A PULL THROUGH THE WEEDS. 171 



these circumstances are reversed, and he holds the weeds 

 by his outspread fins and very often also by his mouth. I 

 am frequently obliged to exert my persuasive powers in 

 this respect. I was once fishing in a very weedy river, and 

 to the great astonishment of the keeper I hauled four fish, 

 one after the other, out of very dangerous holes through 

 heavy weeds into safe water, and landed them ; three of 

 them weighed one pound and three-quarters each, and the 

 fourth two pounds. ' Never see any one so lucky as you 

 be, sir, wi' big fish ; don't seem to care 'bout the weeds, 

 not a rnossel,' said the keeper ; and certainly some of the 

 places were as nasty-looking places to hook a good fish in as 

 anyone could desire to see ; but prompt measures succeeded 

 where a timid and hesitating hand on the rod would have 

 been sure, sooner or later, to have ended in the fish bolt- 

 ing into a weed of his own accord. Should a fish run up 

 under a weed, in his efforts to escape, it is manifest, if the 

 angler pulls against the stream and the lay of the weed, 

 or even endeavours to pull the fish up through the weed, 

 or sideways out of it, that he will fail. The only way 

 to extricate such a fish when he has succeeded in hanging 

 your tackle up is to get well below him, let out a long- 

 ish line, sink the point of the rod to the level of the 

 water, and put a steady strain on straight down-stream. 

 The fish may perhaps for a time be able to resist this 

 strain, but patience and perseverance will fetch him out 

 at last ; even if he has gripped the weed in his mouth, 

 as fish will do, he must open his mouth eventually, par- 

 ticularly as he has the fly in it straining and pulling 

 at him. I do not say that this plan is always successful, 

 but it is the best plan you can adopt, while to attempt to 

 pull the fish against or across the weed is almost certain 

 destruction ; a gentle sawing motion may at times be used 

 with excellent effect, if the angler has reason to suppose 

 that the weed hangs at all on the line. Poking or stoning a 



