DRY FLY FISHING 85 



crisis : the rise, the strike, and the rush succeed 

 each other in a moment, and the angler's 

 emotions are an exquisite blend of joy and fear. 

 If the trout is clearly making for a bed of 

 weeds it is best to let it go in rather than to 

 risk a break : if it is lightly hooked it will 

 free itself from the fly in the weeds, but it 

 may do this in any case. On the other hand, if 

 the trout is firmly hooked, it is surprising how 

 often the angler is able to extricate his fish by 

 lowering the point of his rod, keeping the line 

 tight and working it gently with his hand. 

 Time after time I have known fish, apparently 

 buried in weeds, be perfectly immovable by the 

 strain of the rod and give no sign of feeling 

 it, and yet become restless and yield to the 

 direct play of the hand. It is, of course, 

 essential that the strain should be applied from 

 below the weeds. It is, in my opinion, an error 

 to suppose that the idea of a trout is to roll 

 itself up in weeds and thus to offer resistance : 

 its first object is probably shelter out of sight, 

 but a trout's method of resisting in weeds 

 is, I am convinced, to lay hold of them with 

 its mouth. For years I had noticed that there 



