CHAP. VI.] THE SECOND DAT. 397 



Pise. Come, come, cross the bridge, and go down the 

 other side, lower ; where you will find finer streams, and 

 better sport, I hope, than this. Look you, sir, here is a 

 fine stream now. You have length enough, stand a little 

 further off, let me entreat you ; and do but fish this stream 

 like an artist, and peradventure a good fish may fall to your 

 share. How now ! What is all gone ? 



Viat. No, I but touched him ; but that was a fish worth 

 taking. 



Pise. "Why now, let me tell you, you lost that fish by your 

 own fault, and through your own eagerness and haste : for 

 you are never to offer to strike a good fish, if he do not 

 strike himself, 1 till first you see him turn his head after he 

 has taken your fly ; and then you can never strain your 

 tackle in the striking, if you strike with any manner of 

 moderation. Come, throw in once again, and fish me this 

 stream, by inches ; for I assure you here are very good fish : 

 both trout and grayling lie here ; and at that great stone 

 on the other side, 'tis ten to one a good trout gives you the 

 meeting. 



Viat. I have him now, but he is gone down towards the 



1 Every candid fly-fisher will confess, that in nine cases out of ten, the 

 trout hooks himself; and in rough, sometimes in smooth, though dark, 

 water, the first notice you have of his bite is his weight on the line. 

 Many a fish is lost by vain attempts at striking, which compel you to bring 

 the line home for another cast, when a few inches more play would have 

 done the business. Cotton's directions are, therefore, excellent. Better 

 not strike at all, unless you are sure, and then strike easily by a turn of 

 the wrist alone. In fishing far and fine, which is the surest way, 

 especially in clear, still waters, it is not easy to see the fish, and you 

 must be guided by the disturbance he makes of the surface. After he 

 has risen, cast your fly a little above the place where he showed himself, 

 as a trout almost always heads up stream, and his spring will send him 

 in that direction ; then cast in different directions around him. If he be 

 large enough to give you trouble, get your rod in a perpendicular position 

 as soon as possible ; for then you have more power in playing him with it. 

 Be sure, however, never to slack your line, or he may snap it and be off ; 

 neither grasp your line to draw him by it, nor attempt to basket him 

 while you are standing in the water; but as soon as he is sufficiently 

 exhausted, lead him to a shallow, and so contrive that if he fall it may 

 not be into the water. If the fish be small, such pains are unnecessary ; 

 or if you have a landing net, do not use it until he is sufficiently sub- 

 dued. A trout may also be more readily killed by leading him down 

 stream, or, if there be no current, to and fro, as so the water will rush 

 into his open mouth and drown him. Am. Ed. 



