How to Play and How to Land Them 



not, go back to the same spot again, giving a lit- 

 tle tip and raise it with a little extra pressure. It 

 may go ; if it does not, tighten the line and see if 

 a waiting game is any good. If it does not move, 

 the line is no doubt fast and the fish gone with 

 part of the leader; a slight whip movement must 

 be tried to .loosen the rest of the line. 



The remarkable variety of ways by which dif- 

 ferent kinds of fish resist capture is endless. In the 

 larger kinds of marine game fish, their great bulk, in 

 a measure, stops them from using de- 

 How Fish vices so common in smaller game fish 

 Resist the ... 

 Net hke the bass, trout, salmon, ouan- 



aniche or even the mascalonge. The 

 last I have known to wind itself in the line half 

 a dozen times by rolling over and over on the sur- 

 face, then to slap the lure, hanging from its jaws, 

 viciously with its tail, successfully breaking the 

 line. It is a common practice of the pike to come 

 up like a lamb only to make a sudden and violent 

 lunge just as it is being netted, when the line is 

 reeled in tight. On one occasion, after play- 

 ing a large rainbow trout for some time, I had it, 

 as I thought, "just as good as landed," with its 

 nose in the net, but with a sudden bound it shot 

 right between my legs, snapping the rod to shiv- 

 ers because of the short line. I have had a decided 

 opinion for many years that a game fish is not 

 safe till it is rapped on the head and quiet. Few 

 trout fishermen will bother with a net, but they 

 lose large fish if the water side is not suitable 

 for beaching them. Bass fishermen often trust 

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