CHAPTER XII. 



Handling The Hooked Fish. 



OLDING the fish after it is hooked, and 

 successfully tiring it out so that it can be 

 landed, is the subject that is not given 

 enough attention by writers on angling, 

 for the novice will often get as many strikes as 

 the veteran fisherman, sometimes more, but if 

 he does not know how to "play" the fish under 

 all conditions he will lose many, and it is a 

 regrettable fact that it is invariably the big one that gets 

 away. 



The manner of hooking the fish is usually a quick twitch 

 of the rod, being a movement of the wrist and forearm only, 

 but this depends on the kind of fishing, for in still fishing the 

 fish either hook themselves or the act of hooking and lifting 

 from the water is all in one movement. When reeling in an 

 artificial bait, using a short rod, the rod should be held at an 

 angle of about twenty degrees. If held higher you may 

 break the tip when you hook the fish. Even in still fishing 

 there is no need of roughness and it is not necessary to yank 

 the fish up into a tree-top or fling it back into the field above 

 the bank. All that is needed is to keep a steady, taut line, 

 and a quick twitch to set the hook, and a steady lift to draw 

 the fish from his element is sure to yield a larger catch of 

 fish. In still fishing the large ones are often lost by an un- 

 necessarily hard yank on the rod, which breaks or springs the 

 hook, or tears it out of the fish's mouth when it has not 

 caught well. 



But it is only the heavy, strong tackle used in still fish- 

 130 



