20 THE AMERICAN TROUT. 



have I seen escape for want of quickness. It must be 

 done quickly but steadily, and not with a jerk, as the 

 latter is apt, by the double action of the rod, to bend the 

 tip forward and loosen instead of tightening the line. 

 There are days when fish cannot be struck, although they 

 are rising freely ; whether they are playing or over-cau- 

 tious, I never could determine; whether they are not 

 hungry or the water is too clear, they put man's capacities 

 at defiance. Their appearance must be signalled to the 

 eye, by that reported to the brain, which then directs the 

 nerves to command the muscles to move the wrist ; and 

 ere this complicated performance is completed, the fish 

 has blown from his mouth the feathery deception and 

 has darted back to his haunts of safety. A fish will 

 occasionally leap up, seize the fly, discover the cheat, and 

 shaking his head, jump several feet along the surface of 

 the water to rid his mouth of it, and do this so quickly 

 as not to give a quick angler time to strike. How often 

 fish are caught when they rise the second time, as then 

 the angler is more on the alert, whereas on the first rise 

 he was off his guard ! How often fish rise when the 

 angler's head is turned away from his line, or when he is 

 busy at something else, and how rarely are they caught ! 

 In my experience it is so great a rarity, that it might 

 almost be said they never hook themselves. In the lan- 

 guage of youth, the only hooking they do is to hook off. 

 Dr. Bethune, page 97, says the rod should not exceed 

 one pound in weight. Indeed it should not, and if it does, 

 it exemplifies the old maxim, so far as to ha\e a fool at 

 one end. If we could fish by steam, a rod exceeding a 

 pound and measuring over fourteen feet might answei 



