34 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



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 one to three 

 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. 



The breaking tension of a line must be estimated solely 

 by the strength of its weakest part, and the weakest portion 

 of a fisherman's line is, or should be, the fine end point of 

 his cast. Now, although this gut point may be strong 

 enough to check the rush of the fish, and although the reel, 

 once its inertia is overcome, will not in itself present sufficient 

 resistance to cause a break when striking, yet it must be 

 remembered that, not only has the inertia of the drum of 

 the reel to be overcome, but that the pawl, by which the 

 ratchet wheel of the drum is controlled, presents a far 

 greater resistance to the rotatory action of the drum as the 

 latter starts to revolve, than it does when once the reel is 

 revolving. The quicker the rotatory action of the drum 

 the less is the resistance offered by the pawl to its revolu- 

 tions. As a consequence when a fisherman strikes at a 

 rising fish from the reel, he invariably brings at that moment 

 a greater strain on the line than that which occurs while 

 playing his fish, the result frequently being that the gut 

 breaks and the fly is left in the mouth of the trout. This 

 parting of the gut, which in a level fight with the trout, 

 appears capable of resisting a far greater strain than the 

 effort used in striking, is regarded as inexplicable by many 

 fishermen, and it is almost better therefore, when using the 

 modern reel, not to strike from the reel, but to hold the 

 line lightly between the finger and thumb of the left 

 hand. 



