150 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



Then the novice ought to do well, but is almost 

 certain to do badly. 



It is very largely a question of nerve. Trout 

 which are really enthusiastic come at the fly with a 

 fierce plunge or swirl which is extremely alarming 

 even to an old hand. Often and often have I lost 

 fish after fish on such a day, by meeting violence 

 with violence and leaving a fly in the mouth of 

 each fish as it rose. The temptation to " strike " 

 a trout which comes at you suddenly is almost 

 irresistible and is nearly always fatal. The only 

 remedy, short of self-control, which in this matter 

 is not to be acquired by everybody, is to strike,, 

 since strike it must be, from the reel. This mode 

 of procedure I have explained before, and I have 

 only to add that for Mayfly fishing the check on the 

 reel should be a pretty stiff one, as the hook to be 

 driven home is rather large. Of course the fish 

 do not always behave like this ; on some days they 

 rise quietly enough and then there is no particular 

 difficulty about hooking them. 



On other days they act in a way w r hich may 

 puzzle and annoy the novice not a little. He wilt 

 see great commotions and swirlings and other 

 indications of big fish, and he will labour away with 

 practically no result and with a gradually increasing 

 feeling that a great wrong is being done to him. It 



