TARDINESS A FAULT. 109 



the fish time to discover that the indigestible mass of 

 case-hardened steel, fur, and feathers, he holds in his 

 jaws is not exactly the thing he took it for. He spits 

 it out, and with virtuous indignation at the barefaced 

 attempt to impose upon his credulity, turns leisurely 

 away. And the only victims this slow-paced sportsman 

 will succeed in capturing, will be such as unwittingly 

 contrive to hook themselves by the tail. 



JSTow each of those extremes must be studiously 

 avoided ; and w r hile the hook is fixed, the moment the 

 fish has fairly turned with it in his mouth, by a quick 

 and decided jerk of the wrist alone, the stroke must be 

 given with such moderation, as neither to place rod, line, 

 nor hold, in jeopardy. I have been an indefatigable 

 votary of the angle, now for upwards of a quarter of a 

 century, and have during that time captured many and 

 various-sized fish of various species, in all conceivable 

 positions, and under various circumstances, and never 

 once in my whole sporting career recollect of fracturing 

 either rod or line by handling a fish too impetuously ; 

 while I have had many gut-lines that, with occasional 

 repairs, have lasted for two and even three seasons in 

 succession. 



The disturbance of the water occasioned by a fish 

 rising at the fly, is always produced by the motion of 

 its tail on turning round to descend again towards the 

 bottom. The angler therefore must recollect that the 

 fish has already either refused to take, or has firmly 

 closed his jaws upon the fly, before the said splash is 

 made, and that consequently the sooner the barb of the 



