170 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



ter and Swiveltop doing execution therewith on the 

 stream immediately above us. That trite saying, " the 

 more the merrier," holds good of this sort of water- 

 raking. Wherefore let us set to they will join us 

 ere long, should we have pitched upon the better pool. 

 Shorten your line, Bill, and throw up against the cur- 

 rent. A large single hook you may, on the whole, find 

 preferable to the double ones you have in your pocket- 

 book ; however, try them, they will retain the bait 

 more readily than the other, but are scarcely so well 

 adapted for securing the fish. I feel already the rub 

 of a snout against my barb ; and now I have one fast, 

 a good yellow fin, and not a whit out of season, judg- 

 ing by his complexion. Fix a leaden pellet or twain, 

 four inches above the hook, Bill, and while angling, 

 keep your casting-line more on the stretch. Tug 

 smarter, man ; you would scarcely run your point 

 through a fungus at that rate of striking. I have 

 another, and shall capture half a score besides, ere you 

 draw blood. 



May. The fault is in the fish, Tom, they bite with 

 such delicacy and want of vigour. 



Otter. 'Tis their manner, Bill, when feeding on this 

 bait, to suck it like the carp but less hesitatingly than 

 you imagine. I mistake much if it be not frequently 

 engrossed within the jaws of a huge fellow, without our 

 being able t to perceive the slightest indication of an 

 attack made upon it. The true secret of roe-fishing is 

 in fact to strike immediately upon the progress of the 



