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CHAPTER III. 



SUMMER. 



Summer angling brings out new and more miscellaneous 

 forces than heretofore to promote designs upon our fresh- 

 water fishes, and the English ladies are taking very kindly 

 both to fly-fishing and general fishing. May they never be 

 persuaded into pleading their sex as an excuse for estab- 

 lising unsportsmanlike practices against salmon and trout ? 

 Fly rods are made so daintily now, and casting a fly is 

 really so easy, when once the knack is acquired of permit- 

 ting the rod to do the major part of the work, that want of 

 strength is no plea. And there is a still better argument. 

 Not even the harp or the violin, nor the lawn -tennis racket, 

 shows ofi" the female figure to such positive advantage as 

 the graceful manipulation of the fly-rod. In the summer 

 evenings, therefore, when there is a saunter through the 

 hay-field to the river and its forget-me-nots, listen not to 

 the assurances of the youth (who knows better) that when 

 ladies fish for the speckled beauties of the stream any bait 

 may be used. He may be deprived of that coveted chance 

 of impaling the worms for the fair fisherwoman, but his 

 conscience will be at peace if he recommend and teach her 

 the use of the fly. 



The Mundella Act sets loose the fishing-punts on the 

 15th of June, when we may reasonably assume that summer 

 smiles upon the land. On Thames, and such inland waters 

 as come under the operations of the measure, the anglers 

 swarm to renew their acquaintance with roach, dace, barbel, 



