A l)ry-F/y Purist's Adoice to a Bey inner. 29 



struggles ; or, if the hook be fast in a fleshy part, it 

 often works out under the strain of lengthened play ; 

 or the fine-drawn gut point a necessity for a perfect 

 dry-fly cast may break by a fish being struck with 

 too much force, or if his sudden rush be too master- 

 fully restrained. Some of these mishaps are due to- 

 nervous excitement on the fisherman's part, and may 

 be partly avoided by taking matters quietly ; a dry- 

 fly man should never be in a hurry. And, with 

 regard to striking, it may be observed that, as a fish 

 in position sucks in the counterfeit fly, a turn of the 

 wrist and a gentle draw at the right instant (not 

 altogether from the winch) are enough to hook him ; 

 and if he then, in a scared way, bolts up-stream and 

 a little pressure can be risked, it may be tried with 

 advantage, for, feeling it, if he do not then make a 

 second and often the most dangerous rush for a weed 

 patch, he will haply turn down- stream, followed along 

 the bank by the excited angler, whose bending rod puts 

 such a strain on the trout that he heads up again, and 

 is in a brief time played to exhaustion, and netted out. 

 If, on the other hand, a fish (especially a grayling) 

 appears to take no notice of one's fly as it floats 

 past him, but, when least expected, turns to follow it 

 down- stream and take it, he is, while in that position, 

 often insecurely hooked, because the striking is 

 too lightly effected on a partly slack line, and, in 

 consequence the barb of the hook is not covered ; 



