CLEAR WATERS 



There is little of this in the North Tyne, for the 

 simple reason that the river is nearly all preserved. 

 I had the privilege on this occasion of a mile of salmon 

 water belonging to a friend. As salmon-fishing was 

 out of the question, he kindly allowed me to ply the 

 worm for trout, and by due perseverance in early 

 rising I had some very fair dishes, some of the fish 

 running nearly up to a pound in weight, and was 

 home again before the heat of the day had well begun, 

 the only drawback to the entertainment being a white 

 bull of militant disposition. It is surprising even in 

 the matter of trouting what creatures of habit we 

 are, and how susceptible to influences and traditions. 

 Having wandered rather widely myself, I may fairly 

 claim some catholicity in such matters, and can, at 

 any rate, feel the atmosphere of all these various 

 schools of opinion. I know well that the objection 

 to the worm is very strong in many parts of the country 

 where streams are identical with those of the north. 

 Nobody knows much about it, to be sure, but there 

 is a sort of tradition against it among gentleman 

 anglers. But in the north there is no such general 

 feeling, whether a man cares for it personally or not. 

 It is regarded as a matter of course, and recognised 

 as a scientific branch of the trouting art. It is only 

 a pity that the habit of using the worm in the spring 

 is not more deprecated, and wherever possible stopped. 



There is a good deal of over-preserving in the 

 southern half of Northumberland, or, I should perhaps 

 say, preservation of the useless and fussy kind ; this 

 is partly due to so much of its trouting water being 

 included in grouse-shooting tenancies, which nearly 

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