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your fish. It is better that you should strike 

 rather too slowly and too feebly, than err in the 

 contrary extreme; for there is frequently a 

 chance of the fish hooking himself. Never fail, 

 however, when you have a rise, to strike some 

 way or other, and reject, by all means, the ad- 

 vice of those who recommend waiting till the fish 

 has hooked himself. Such advice is extremely 

 unsound ; for if you allow the fish time to ex- 

 amine in the inside of his mouth no matter 

 whether the examination undergoes the test 

 of feeling or of taste he will assuredly dis- 

 cover, and that speedily, that he has not taken 

 in a natural bait, and he will as speedily reject 

 or disgorge your lure. Thousands of fish are 

 lost by relying on the probability, that a fish 

 may hook himself. Cautioning the reader to 

 observe a proper medium time and force "in 

 striking, we counsel him, whenever he can, to 

 strike in an oblique direction, for the most 

 part slantingly towards the right, as the ope- 

 ration of striking is performed in that direction 

 with more ease than in any other. 



On this subject Mr. Ronalds says, that 

 " striking a fish is a knack, which knack, like 

 all others, is acquired only by practice; it 

 must be done by a very sudden, but not a 

 very strong stroke a twitch of the wrist." 



