PRACTICAL FLY FISHING 



fix a wire hook at the end of the twine. On the 

 plumb-line proper they make a loop, which they 

 hang on the hook, leaving three or four yards of 

 the proper line in hand, to be wrapped on the 

 winder and laid within reach of the fisherman as 

 he sits rowing, with gentle short strokes, at an 

 easy pace, enough to make the baits spin quietly, 

 but no more. 



When the jerking of the rod tells of a bite, the 

 fisher rows steadily until he is sure the fish is 

 hooked, and then pulls in the line (unhooking it 

 from the rod, if he thinks well, or else leaving it 

 hooked) until he comes to the fish. 



When the fish comes to the top of the water, if 

 it offers a lively resistance, it must not be allowed 

 to get under water again ; but it must be pulled 

 steadily out, and, if large, landed with a net. In 

 Windermere Char are sometimes caught over a 

 pound ; but in Coniston Water they average five 

 to the pound, and do not usually need the landing- 

 net. 



Ordinary Trolling. By the end of May the 

 Char come up to the top of the water, so that 

 during June and July trolling is much simpler. 

 Instead of the complicated plumb-line, you have 

 a cast about four yards long, with swivels on it, at 

 the end of a line of about forty-five yards. This 

 is managed with a rod and wire hook, in the way 

 already described, except that the rods for this 

 kind of trolling are cut thirteen or fourteen feet 

 long ; and three or four rods and lines are used at 

 once, as there is only one cast to each. 



The Char go down a little in July, so that during 

 August you must put some lead, about a J to \ 

 an ounce, on your line, one or two feet above the 

 cast. They come up again in September, and the 

 fishing is as it was in June. But they now begin 

 to go nearer the shore, in shoals, in anticipation 

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