

PERSONAL EQUATION IN STRIKING 59 



middle that has just risen. Throw your fly two feet 

 above him, and high this time instead of low. Don't 

 lift your line too soon ; let it get well below the 

 place where the fish rose, for sometimes a trout will let 

 a fly pass, and then turn and follow it down-stream ; 

 and even if the fish does not then take the fly, he would 

 be scared by your lifting your line too soon. That's 

 better. Now look out ! Strike ! You were too late, 

 and too forcible. It only requires a turn of the wrist 

 to hook the fish so long as your line is straight. 

 Just wait a minute, and give him a rest while you 

 listen to me. The strike depends a great deal on a 

 person's temperament. Some men are always slow, 

 and others very quick. It is exactly the same in 

 raising a gun when shooting ; both actions become in- 

 tuitive after a time, though there is always the personal 

 equation which dominates the rapidity of the individual 

 action. Striking will become second nature after 

 much experience, but the health and condition of the 

 mind and body will always affect even the most experi- 

 enced fisherman. Careful attention and a straight 

 line are the best conditions to warrant success, and a 

 healthy, alert, nervous temperament the best factor 

 to ensure it ; but you must not expect to be proficient 

 in striking until you have had more practice. 



If a strike is made when the hand is off the reel and 

 the line is not held in either hand, but runs untouched 

 from the reel to the fly, then the angler is said to have 

 struck from the reel. 



In dry fly fishing the art of striking firmly and 



