COOLNESS INCULCATED. 107 



the instant that the tail of a trout breaks the water. It 

 is indeed difficult to make such people proficients in fly- 

 fishing, by any process of instruction. They very pro- 

 bably know well how they ought to proceed, but for the 

 life of them cannot divest themselves of this absurd 

 nervous trepidation, whenever they observe the shadow 

 of a fish approaching their flies ; and it will be as utterly 

 impossible for any sportsman suffering from this infirm- 

 ity to land safely anything above nine inches in length, 

 as it would be for a locomotive to drag a train by a pack- 

 thread. Unless a sportsman is perfectly cool and col- 

 lected, and has all his wits about him, ready to meet 

 and circumvent all the manoeuvres and dodges practised 

 by a large fish when hooked and under play, the chance 

 of his being able to creel him will be slight indeed. 

 When a fish is once securely hooked, the more coolly 

 and deliberately he is played, and the longer the time 

 given him to exhaust himself, the more certain will be 

 the success of the issue. No fish beyond a quarter of a 

 pound can be unceremoniously hauled ashore, nolens 

 volens supposing that the line and tackle are sufficiently 

 strong to do so without extreme danger of the hold on 

 his jaws giving way ; and in nineteen cases out of twenty, 

 when a large fish that is once fairly hooked succeeds in 

 escaping, it is from the mischievous precipitation and 

 over-anxious haste of his captor to lay hands upon him 

 prematurely. 



The moment a trout is observed to rise, the hook ought 

 to be instantly struck into his jaws, by a quick, decided, 

 but at the same time gentle upward jerk of the wrist ; 



