WET AND DRY FLY FISHING 63 



returns to the water, raise the rod again, 

 and keep all the strain you dare on the line. 

 By degrees his rushes will become fewer and 

 more feeble, until at last he lies on his side 

 exhausted. Then is the time to sink the 

 landing-net, and draw him unresisting over 

 it, raising the net to enfold him as you do so. 

 He may make a last effort on seeing the net. 

 If he does, let him go, until he is too tired 

 to rebel further. Never make hasty pokes at 

 a fish when trying to land him, always sink 

 the net, draw him over it, and then raise it. 

 Having caught one or two fish, you are 

 entered to the sport, for you will have little 

 difficulty in handling any future victims, as 

 the antics of one hooked trout are more or 

 less similar to the evolutions of others under 

 like circumstances. After a certain amount 

 of practical experience, you will thus be able 

 to judge to a nicety the amount of pressure 

 you may bring to bear on a hooked fish. 

 Sometimes even you will risk a smash by 

 holding on willy-nilly, when a trout is endea- 

 vouring to reach some safe retreat, such as 

 a thick weed-bed, or a tangle of roots. For 

 once let him reach a refuge of the sort, and 

 he is likely to break you anyway ; so you 

 may just as well breathe a short prayer, and 

 try to hold him in the open. 



