52 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



evident that when the finger and thumb have drawn in as 

 much line as they conveniently can, and when the rod has 

 been also raised to an angle of fifty or sixty degrees, that there 

 must be much slack line still between the rod point and the 

 fly, and therefore if at this juncture a fish rises at the fly 

 and the strike is made, the hand holding the rod will have 

 to be raised and to travel some way behind the head of the 

 fisherman before the line is sufficiently tight to drive the 

 hook into the mouth of the fish. This action brings the 

 rod into a position from which it is practically speaking 

 almost impossible to wind up the slack line which has 

 been gathered in and which is still held in the left hand 

 and to keep at the same time that constant and permanent 

 strain on the fish which is so necessary, and the fisherman is 

 obliged, therefore, when this happens, in order to keep the 

 strain of his rod on the fish, to run backward and handline 

 his fish. Even if the fisherman be capable of striking the 

 fish as it rises, the position of the rod will prevent his playing 

 his fish from the reel and he will have to handline. 



The first way is the best way. 



By fastening the end of the line to a croquet hoop or any- 

 thing else on the lawn, these three methods can be practised 

 by the reader, and he should gather in the line in the different 

 ways I have described above, taking care not to disturb the 

 line lying on the grass between the rod point and the 

 hoop until the strike be made, etc. 



After he has fixed his line to a croquet hoop, he should stand 

 at a distance of eighteen yards from the hoop, his rod held 

 horizontally about three feet from the ground, and having 

 his line extended on the grass. If then he walks towards 

 the hoop, the line will become slack under the point of his 

 rod in exactly the same manner as if it were being brought 

 down-stream towards him after having made his cast up- 

 stream. If instead of fastening the line to a croquet hoop, 



