violence of the effort ; 

 the moderate stroke that misses will not displace 

 the hook more than a foot or two. The critical 

 fish-stroke is made by a very 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 (which is learned by habit), 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 



