Casting the Minnow. 407 



the thumb at once released from the reel so as to allow the 

 line to run out as rapidly as possible, otherwise a broken 

 rod is the result. 



When the fish is thoroughly exhausted, he should be 

 landed, and not before. Most anglers attempt to land their 

 fish too soon, thus curtailing their sport and endangering 

 their tackle. The landing-net should be held several inches 

 beneath the surface of the water, and held perfectly still, 

 when the angler should bring the fish over it ; then the net 

 should be lifted quickly, and with one motion. The angler 

 must never,- himself, nor allow his assistant to, frighten 

 the fish by lunging at it with the net, in attempting to 

 secure it. More fish are lost in clumsy endeavors to land 

 them, than in any other way. 



The angler should never be in too great a hurry to land 

 his fish; for if he is well-hooked he can not get away, 

 while if he is hooked in a thin or weak part of the mouth, 

 there is a greater necessity that he should be gingerly 

 played and tenderly handled, until he is completely " tuck- 

 ered out," and turns up his side to the sun. There is 

 never any thing gained by too great a hurry in bass fish- 

 ing. On the contrary, "the more haste the less speed," is 

 a maxim particularly applicable to this case. 



In reeling in the line, whether playing a fish or retriev- 

 ing the line, it should be guided on the spool of the reel 

 by the left middle finger, when the reel is underneath the 

 rod (as it always should be), or by the left thumb when 

 the reel is used on top; it should be reeled on regularly 

 from left to right, and from right to left, like sewing-cotton 

 on a spool. This prevents that " bunching," or piling, and 

 the subsequent tangling and snarling of the line, so com- 

 mon with beginners and careless anglers. It is just as 



