29 



exerted strength on the part of the fish, he renders its 

 efforts of little avail, and, in the end, is sure to weary it 

 into a state of complete exhaustion ! 



But the line on the reel is not to be used indiscrimi- 

 nately 5 for there may be a great variety of situations, 

 such, for instance, as dipping for jacks with a dead bait, 

 in narrow waters, overhung with bushes, and replete with 

 strong spreading weeds, where the reel is more used for 

 the purpose of shortejiing than for lengthening the line. 



If, indeed, a person sitting in a boat not at anchor, in 

 the midst of an extensive water, clear to the bottom, were 

 to hook a fish requiring some management, he might, 

 without much hazard, give out the whole line from his 

 reel (though even then it would be prudent to reserve a 

 few turns, in case of a sudden spring or jerk) 5 for there 

 would be no risk of getting entangled, or of having the 

 line cut, by means of friction against boughs, or other 

 incumbrances. 



But, under the ordinary circumstances of locality, 

 whereby we consider the angler as situated on the bank of 

 a stream, and obliged to cast in among bushes, rushes, 

 weeds, and dead wood, both above and in the water, the 

 management of a short line is assuredly less difficult than 

 that of one longer than the rod. 



From the former, unless the fish be so powerful as to 

 negative all the skill of the angler, success will generally 

 reward his efforts. Whereas, when a fish is allowed to 

 run among docks, lay-weeds, piles, stakes, vessels attached 

 to wharfs (or even at liberty), and to entangle the line among 

 pendant boughs, or concealed sunken branches, his being 

 brought to land may, ninety- nine times in the hundred, be 

 more fairly attributed to chance than to good management ? 

 e 3 Some 



