( 'il \ii'. vi. The Shortsightedness oj Fish. 7". 



and always a bads draught or upward flow along the edge of 

 every river. There is more or less friction, according as the 

 stream is more or less rapid. Through perfectly dear and still 

 water fish may be aide to see, somewhat indistinctly, some little 

 distance laterally, as through thick plate-glass, but when the 

 water is broken their plate-glass becomes to them like ground- 

 glass. At least that is my theory, and I think fishermen will 

 find that adoption of it, and attention to it, will influence their 



sport 



It is tnif that large and small fish ordinarily frequent slightly 

 different parts of a river, still they are not so tar apart hut that 

 the big fish ought to he able to see the little ones, if the density 

 of the dement did not curtail their length of vision, and the 

 broken rays refract it. This my helief heeoines a reason in my 

 mind for spinning in right places, for showing your bait exactly 

 where a fish is likely to be lying, and one of the several 

 explanations why a good fisherman, who knows such places 

 intuitively, kills more fish than a tyro. It is one of the grounds 

 for my opinion that a spun dead bait is preferable to a live bait, 

 which, from being stationary, is not shown to nearly so many 

 fish. It is to their short-sightedness under water that I trust, 

 and find J trust rightly, in wading in to fish, in preference to 

 standing on the bank. If they could see far laterally in water, 

 they could not fail to see the fisherman's two legs and trowsers 

 all in the water up to the fork, and seeing, they would refuse 

 his lure. And yet all fishermen find that it pays very well to 

 wade. 



This argument of short-sightedness is in favour, therefore, of 

 spinning slowly, so as to let a fish Bee, and to give it a chance 

 and a confidence of catching your bait. The chances, I say, as 

 well as nature rinsi spinning quickly. For my part I like 



to dawdle '■' bait about, up and down, under this bank, close by 

 that big stone, and let it peep into every little nook and cranny 

 likely to hold a big fish. 



But, perhaps, you may see a big fish eyeing your bait, what is 

 to be done then? You feel disposed to .ease pulling it away 

 from him, and to let him have a better look at it. Tin' first 

 impulse is to stop altogether, and wait for him. Such a course 



would be fatal. Spin quietly on a- if you had not seen him. 



