98 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



keep in touch with them by raising his rod-point 

 and lifting the reel-line out of the water. The 

 nearer the flies come the higher is the rod-point and 

 the less is the line left in the water. 



When the flies are nearly down as far as the 

 angler's position he lifts them from the water and 

 makes another cast about a yard further out from 

 the bank. There, almost as the flies fell, there was 

 a visible swirl on the surface and a yellow gleam 

 below it. The novice noted this, but did not take 

 advantage of it. iWhat he ought to have done was to 

 throw his rod-point up at once, so tightening the 

 line and driving the hook into the fish's mouth. 

 The response of the hand to the eye in up-stream 

 fishing must be immediate, because a trout in a 

 mountain stream only holds the fly in its mouth 

 for*a moment, rejecting it as soon as it realises that 

 it is not the real thing. Also a trout once risen 

 and missed seldom comes again to the same fly, or 

 until some time has elapsed. 



In the immediateness of the " strike" as it is 

 called, there lies a certain danger. The hand in its 

 efforts to be swift is also apt to be violent, and the 

 result may be a breakage which leaves the fly in the 

 fish's mouth. Some men are naturally light-handed, 

 and do not break in this way ; for the heavy-handed 

 it is good counsel to strike from the reel i.e., to 



