78 Spinning down and across stream. Chapt. vi. 



fish are most on the look out to take them at advantage. 

 It is therefore a movement which I should think it ad- 

 visable to imitate, or rather I should imitate it much 

 oftener than I should the swimming down stream. In 

 pulling your bait up stream also it is easy to vary the 

 motion by letting it be stationary, at times, where the 

 current is strong enough to make it spin and keep it off 

 the bottom, and where the stream is more than ordinarily 

 rapid, you can occasionally imitate the motion of a fish 

 letting itself be lazily carried downwards by the stream. 

 To do that you must not slack off entirely, because if you 

 do, your fish will be carried downwards like a dead 

 thing, whereas it should appear like a fish just keeping 

 its nose to the stream, but letting itself drop backwards. 

 Do not take off the tension on your bait altogether, but 

 lessen it, continuing to just feel it, so that you will be 

 keeping your bait's nose to the stream, and be ready to 

 feel at once if you get a run. But if you draw your 

 bait across the stream, you will show it to many more 

 fish, and therefore have, in my opinion, a much better 

 chance of taking one; and that is on the whole my favor- 

 ite throw, sometimes - letting the bait describe a semi- 

 circle by simply keeping the top of the rod still, and 

 letting the stream, when strong enough, do the rest ; and 

 sometimes drawing the bait right across, or half across 

 half up, varying it each throw so as to search all water, 

 and because it is said that "variety's charming." 



Much depends on the pace at which you draw your 

 bait. Many draw it a great deal too quickly, under the 



