ON ANGLING. 147 



gone so far. The chief thing seems to be to get the size of 

 the lure right, to suit the tastes of the fish, which are curiously 

 influenced by the size of the water — thus, in a big river 

 swollen with its spring volume of flood, you ma}r fish with an 

 enormous fly, 5ms. or 6ins. long, and nothing less will induce 

 a fish to look at it. On the same river when it has fined down 

 to its autumn clearness you may be doing your best work 

 with a fly scarcely larger than the March brown which you 

 offer to a Teme trout and with a relatively fine cast to match. 

 Get the size of the fly about right, remember the old rule, 

 which for all its age is still not out of date, that a bright fly 

 seems to be taken best when the sun is out and high in the 

 sky. Put on your Dusty Miller or some such twilight coloured 

 fellow as the sun goes low, and a dark fly for a dark day and 

 water. There is really not a great deal more " to it " than 

 that in spite of the reams that have been written and the 

 words that have been talked. 



The gillie has taken us back to the so-called " fly " 

 again, and away from the spinning rod. I have, indeed, said 

 all that I need to on that subject. I do not care to indicate 

 any particular make of the spinning reels which I have 

 commended, because any such hint might savour of trade 

 advertisement. There are several good kinds to be bought. 

 You must get a friend to advise you. You may have gathered 

 that I do not speak with much approval of any form of fishing 

 other than with artificial fly for trout, though I am far from 

 being a like purist in regard to salmon. I would rather 

 say that, strictly speaking, we never fish for salmon with 

 fly — fly, properly so called — at all. There is, however, one 

 kind of bait fishing for trout which is a very fine sport. It 

 requires exceptionally keen eyesight. I mean what is called 

 clear water worm fishing. When rivers have run down very 

 fine and clear the trout will lie out, sometimes in very few 

 inches of water, and by slinging to these a small red worm at 

 the end of a fine cast they may be caught with an ease- — 

 if all be executed rightly — that is quite surprising. It is 

 surprising, because the water is so clear, the sunlight, very 

 likely, so strong and the fish are so visible to you, wading 

 up towards them, that it seems impossible that they do not 

 see you, or the rod, or the line. Yet they take the worm in 



