26 STRIKING AND HOOKING A FISH. 



little under water. If you allow your upper 

 dropper to be under water, all the flies below that 

 dropper will be sunk too deeply to appear living 

 insects to the fish, and therefore any motion you 

 may give them will be useless. They then can 

 only be taken by the fish for dead flies. When 

 you keep your last dropper on the surface of the 

 water, impart to it a slight skipping motion, by a 

 tremulous wrist shake of the rod, and the flies that 

 are just under water will receive the most natural 

 motion you can give them. Never drag your flies 

 straight across the water towards you, and never 

 work them against the current. A small fish may, 

 perchance, rise at them when so worked, but 

 seldom or never a large one. 



STRIKING AND HOOKING A FISH. In cricket 

 there are fast and slow bowlers, which is a proof 

 that one way is thought as good, if not better 

 than another. In striking a fish there are fast 

 and slow strikers, each of course maintaining the 

 superiority of his own method. Well, if there 

 was no difference of opinion, sad would be the 

 monotony of life, after the old proverb, " tot 

 homines, tot sententi<z" had become obsolete. The 

 truth is, there are as many fish missed by strik- 

 ing too rapidly, as by striking too slowly, and a 

 fault either way is bad. I think, however, that 

 he who strikes too slowly labours under a greater 

 disadvantage than he who strikes too quickly. 



