ii6 MINOR TACTICS OF THE CHALK STREAM 



go altogether for a time till he recovered his nerve 

 and came out was an old and often unsuccessful 

 device. To hand-line him was to put a much 

 harder pull upon him than could be put on with 

 a rod, and though it sometimes worked, it was by 

 no means always successful. For the new method, 

 therefore, it was necessary to maintain a light 

 pull upon the fish, but so light that the rod-top 

 gave to every movement, leaving the fish almost 

 as free as if he were loose, but with just the 

 difference that there was enough strain to keep 

 him beating, and enough to provide a fulcrum for 

 him to beat from. The experiment was brilliantly 

 successful. On the first occasion on which it 

 was tried, three trout (all over two pounds) were 

 hooked in a weedy portion of the Itchen upon the 

 lightest tackle and a delicate rod. Each went to 

 weed. The angler held his hand high (for the 

 rod was but nine feet), and kept the very lightest 

 strain, with the result that the fish began to beat 

 among the weeds as he would on the surface, and 

 in a few moments had lashed the weeds aside and 

 kicked himself free of them, and was on top. 

 Once there he was resolutely hauled downstream 

 and bustled into the net. This method has been 

 worth many a good fish since that day ; indeed, 

 given a fairly soundly hooked fish, there have 

 been no failures. Of course, nothing will save 

 a fish so Hghtly hooked that the first touch of weed 

 or obstruction releases him. In applying this 



