' OX STRIKE.' 323 



and he does not take ; sometimes, pleased with the nearer 

 inspection, he does. Sometimes, over-eager, he rises, 

 misses, turns round, and has another grab a moving fly 

 in a sharp stream may be missed. Either way, eight times 

 out of ten there is either the least pause in the world or a 

 very long one, and nothing is gained by pulling away the 

 fly. Sometimes, when very sharp-set indeed, he makes no 

 bones of it, but comes straight at it like a lion. That is 

 when you see the boil and feel the pluck at the same in- 

 stant. There is not much consideration required with 

 such fish ; you can hardly miss them. 



I have watched hundreds of fish rise on different rivers, 

 being desirous of studying how a salmon rises and takes, 

 and in the majority of instances the rise is much^quieter 

 than would be supposed ; occasionally, perhaps, there is a 

 rapid, bold dash at the fly, when a considerable pother is 

 created ; but more often than not the salmon rises steadily 

 to the fly, puts his nose above water if the fly, &c., is on 

 the surface, and then goes down head foremost, with a 

 flourish of his tail to send him down. It is the flourish 

 of the tail that usually makes the splash ; if the fly is under 

 water, as it mostly is, you seldom see more than a boil. 



But some salmon-fishers say you ' should not strike.' 

 Yes, I know that ; but what they mean by striking is, you 

 shouldn't hit a salmon as if the roof of his mouth were a 

 paving-stone, or you were punching a whole flight of spin- 

 ning-tackle into a bony old pike, with a mouth like a 

 quartz-crushing machine. But we will effect a compro- 

 mise, and therefore you should do what they say and I 

 have described, and which they call 'letting him hook 

 himself,' but I call ' striking.' To hit a salmon violently 

 as you would a pike is in some respects certainly not ad- 

 visable, as you may force him into his most violent and 

 dangerous action when he is best prepared for it, and when 

 possibly the ground is not the most suitable ; whereas, by 



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