132 THE SALMON. 



time and place. As a rule, you can hardly strike 

 too lightly, and hardly strike too slowly. The for- 

 mula I have before enunciated One, he comes up ! 

 two, he goes down! three, you strike! is invaluable. 

 It is like Mr Jorrocks's specific, " counting twenty " 

 when a fox broke before he hallooed. More salmon, 

 we venture to say, are lost by too quick striking 

 than by any other error, and next to that, by too 

 hard striking ; a short, sharp turn of the wrist is 

 all that is required. If the hook has struck on a 

 reasonably soft part of the mouth, the barb of the 

 hook will be covered, and that is all that is requisite ; 

 if the point of the hook has struck upon an impene- 

 trable bone, the harder the blow, the more likely 

 it is to rebound innocuously. 



In the autumn, when the fish run larger, and are 

 comparatively far more sluggish than in the sum- 

 mer, we hold striking to be entirely superfluous, 

 nay, mischievous. Fish deep, wait till you feel a 

 " tug, 57 and then tighten your line. Your fish has 

 hooked himself, and all you have to do is to kill 

 him if you can. It is usual, no doubt, to lay 

 down arbitrary rules respecting wind, water, and 

 weather, to be conscientiously observed by fish for 

 your especial gratification, but I have found them 

 remarkably and unjustifiably independent on all 

 these points. As in the case of scent, the longer a 



