228 ROD AND RIVER 



course can be in a measure directed by a slight 

 movement of the point of the rod to right or left, 

 as may be necessary. 



A few words of advice on the subject of what 

 is termed ' playing a fish ' may be of service to 

 the reader. When a fish is hooked, it naturally 

 becomes alarmed, and at once endeavours to 

 make the best of its way home ; that the fact of 

 the barb entering its flesh is a source of physical 

 pain to it I very much doubt. The pain it 

 experiences is rather mental, and its one aim and 

 object is to regain its liberty, and to this end its 

 entire energies are devoted. Being foiled in its 

 endeavours to go in the direction it desires, it 

 dashes off in another, anywhere, everywhere. If 

 it is a well-conditioned fish of respectable size, it 

 is capable of putting a very considerable strain 

 on the rod and tackle ; and if this strain is too 

 severe, either one or the other must give. It 

 therefore rests with the fisherman to calculate the 

 amount of resistance which his tackle is capable 

 of sustaining, and if he finds that it is too great, 

 he must give way ; in other words, he must let 

 the line run off the reel in order to relieve the 

 undue pressure which is brought to bear against 

 him. But at the same time he must not yield 

 more than he is forced to do ; for if a fish is 

 allowed to have its own way too suddenly, and 

 too great an extent of line, the latter will be, for 



