60 STRIKING FROM THE REEL 



gently is of the greatest importance. Very little weight 

 can be lifted by an ordinary trout rod, and but little 

 direct pull can be given when the rod, line, and object 

 are not in the same straight line. Little as may be the 

 pull, however, which the rod gives, it sometimes 

 happens that the hold of the hook in the mouth of the 

 trout is considerably less. Consequently, for the man 

 whose hand is heavy, striking from the reel is advisable, 

 so long, of course, as the check is on. With even a 

 slightly resisting check, the pull will be sufficient to 

 drive the hook home into the softer parts of the mouth 

 of the trout. The disadvantage, however, of striking 

 from the reel is that the line is nearly always length- 

 ened, and at a moment when it should, if possible, be 

 shortened. The trout rises at the fly ; the strike is 

 made from the reel, and the impetus and pull thus 

 given to the reel are sufficient to unwind from 1 to 

 3 feet, if not more, of the line. As the trout very 

 frequently comes down-stream towards the angler the 

 moment he feels the hook, the amount of line thus 

 drawn off the reel is an additional tax on the capability 

 of the fisherman to reel up the slack line sufficiently fast 

 to keep a strain on his fish. 



You must give your absolute and undivided atten- 

 tion to your floating fly. Every angler knows how 

 many chances of striking a good fish have been lost by 

 a momentary lapse from this vigil. The one rise of a 

 heavy fish at your fly may be missed and the fly re- 

 jected during the momentary glance aside at the 

 opalescent gleam of a kingfisher, the metallic brilliance 



