STRIKING 20I 



The strike must be made with sufficient force and 

 no more. If insufficient the hook will not penetrate 

 far enough to hold the fish in its subsequent struggles, 

 and if the force is excessive the gut will break at its 

 weakest point, and leave the fly and possibly one 

 or more strands of gut in the trout's jaws. The 

 angler should acquire the habit of striking from the 

 reel, i.e. without holding the line in the hand. iVIany 

 old fishermen prefer holding the line when striking, 

 but it is at best a risky proceeding, and too likely 

 to result in a breakage of the gut. 



When a spectator sees a dry-fly man strike a fish 

 and either just prick it or ex- 

 Striking- slowly or perience no resistance at all 

 quickly. he is prone to say, "You struck 



too late." Now all the past- 

 masters agree that small fish rise quickly and eject 

 the artificial fly quickly when they discover the fraud, 

 while the monster comes up deliberately and sucks 

 in the fly slowly. As a rule, if a large fish rises 

 and takes the fly one can hardly be too slow in 

 striking, and the angler in his haste is only too likely 

 to pull his fly away and strike before the fish has got 

 hold of the hook. Very often, too, the cause of the 

 fisherman failing to hook his fish is that it has not 

 actually taken the fly into its mouth at all and has 

 come short. 



Most of us have had the experience of hooking 

 fish which have given sport out of all proportion to 

 their actual size. When such a fish breaks, goes to 



