96 



him. Such a sight arouses his seemingly 

 worn-out energies, and the moment he per- 

 ceives it, he dashes off, with all the desperate 

 vigour of a death-and-life struggle. The 

 energy of this lunge of despair, if it do not 

 break your tackle, or free your quarry, will, 

 at all events, cause you much additional 

 trouble. The fish being fairly in the net, the 

 person holding it should not rudely throw the 

 fish or net on the bank, but present them to 

 you, in order that you may speedily take the 

 fish from off the hook, and undo any tangles 

 that may be in your line or flies. Expedition 

 in this last point is important, especially when 

 fish are upon the rise, and when " Time is to 

 be taken by the fore-lock." Never take hold, 

 nor let any else take hold, of your line while 

 landing a fish. 



Killing your Fish : If your fish be of small 

 or middling size, kill them immediately by 

 hitting them with a little hammer on the back 

 of the neck, or by striking that part, holding 

 the fish by the tail, once or twice sharply 

 against the but-end of the rod. If the fish 

 be large, it will be advisable to crimp him.* 



* " Crimping, by preventing the irritability of the fibre 

 from being gradually exhausted, seems to preserve it so 

 hard and crisp, that it breaks under the teeth ; and a fresh 

 fish not crimped is generally tough." Salmonia, page 98. 



