140 ANGLING. 



water once more recover your strain. Always keep level 

 with or opposite to your fish, and do not let him get 

 further below or above you than you can help, as it is apt 

 to drown the line; and if the fish turns suddenly, you 

 may have a lot of loose line in the water, and the fish 

 careering about at his pleasure. When he begins to run 

 short, look out for a suitable landing-plaoe where you can 

 bring the fish close in, and where he can be either netted 

 or gaffed from ; never dash at a fish in gaffing, but wait 

 until he is well within reach, extend the gaff beyond him 

 (as near the tail as you can make sure of, so as to spoil 

 the fish as little as possible), and with a quick stroke and 

 a drag, send the point well into him, and haul him out at 

 once, letting him hang a dead weight on the hook (the 

 gaff being held perpendicularly) as you lift him out of the 

 water, get him in a safe place, and knock him on the head 

 at once. 



If you have not a gaff or net, you must tail him out. 

 Find a shelving, sandy, gravelly bit of shore, and as the 

 fish turns on his side beaten, draw him up gently into the 

 shallow water, when your assistant should go behind him, 

 grip him firmly by the small of the tail, and " run him 

 in." If you have no basket nor bag to put your fish in, 

 get a piece of stoutish string, tie one end tightly round the 

 small of the tail, put the other end through the gills, out 

 through the mouth, drawing the fish up to the best part of 

 a circle, with about a foot of string between head and tail, 

 and tie off. If you then take four inches of a round stick, 

 and take a turn of the string round it, you can carry the 

 fish very conveniently, and without cutting your fingers 

 with the string, any distance. 



Although it is desirable to be able to make long casts at 

 times, you should never use an inch more line than is abso- 



