SOME WRITERS ON THE GENTLE CRAFT 187 



casting it entails. There is this in its favour though, that, in trout- 

 fishing, the more casts the more rises. All good trouters are aware 

 of this, and never put off time by leading their hooks, except in 

 lochs and the still deeps of streams. . . . When the fly is dropped 

 in the centre of the ring, the instant after the trout has belled up, it is 

 ten times more likely to rise again than if the fly touched the water 

 at ever so short a distance. . . . Another hint to the young angler 

 is to mind what he is about when he approaches the still deeps of 

 the river. Many are apt to pass them by altogether. . . . Perhaps 

 the best test of a finished performer is the manner in which he 

 fishes these dead, deep places, especially if there is little wind ; 

 for they generally harbour the largest and best-fed fish, which are, 

 of course, the most suspicious and difficult to rise." 



Fond as Mr. Colquhoun is of trout-fishing, he 

 maintains, what few salmon-fishers will dispute, that 

 there is no comparison between its more tranquil 

 pleasures and the excitement of the nobler sport. It 

 is " only the germ of salmon-fishing," he says ; and 

 he advises its devotees to " get out of this nursery- 

 fishing and to become salmon-anglers if they can." 

 Of course, the more costly voyage to Corinth is not 

 within the means of everybody ; and while all people 

 who have the leisure can compass an occasional week's 

 trouting, a man, to make sure of satisfactory sport 

 with salmon, must have either money or more fortunate 

 friends. As for trouting, Mr. Colquhoun comforts 

 those who seldom have access to well-protected water 

 by pointing out that they will become far more 

 accomplished workmen by fishing ordinary rivers than 

 those that are profusely stocked. He has remarked 

 that men who shoot habitually in preserves are not to 

 be compared, as steady shots, with others who have 



