84 The ISiorth Country Angle?. 



water, and the line in coils behind the baits : when 

 I have looped on the little stone, I stand with my 

 right side to the water, clear of the baits and line, 

 and throw the stone under hand to very near the 

 length of the line, which in a stream I would 

 have more slack, to give the fish room to struggle 

 but not so much that one fish or bait may reach 

 to another. I have a drag made of strong wire, 

 with three or four hooks, but not so strong but 

 that it will bend and become streight, if it should 

 by chance get hold of a stone, &e. When I 

 draw out my line, I take off the snoods and fish; 

 wash my line, wrap it up in ringlets, wring it and 

 put it in my bag, till I get home ; then I open it 

 out, dry it very well, and wrap it up again ready 

 for another opportunity. I take all the hooks 

 out of the fish, and lay them regularly in an old 

 glove, or piece of a bladder ; dry them well, and 

 wrap them up by forties -in a piece of leather or 

 bladder, against another time : I hide the stones 

 as before that no fisher may discover my places 

 of laying. 



There is a great deal of judgment in choosing 

 the best places : if there is a deep part of the 

 pool, that has good holds, such as roots, stones, 

 hollow banks, &c. I never lay near them, but at 

 the first shallow, sandy or gravelly place, either 

 above or below such holds ; or on the other side, 

 opposite to such holds, if it is sandy and shallow: 

 for there the minnows and small fry will resort, to 

 be out of the way of the great ones : and there, 

 for that very reason, will the great fish come, es- 

 pecially at night, and hunt for their prey. I have 

 gone out, sometimes, with a brother angler, and 



