28 THE CRITICAL MOMENT. 



ing slowly, act on the notion that fish generally 

 hook themselves, and that the slow stroke is only 

 necessary to affix the hook firmly. Fish do some- 

 times hook themselves, 'tis true, but it is only 

 by exception, and not by rule. The fly-fisher of 

 sharp eye and quick hand will always have an 

 advantage over the purblind and the slow. Dim- 

 ness of vision and obtuseness of touch mar fre- 

 quently the benefits of experience, and the young 

 sharp eye and lively hand will successfully com- 

 pete with the skill of old practitioners in whom 

 the two attributes mentioned are fading away. 



On this nice part of our subject I find some 

 excellent advice and remarks in the late Mr. 

 Elaine's " Encyclopaedia of Eural Sports *," p. 1 1 78. 

 He says, " Striking the fish is to the full as im- 

 portant a part of the rod and line management as 

 any. Many strike too slowly, many too quickly, 

 and a correct few strike at the critical moment. 

 The first lose their object, the second often lose 

 both the object and their bait, while the third 

 secure all. When a fish seizes the natural fly, his 

 jaws find no resistance; he consequently keeps 

 them closed until deglutition follows ; and thus it is 

 that in natural fly-fishing, it is not found so neces- 

 sary to be instantaneous in striking; but with 

 the artificial fly, the instant the fish seizes it, he is 



* Published by Messrs. Longman and Co., Paternoster 

 Row. 



