82 FLY FISHING 



of hooking them at all, and that only at the 

 exact moment when the lips close upon- the 

 fly. Any angler may notice how many of his 

 large trout are hooked in the very edge of 

 the mouth. I have sometimes, when I could 

 see the fish in the water, intentionally abstained 

 from striking in order to see what happened, 

 and the result has been that, though very small 

 and innocent trout have sometimes taken the 

 fly with a confident gulp, and have had ap- 

 parently a little difficulty in expelling it under 

 water afterwards, the larger trout have rejected it 

 in an instant. Where, however, the movement 

 of a trout can be watched in the water, great 

 care is needed to avoid striking too soon ; for 

 if the approach and opening of his mouth the 

 sure signs that he is going to take the fly are 

 mistaken for the fact of his actually having done 

 so, the trout will certainly be missed and probably 

 be scared. 



The art in striking is to use the greatest 

 amount of quickness and decision that can be 

 combined with gentleness ; personally I prefer 

 to strike with the hand upon the line, rather 

 than to be dependent upon the nice adjust- 



