PART IV 



HOW 



I 

 THE MOUTH OF A TROUT 



"And lo, it stuck 

 Right in his little gill." 



Dr. Watts. 



Among the many hundreds of trout which have been the 

 victims of my luck or skill, I have never known one which 

 was hooked in the gill, pace the good Dr. Watts. So it is 

 not unreasonable to conclude that the indraught of water 

 which takes the angler's fly into the trout's mouth does 

 not, by some miracle of contrivance, project the fly against 

 the gills by which the indrawn water is expelled. 



The mouth of a trout is, relatively to his weight and 

 length, larger than that of any, I think, of our fresh-water 

 fishes, except perhaps that of the pike. It is serrated all 

 round the edge with fine teeth, and the roof of the mouth 

 and the tongue are armed with far more formidable ones. 

 For the purposes of taking and retaining the fly I cannot 

 conceive that these teeth are of much service. They seem 

 better suited to the purpose of the capture of minnows 

 and other small fry, which but for them might escape by 

 wriggling, and I have little doubt that the escapes so 

 often made by a too lightly held trout are often due to his 

 using the tongue-teeth as a sort of toothpick, to extract the 

 hook from the roof of his mouth or the side of his jaw. 



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