TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



periment any angler can conclusively prove to his own sat- 

 isfaction that there is really a vast difference in the pull 

 of a trout against a yielding resistance and a dead resist- 

 ance. 



Some time when a good-sized trout has been hooked 

 and after it has been played for a short time in the usual 

 manner, which represents a yielding resistance, straighten 

 out the rod so that the pull of the trout will come directly 

 upon the line, which, of course, is held fast so it cannot 

 pay out, and you will then have the trout on a dead resist- 

 ance against which it has to work. It will then be very 

 apparent against which resistance the greater pull of 

 the trout comes and why. 



If you should have the good fortune to hook a four- 

 pound trout, unless you happen to have a very strong 

 leader you will find it will give way or the hook will pull 

 out when the trout is working against the dead resistance, 

 while when working against the yielding resistance the 

 trout can, under ordinary conditions, be safely landed. 



The moral then is, always keep the trout on the spring 

 of the rod and make him fight against a yielding resist- 

 ance if you wish to land him. 



The pull exerted by a trout against a yielding resist- 

 ance varies greatly and is not at all proportionate to its 

 weight, and this is largely due to the action of the trout 

 when being played and held on the spring of the rod, and 

 the way the trout is hooked and is also due to the manner 

 in which the angler does the playing. 



My own experience is that a trout weighing from one 



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