TROUT STREAM INSECTS 121 



from the right to the left hand you do not 

 have to turn it over because your reel handle is 

 placed to the right and play him from the reel 

 until he gives in a little, when you at once re- 

 turn the rod to the right hand and strip in line 

 with the left. 



Playing a trout in this manner one is master 

 of the situation at every stage of the game from 

 the strike to the landing net; and if, at any 

 time, some unusual action of the fish renders 

 the outcome more than ordinarily doubtful, 

 your chances are many times better for getting 

 out of the difficulty than if you depend upon the 

 reel for the intake of your line; for instance, 

 every experienced trout fisherman knows that 

 often a trout will run out many feet of line 

 from the reel and then incontinently about-face 

 and run in toward the angler one of the most 

 difficult situations the fly-caster is ordinarily 

 called upon to face. 



About nine times out of ten at least it is 

 not safe to rely upon odds more favorable al- 

 though, of course, sometimes the fish will be so 

 deeply hooked that the chance is lessened a 

 slack line spells a lost trout. The rapidity with 

 which a fish coming directly toward the angler 

 creates a wake of slack line is difficult to esti- 

 mate; in any event, the fly-caster's single-action 

 reel is utterly unable to cope with the situation 



