EVILS OF VIOLENT STRIKING. 31 



to throw it out again, is sure to secure the entrance 

 of the hook within the substance of the mouth, 

 without causing great alarm to the fish by any 

 unnecessary violence ; for it cannot have escaped 

 the observant angler, that, when a trout has been 

 harshly tugged in striking, he commences at once 

 a more determined resistance than when the stroke 

 has been less violent, and his alarm less sudden. 

 Neither can we wonder that his efforts should be 

 extreme, when he is made sensible of his situation 

 by a stab and a drag which have half pulled him 

 out of the water. If such critical nicety be re- 

 quired in striking, it may be here asked, how is it 

 that fish are ever taken by novices? Such a 

 question is reasonable, but may be easily ex- 

 plained. Many eager and hungry fish hook them- 

 selves in taking any bait without hesitation. 

 Their seizure of the fly, their closing their mouth 

 on it, and the passing it backwards, are all 

 one instantaneous effort; and, on examination, 

 such fish will be found to have partially gorged 

 the bait. But if the number of fish so taken was 

 arranged against the number of those lost by a 

 defect in striking, the difference would be as five 

 to one of small fish, and as ten to one of those of 

 mature growth." This extract contains much of 

 the sound rationale of striking a fish, and should 

 be read and digested carefully. 



PLAYING A FISH. This is the pleasantest and 



