FLY-FISHING. 481 



back, as that throws your shadow clown on the water you want to 

 throw over. 



We will now suppose our tyro has managed to hook a half-pounder^ 

 which will be quite as much as he can manage to get out. He must 

 raise the point of the rod up, and bear gently yet evenly on him, 

 never suffering the line to get slack for a moment, letting him run out 

 what line he feels disposed to take, simply keeping the forefinger over 

 the line and pressing gently on the rod, so as in a slight degree to 

 check him ; always endeavoring to take the fish down stream, reeling 

 up line whenever opportunity occurs, increasing his strain as the fish 

 appears to weaken, until at last he can pull him out on the bank or get 

 him into the landing-net. The great secret is to keep the top of your 

 rod well up, to bear an even strain on the fish, and to keep your line 

 always tight. 



Bear these three points in mind, and but few fish you will lose. 

 Of course if there are rocks or fallen trees in the way, for which places 

 the fish always make, you must exert your utmost to prevent a lodg- 

 ment, bodily and by main force if your tackle will bear the strain, if 

 not, by manoeuvring him past the spot. 



Frequently, when I fish for trout, I use a single hair in place of gut, 

 and even with it I do not much dread a snag ; as, if you cannot turn 

 the fish away, you can prevent his fouling the line by being quick and 

 lifting your rod well up. White or Sea Trout are very greedy brutes, 

 striking the fly most generally when it touches the water ; conse- 

 quently, whipping is the best for them. But, as in general you would 

 use a double-handed rod, this becomes too laborious, and consequently 

 you fish for them as if for salmon. But still, what you do for conve- 

 nience sake is not always the best, which "whipping" decidedly is. 



I am afraid to say how many I have caught of these fish at the 

 Bally nahinch river in an hour with a small trout-rod, " whipping 1 ' 

 against the double-handed rods and invariably beat them. Never in 

 my life did I ever see so many fish as these and probably never shall 

 aji'aiii. Every throw, the moment the flies touched the water, one, 

 two and three sometimes rose at once to each fly. So troublesome, at 

 last did they become, from often having three hooked at once, that I only 

 left on one fly. That is the river, of all others, for White Trout. 



We now come to the consideration of Salmon-fishing, after which 

 all other is poor. Be your rod what it may, you cannot hope for any 



