i hut. vii. The Aebaemtage* of Not Striking. 99 



out of his month ; and if you do that you Brighten him, and he will 

 not come again, which he might do, if lie was not conscious of any- 

 thing but having made an ass of himself, and missed a good thing. 



Remember, also, be is taking it unconsciously and leisurely, not in a 

 hurry to eatch hold of it before you shall snatch it away. In Bhort, 

 hold on to him when you feel him and not before, just as you 

 would to a stumbling horse. But to do this properly you should 

 not only have no alack line, should not only be just feeling your fly 

 with your rod top, as you just feel a horse's mouth with the weight 

 of a finger, and no more, so that you are keeping tip communica- 

 tion with your fly, and are in a state of constant preparedness to act 

 when called upon, but the point of your rod should be held almost 

 at a right angle to the direction of the line, so that the fish when 

 taking the fly, and striking himself by his weight, may do so 

 against the full play of the elastic rod. If the rod is held with the 

 point towards the fish he gets a straight pull on the line direct 

 from the reel, with no spring to ease off its suddenness, arid the 

 result is in most cases a break, either of tackle or hook-hold. 



The advantages of the non-striking principle are clearly seen in 

 spinning. How often does a fish miss your bait, and if you do not 

 pull it away from him with a jerk by striking, go at it again. No 

 doubt it is hard to keep cool under the circumstances, for "it gives 

 one quite a turn" to see a big fish roll over your bait, with every 

 appearance of having taken it, and it is almost an instinctive 

 process to strike. But it should not be done. If he has taken it, 

 it will be unnecessary, for his weight will both hook him and tell 

 you. If he has missed it, it is cpuite a mistake to jerk it rudely 

 away from him, and it will only put Mm out. To exemplify the 

 advantage of not striking, I may mention a 6^ lb. Mahseer comi n g 

 up at my spinning bait, and turning over as if he had taken it. As 

 I did not feel him, however, 1 pulled steadily on as if nothing had 

 happened. Be immediately turned and rushed at it again. Again 

 he missed it, and my little bait went spinning demurely on, as if 

 there was no such thing as a Mahseer in the river. Round he 

 turned and went at it the third time. Tin; line tautened, and virtue 

 was rewarded. I felt all over just like little Jack Horner, felt 

 " what a good boy am I." The thing occurs daily, and, for my 

 part, I cannot understand why people dispute about whether or not 

 you ought to strike a salmon. It is clear to my mind both that 



TIIE HOD IN IM'IA II - 



