Late in the season a salmon will often seize the 

 fly so gently that if you should wait for the pull 

 it would be too late to hook the fish, for he releases 

 it just as softly but with greater alacrity. At such 

 a time it is difficult to know when to strike. How- 

 ever, with careful watchfulness, you will soon 

 learn. 



A good little sportswoman once told me it was 

 easy enough to hook a salmon she nrvrr missed 



any. 



" Will you tell me the trick T I asked. 



" Why, it is very simple," she replied. " I never 

 fish for trout any more." 



Many anglers strike from the reel that is, they 

 depend entirely upon the drag on the reel checking 

 the line sufficiently to hook the fish. When a 

 strike is made in this way, the right leg is usually 

 lifted, the body is bent backward, and the arms 

 thrown up, until the rod is nearly if not quite per- 

 pendicular. Finally, the right hand grasps the 

 handle of the reel; then, with revolutions faster 

 than those of a circular-saw, the angler turns the 

 handle in order to bring the rod back again, with- 

 out giving slack, to the proper position for com- 

 mencing the fight. These acrobatic feats when 

 striking a fish are not graceful, or at all necessary. 

 If you hold the line as I have suggested, then a 

 slight turn of the wrists is usually all that is 

 needed, and your rod will at once be in the right 



57 



