SALMON FISHING 121 



form. Well, if it was really impossible to kill a hare running, 

 then, we confess, if we were hare-shooting and wanted one 

 badly, we would certainly kill it sitting. There are many 

 reaches of water through which spring fish run without a halt, 

 while as they will not take a fly when travelling, and yet will 

 take a bait, we consider that fact to be a very good reason for 

 using one. Admitting we would rather catch a fish with a fly 

 than by any other lure, we own to being so constituted that to 

 come home blank is the abomination of desolation. To work 

 hard at anything the whole day long for nothing does not suit 

 our temperament, for after such an event, dinner is not enjoyed, 

 sleep fails us, breakfast next morning is hateful, and peace of 

 mind can only again be restored by a tight line. In sport, as 

 in all other matters, live and let live has ever been our motto ; 

 without going the length of some bait-fishers, who call the fly 

 an antiquated old lure, we do not hesitate to resort to bait of 

 every sort, if by so doing a duck's &^^ for the day is saved. 

 No one who dislikes bait-fishing need practise it, while those 

 who object to it are usually fishermen having some of the 

 picked fishings of a river, in which the salmon will lie for 

 weeks, and if they will not rise one day they will be sure to do 

 so on another. 



Fishers of the natural minnow are often even railed 

 at by those who use the phantom, prawn, and worm ; 

 and if this is not a case of pot and kettle, there never 

 was one. This petty jealousy usually arises from the 

 fact that the prawn and phantom man either will not take 

 the trouble to procure the natural bait, or, having got it, 

 cannot learn how to use it. This class of angler is often 

 the one who begins to fish at fifty, and in two seasons is 

 full of advice and instruction to those who have been at it 

 since they were boys ; therefore, we advise everyone desirous 

 of making a good score, on a stretch of water through 

 which the fish pass rapidly upwards, to go at them with 

 every lure he can bring into play. As to a natural minnow 



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