124 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



No writer on fishino- has described in more instructive 

 or more beautiful language than Thomson, fishing 

 with the wet fly. He says : 



Just in the dubious point, where with the pool 



Is mix'd the trembUng stream, or where it boils 

 Around the stone, or from the hoUow'd bank 



Reverted plays in undulating flow. 

 There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly ; 



And as you lead it round in artful curve, 

 With eye attentive mark the springing game. 



Straight as above the surface of the flood 

 They wanton rise, or urg'd by hunger leap. 



Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hooks : 



Then when he has hooked the " Monarch of the 

 Brook " — 



With yielding hand. 

 That feels him still, yet to his furious course 



Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 

 Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage. 



Till, floating broad upon his breathless side, 

 And to his fate abandon'd, to the shore 



You gaily drag your unresisting prize. 



I am at a loss to know why the fly fisher should 

 look down on the man who fishes with worms. 

 Concerning the latter, there is a great difference 

 between the man who baits a pool and sits down to 

 watch his float, and the man who fishes up-stream 

 in clear low water. This class of fishing is probably 

 more deadly than any other, but it requires just as 

 much skill as angling with the fly ; moreover, it is 

 more strenuous, as, to be successful, wading is a 



