36 THE BOEDER ANGLER. ^ 



themselves no small shakes with the rod, are " not 

 worthy of the name of anglers." 



Worm-fishing may be successfally practised at all 

 seasons when the waters are muddy after a flood, and 

 before they begin to settle into the brown or porter 

 colour which old fly-fishers like. The angler may 

 then load his line so as to keep it at the bottom, and 

 may use a couple of hooks a yard and a half apart — 

 fishing chiefly at the side about the foot of streams, 

 and in eddies. 



The Creeper is a bait but little fished with on the 

 borders, although it is easily got, and is very killing. 

 It is the undeveloped stone-fly [Pliryganea\ after it 

 has disencumbered itself of the shell of sand and straw 

 in which it lived as a caddis-worm, and before it as- 

 sumes its wings. It is found under the stones in 

 shallow water in most rivers ; and, with a number of 

 legs, runs about with considerable alacrity. It has 

 something of the appearance of a beetle, and is some- 

 times called the water-cricket. It is fished with pre- 

 cisely like Avorm in clear water, and in the same kind 

 of water ; although in the end of April, when it comes 

 into use, it may sometimes be used with advantage in 

 deeper streams. It may be baited upon a common 

 worm hook, passed through it side ways and back 

 again, or upon a couple of hooks of a smaller size, one 

 of them sideways through the shoulders, and the other 

 in the same way through the lower part of the body. 

 Towards the end of May it is a most effective bait for 

 large trouts, when brought skilfully into the eddies 

 behind stones and under banks. We have heard of 



