170 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
apply to a considerable extent to ‘worm fishing also. 
For example, Mr. Stoddart, than whom no more trust- 
worthy guide to Scotch Salmon rivers is to be found, 
lays it down that worm fishing “can be practised with 
success only when the river is clean and small,” and yet 
in Ireland I have known seven clean Salmon taken 
before breakfast out of “The Leap” on the river Bush, 
in April, when the water was all but in actual flood and 
hopelessly thick for the fly. It is only in one or other of 
these conditions—when the water, that is, is either too 
low or too high for fly-fishing—that a good sportsman 
will resort to the worm. 
The mode of fishing is extremely simple: a large single 
hook, say No. 14 or 15, is whipped on to two or three 
yards of Salmon-gut. A supply of lob-worms having been 
obtained, and, if feasible, previously scoured, the hook is 
passed through the middle inch or two of two or three of 
them, according to their size and the size and state of 
the water, the last worm being so put on that no part of 
the hook or barb is left visible. Sufficient large split 
shot should then be fixed to the line about 1? feet above 
the bait, to take it well to the bottom, but yet they 
should not be so heavy as to prevent the stream carrying 
the bait freely along with it over the stones. 
The bait is then worked very much like the worm 
bait for Trout, except that the angler, having selected a 
pool or run in which he knows that there are plenty of 
Salmon, generally remains at the same place, shifting 
