204 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



and if advantage is taken of this momentary pause 

 the odds are in favour of the fisherman. Big fish 

 when first hooked seem to be in this state of doubt 

 kinger than small ones ; possibly the larger the fish 

 the slower is the cerebration. The further dow^n the 

 stream the fish is towed the less likely is it to go to 

 weed, and when swimming downstream head first with 

 its mouth open is unable to use its respiratory organs, 

 and is therefore quickly drowned. 



Chalk-stream trout when hooked have a great 



propensity to bury themselves 

 Fish going to weed. ^^ the nearest weed-bed. It 



is a good policy to try at 

 once, if possible, to prevent this, but if the fish suc- 

 ceeds in getting into the dense growth of weeds there 

 is no reason to despair. If it is well hooked you 

 ought to land it, and if not you are almost sure to lose 

 it under any circumstances. In 1889 I preached the 

 doctrine of slacking line to a weeded trout and 

 working it out by hand, and in each edition of " Dry- 

 Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice " published since 

 then I have renewed and amplified this device. I am 

 convinced that it has saved me the loss of an incalcul- 

 able number of good trout, and I am gratified to hear 

 that a few of the dry-fly men adopt the plan nowadays. 

 The following advice is given on the subject in 



the fourth and last (1902) 



Handling a hooked ... c ,,t^ t7i u- u- 



, . . , , . edition of 'Dry-Fly r'lshino; 



trout in the weeds. . j } >=> 



in Theory and Practice.'' 

 "Thus when a hooked fish is well weeded the rod- 



