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Eventually, with careful handling, even the biggest fish in the stream will become tired and thresh freely on the water's surface. Remain as quiet as you can; then you will not alarm the incoming fish. As he floats in, spent, reach down with your right hand and work it over the great fish slowly, avoiding his sensitive median lines, those narrow stripes running down the middle of either side of the fish where nerve ends come out through tiny holes in the scales. With your hand over him, press together your thumb and forefinger over the gills, take a tight grip arid lift the heavy trout or salmon out of the water. Pike or muskies which have been played on a light 6-inch wire leader may be picked up by a grip of thumb and forefinger into the eye sockets. Bass can be lifted by putting your thumb inside the open mouth and gripping with the bent forefinger under the lower jaw. If the fish is too large for lifting, back up slowly on a shallow sloping beach, at least twenty feet from the fish, and slide him steadily up the gentle-sloping beach with his own feeble tail floppings helping to beach him. 5. BUILDING YOUR ROD ASSEMBLING A SPINNING ROD Few things equal the quiet pride an angler takes in killing a trophy fish on his own homemade rod. Besides providing a pleasant set of evenings, the building of the rod gives the spinman the chance to make just about the kind of glass rod he wants and, equally gratifying, saves himself money in doing so.
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