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most useful piece of apparatus, and think it 

 savours too much of formidable formality ; but 

 we, old stagers, who like to take things coolly, 

 and leave as little as possible to chance, never 

 fly-fish without one. If you fish alone, you 

 must, when you have exhausted your fish, get 

 him as near shore as possible, taking care, 

 however, not to wind him up so tightly as that 

 he will hang suspended above, or partly out of, 

 the water; but allow him simply to be near 

 the surface of the water. Put the stop on 

 your reel ; force firmly the spike of your but, 

 with its point in a slanting direction towards 

 the fish, into the ground, and sinking your 

 net at some distance from the fish in the 

 water, bring it under him from behind. Never 

 come yourself, or place your net, in face of a 

 fish. When you are accompanied by a person 

 who is to use the landing-net, let that person 

 keep in a line with you, and never go before 

 you. Your fish being ready to be landed, 

 your companion or servant must come between 

 you and the river, always taking care to be 

 near to and in a line with you ; and slowly 

 sinking the net in the water, he must pass 

 it tail-wise under the fish. There is no earthly 

 thing that frightens a fish so much as the 

 sight of a landing-net, or of a person appear- 

 ing in front of him for the purpose of landing 



