A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



and a half in weight rise freely. Fresh-run sea trout are at 

 all times exceedingly tender-mouthed, and, with small hooks, 

 one must expect to lose many of them, even with the most 

 careful handling. 



Of all fish, the sea trout fights the best in proportion to its 

 size. Its strength when fresh- run is greater than that of a 

 brown trout of the same size, and being, as it often is, a 

 stranger to the pool, or at best only a temporary visitor, it does 

 not so often concentrate its efforts upon getting to some known 

 refuge, but rushes wildly from place to place. The fight of 

 a sea trout is thus stronger than that of a brown trout and, if 

 possible, even more active and full of quick turns. There is 

 no fish with which one has to be so much on one's guard 

 against being surprised, either by sudden rushes or by jumps 

 in the air, and as far as the actual playing of a fish is concerned, 

 for sheer enjoyment and rapidity of sensation, I prefer a good 

 fresh run sea trout of three or four pounds in a river on a 

 single-handed rod and ^ne tackle to anything else. 



For this sort of fishing ix. a small river, I like to use a single- 

 handed rod, but one that is very strong. One not only has 

 more sport with the fish hooked on a rod like this, but one 

 fishes more delicately, and can use finer gut than is safe with 

 a double-handed rod ; and finer gut makes a considerable 

 difference in the number of fish hooked, except when the 

 water is very much coloured. With a small rod, an angler, who 

 has nerve and patience, will land even salmon successfully on 

 a casting line tapered to end with the finest undrawn gut, 

 provided always that the water is free from obstructions, such 



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