36 PLAYING A FISH HOOKED FOUL. 



like suffocation or asphyxia by drowning will 

 ensue. Your victory is then complete. 



When a fish is hooked foul, that is, on the out- 

 side of the mouth, he has his head free, and you 

 will find great difficulty in tiring him down. A 

 small fish so hooked will show more strength than 

 a large one fairly hooked. You have not got the 

 bit in his mouth, but are forced to manage him 

 with, as it were, a halter round his neck. Give 

 him as much line as you can, bearing upon him 

 as heavily as the strength of your tackle will with 

 safety admit, and having no fear that your hook 

 will tear away, as it often does from the brittle 

 fibrous parts of the interior of the mouth. Be 

 prepared for several swift rushes of a fish hooked 

 foully, and do not bring him near you until you 

 have softened down his struggles. Use much 

 patience, and should your line, as it not unfre- 

 quently does, get coiled round the fish's body, 

 hold hard, and shorten line, for you will now have 

 little more than his weight to contend with, the 

 power of his fins being impeded. I repeat again, 

 eschew violence. Always play with a light hand, 

 making its strength gradually felt in the ratio of 

 the decline of that of your fish. That is the 

 killing rule to be observed in playing a fish. In 

 doing so, never seize your line in either hand 

 to shorten it, unless (and the occasion will not 

 often occur) you cannot wind up rapidly enough 



