STRIKING AND PLAYING 



shouted, " Got it." At the same time he walked rapidly 

 backwards, and gathered yards of slack by pulling in 

 the line irrespective of the reel. " I was afraid that 

 would happen. It shot straight towards me, and it has 

 buried itself in that mass of weed/' said my friend. The 

 weed was about four yards distant from our bank. 



Every trick in an angler's magic-box was produced, 

 but the fish was obdurate. To lose such a big fish was 

 unthinkable, so, knowing that the hedgers were busy 

 not far away, I said that I would fetch a long branch. 

 Selecting an ash pole of some fifteen feet in length with 

 a twiggy top, I was quickly at the side of the pool, and 

 slipping down the bank, I commenced disturbing the 

 weed behind the fish. Suddenly my friend shouted, 

 " It's out." I saw the line shoot across the water, then 

 upstream, but, alas ! it came back, curling significantly. 

 The fish had vanished, and with it the fly. Upon ex- 

 amining the broken cast, we noticed that, about an 

 inch from where the fly had been attached, the gut was 

 frayed, but we were unable to determine whether the 

 fracture was due to friction against a rock or to persistent 

 nibbling of the fish. 



A fresh-run sea-trout is endowed with a superfluity 

 of guile, and the angler who can vanquish a hefty specimen 

 is to be congratulated. 



The worst phase with which any rodster has to contend 

 is when a fish darts in his direction. For the time being 

 the fish is quite out of control, and the bare hope then 

 is for the fish to swerve either upstream or down. 



When sea-fishing from the shore my greatest mis- 

 fortunes have arisen when the hooked ones have made 

 straight for me. At such a time the speed of a travelling 

 bass is amazing, and there is ever present the risk of a 

 disconnection ; so when dealing with a sea-trout dis- 

 abuse your mind of time constants. 



