FISHING AND PHILOSOPHY 125 



necessity, and the rod must be stiffen and lonj^er, 

 and of course heavier. And a man who has fished 

 all day will become aware of the difference in using 

 a rod a few ounces less in weight than another. 



There is no doubt that fish, and especially trout, 

 have the sense of smell well developed. When 

 a pool is baited, fish are drawn from below upwards 

 by the smell of the bait, and not by particles of 

 whatever is beino- used comincf in view of the fish 

 as they are carried down-stream. A Nottingham 

 bait fisher, one of the champions of his club, took 

 such care that no scent of any kind should touch 

 his bait when affixing it to the hook that he always 

 carried a pair of very thin kid gloves. He used 

 these if he had been smokino;-, or if his hands had 

 touched tar, or any such smelly stuff used for fenc- 

 ing. I feel sure if a man attaches a fly to the gut 

 when he is smoking, or just after having smoked, 

 that the fly is likely to be tainted. This may 

 possibly be the cause of trout coming short ; when 

 he comes sufficiently near the fly to appreciate the 

 taint of the smoke, it causes him to turn away 

 sharply, and leave the angler under the impression 

 that he has had a rise. 



In olden days, anyway, they believed in oint- 

 ments for giving certain odours to the bait, such as 

 solution of ivy, powdered bones from a corpse, etc., 

 which were put in the bag holding the bait. 



