STRIKING. 417 



As already mentioned, it is of no importance should the Fisherman strike 

 a little hard, for the reel-plate will revolve when the hook or hooks have 

 taken hold, and so prevent any breakage of tackle. He would do best, 

 perhaps, not to be misled by the term strike to jerk the rod, but, in 

 elevating it, to give a short, upward spring of the wrist. 



When the Angler is compelled to use a hook in excess of size 2/0 

 he must hold the line in slow-running waters, and strike from his fingers, 

 in order to drive in the hook over the barb. 



The reason why I recommend striking from the winch where it is 

 practicable to do so, is that the force exerted is far better regulated by the 

 resistance of the properly-adjusted lever than it can be even by an expert's 

 muscles. Upon numberless occasions have I noticed that, bar accidents 

 in playing, the hooks remain intact. In playing, sometimes a fish is too 

 severely handled ; the line may be hitched up in a " snag " ; the fish may 

 run down a weir ; but the flesh is never torn, provided no inordinate 

 pressure is put on at dangerous intervals. The reader will better under- 

 stand this presently. 



By the method I have recommended, a Salmon, when fairly hooked, 

 is hardly ever lost ; it either gets off at once, which shows it has been 

 merely " pricked," or is brought to bank barring other accidents over 

 which the Angler has no control. No man, for instance, can help heavy 

 fish running up-stream, and sometimes it is impossible to keep pace with 

 them. Only the other day I had one quite a hundred yards above me ; 

 but I took good care to give him his head. Had he turned and come full- 

 swing down the river and passed me here is the point the chances 

 are the line would have caught up among the boulders. In such circum- 

 stances the hooks would hardly remain intact. 



I have now only to remind the novice of one other fact. He will 

 remember that, in presenting the fly to the fish, the rod is to be at a 

 certain angle down-stream during the process, for if the rod is held up in 

 the air, he cannot make that " long, firm, steady " strike, which would 

 assuredly imbed the hook without tearing the flesh of the Salmon, or even 

 that of the tender-mouthed grilse. 



But it is one thing to hook a Salmon, and quite another to get it. 

 How, then, should we proceed in that direction ? 



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