34 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



ing under banks or bushes — and taking advantage of 

 every ripple and eddy to conceal themselves. A care- 

 ful scrutiny will often detect large fish in water not 

 of sufficient depth to cover their back-fins. To these 

 places the worm fisher must address himself. His rod 

 ought to be a two-handed one, 14 or 15 feet in length ; 

 his gut, for a couple of yards from the hook upwards, 

 the finest that he can procure. By tying his hook 

 upon coarse or white gut, he will in most cases spoil 

 his day's fishing entirely. It is absolutely imperative 

 that in summer worm-fishing he should cast up-stream. 

 All the reaso»s for this that we have mentioned in 

 describing fly-fishing apply equally here, and there 

 are others that will readily occur to him. He must 

 not use lead to weight his line, and cause it to fall 

 with a splash, catch stones, and give his worm an 

 unnatural motion. He must take every precaution to 

 conceal himself from view ; and his worms must be 

 well-scoured and lively, so as to tempt trout at the 

 season when they are most highly fed. Such rej^tiles 

 he will find in all the Edinburgh tackle-shoj^s at a 

 very low price ; but if he happens not to have access 

 to Edinburgh, he has only to dig them from the earth 

 — choosing such as are rather under than over two 

 inches in length — and to keep them for a week or 

 ten days among'st dry moss, until they slough off their 

 pollutions, and become clear and tough. The worm- 

 tisher must pass over much water in most rivers. 

 Pools and deep gushing streams it is useless to fish 

 in — although occasionally, when there is wind, trout 

 are to be taken thus in the thin running water at the 

 foot of a pool, and in a gale, worm may be angled 



