150 TROUT FISHING 



than is just sufficient to allow the beetle to be 

 beneath the surface, or none at all, if the beetle 

 floats on the surface. The trout does not usually 

 rise if he means to take the beetle and you are 

 using it properly, but you can see him dart at it, 

 and then turn round, by which movement he will 

 expose the lighter colour of his side or belly ; this 

 is your time into him instantly by a wrist move- 

 ment; you cannot be too quick, but it must, so 

 far as the strike is concerned, be simply a wrist 

 movement. You may, if you think the oppor- 

 tunity favourable, follow instantly this wrist 

 movement for the strike, by a lifting of the arm, 

 which is better done from the shoulder than the 

 elbow, and so raise your fish out of the water and 

 land him. Never attempt to do so by the strike ; 

 if you do, you will hear your line and collar twang, 

 and either they or your rod will be snapped. Re- 

 member that the trout is usually under, not on 

 the surface of the water, and that he has turned, 

 and is going in a direction opposed to that in 

 which you are pulling ; consequently other forces 

 are acting against you over and beyond the mere 

 weight and muscles of the trout. Since you are 

 in the water, you generally, after striking the fish, 

 have to play him down till you can handle him ; 

 but if the strike was properly done, and the trout 

 meant to take the beetle, you are almost sure of 

 him, owing to the firm hold given by the large 

 hook. A little landing-net, with a handle one or 

 two feet long, with a loop of thread to attach it 

 to your coat's button-hole, will be useful it 



