In Angling Time 



much attention even to the seductive worm 

 until the 1st of May. And, to a less marked 

 degree, other fresh-water fish are sluggish 

 during the same period. But when those 

 first spring heats come on, which make 

 you think that even midsummer will scarcely 

 bring you a greater desire to "sit in your 

 bones," then is the halcyon time to go 

 a-fishing. Then is the time when, if you 

 are a true angler born and bred, to be 

 chained down to desk or shop or classroom 

 will make you actually sick in body as well 

 as in mind. The angler who reads these 

 lines will not smile, I am sure, at the con 

 fession that I once had a serious fit of sick 

 ness brought on not otherwise than by a 

 persistently thwarted longing to get to the 

 woods in angling time. Circumstances were 

 such that I could not leave my post of duty 

 even for a day ; but the struggle to smother 

 my passion was so severe that, after the 

 witching time had passed, my system col 

 lapsed, and I was perforce a non-producer 

 for three months. Three days of fishing 

 would have saved me three months' time 

 the more 's the pity ! It was the being un 

 able to go at all that laid me low. I appeal 



