DRY FLY FISHING 83 



ment of resistance in the reel ; and whatever 

 may have been the case in early and more 

 excitable days, I do not find much difficulty 

 now in preventing myself from striking too hard. 

 But nothing is more annoying than to lose a good 

 trout by striking too hard ; the fish then often 

 gives a heavy plunge in surprise and alarm, 

 which increases the idea of its size, and the 

 angler overwhelms himself in consequence with 

 bitter self-reproach. When the gut does break 

 it is generally at the knot which holds the fly, 

 and to guard against this misfortune there are 

 two precautions which no angler can impress 

 upon himself too much. The first is, to soak 

 the end of gut well, not merely at the beginning 

 of the day, but also on every occasion before 

 tying on a new fly; without doing this he 

 cannot be sure of tying a sound knot. The 

 second is, to examine the gut at the head of 

 the fly carefully from time to time. Sooner 

 or later the constant flicking will weaken fine 

 gut, even when the smallest flies are used. 

 Sometimes the gut at the head of the fly be- 

 comes untrustworthy in five minutes ; sometimes 

 it lasts a long time unimpaired. The length of 



