HOOKING FOUL. 395 



down," which in Salmon-fishing is a fad, for the fly should "pop" in, 

 like a falling acorn upon oily waters. The word really denotes the 

 scrupulously light way the line should fall, when, in fishing all 

 smooth reaches on calm days, delicacy is an indispensable condition of 

 success. 



The most effectual means of casting lightly, is to raise the point of 

 the rod by a spring of the wrist just as the line is descending. The very 

 instant the rod is thus handled the point ascends. But this is a knack 

 which requires an immense amount of practice to master. 



In writing of Flats, a very much thrashed out controversy crops up 

 and calls to mind many hard struggles with foul-hooked fish. In foul- 

 hooking I have a particularly settled conviction, for there is such a thing 

 as " settled conviction " in piscatory affairs, though the closest observation 

 opens up a long vista of possibilities, and a deal of the non-proven matter 

 must for ever remain mysterious. 



Crucial experiments have led me to accept a very good reason for 

 hooking fish foul, and I am not afraid to say that my settled conviction of 

 the subject would take " all the King's horses and all the King's men " to 

 remove. Depend upon this, it happens not from the fly shifting by a 

 sudden sharp curl of water, nor from the method of striking, but from 

 some fault in the fly itself ; it is either too large or is improperly put 

 before the fish, in most cases. 



If he means it, a Salmon will catch a fly in any current easier than a 

 fly is caught by a swallow in a gale of wind ; and strike how one will in 

 these reaches, or for that matter, not strike at all, fish are often hooked 

 foul. No, in all smooth waters, a fly cast accidentally over fish when the 

 bed of the river is level, or a fly too large or too gaudy, and the chances 

 are they try to kill it with their tail, in which case they often strike the 

 line and get hooked somewhere not in the mouth. There is indeed, no 

 incident in Salmon-fishing that will more readily convince a man of the 

 importance of studying presentation, light, shade, geological formation, 

 and other local surroundings, than this. 



Whatever may be the cause of the dilemma, when his line is run out 

 and the pull-devil pull-baker business (consequent on foul-hooking) sets in, 

 the Angler should resort to certain immediate tactics. Let the reach be 



