MODES OF ANGLING. 95 



one may attain a high degree of excellence in this respect, if he 

 devote himself patiently to the subject; and one or two seasons' 

 free range Avith the fly will enable a man to hit his point to a hair's 

 breadth in every cast of the line. 



In the progress of the art of angling, many crotchety and 

 fanciful rules are laid down with sufficient dogmatism. Amongst 

 these, that which recommends fishing up a stream instead of down 

 it, still retains its advocates and defenders. We do not hesitate 

 to say, nothing can be more preposterous than this notion. If the 

 angler will observe attentively the manner in which flies lie on the 

 water, when the line is thrown up against the current, he will see 

 in an instant the almost impossibility of the trout seizing the fly in 

 such a position. But even if the fish should take it, the power is 

 greatly weakened, if not entirely lost, to retain him ; for the 

 tightness and tenacity of the line are destroyed by the captive 

 rushing down the stream, right into your face as it were. 



The best, pleasantest, and indeed the only efficient mode, is 

 to fish down the river ; and where it is possible, fish each stream in 

 it right across. To do this, begin at that part of the stream which 

 is nearest to you, and trail or draw your line at a considerable 

 angle to the other, or vice versa, as the case may be. If the fish 

 rise when your tackle is in this position, there is a far greater 

 probability of his hooking himselt, than if any other direction 

 were taken ; and, when hooked, his rushes and plunges down the 

 stream, bring him in direct opposition to the strain of the line and 

 the spring of the rod, and so expedite his capture. If it should 

 happen, as it often does, that you have a strong head-wind against 

 you in descending a river, then you must make the best of your 

 situation, and contrive to throw your line at as slight an angle in 

 an upward direction as the breeze will permit you. Steady prac- 

 tice and perseverance, however, will enable you to overcome all 

 difficulty arising from this source, unless you encounter a down- 

 right hurricane. 



To have, what may be called, an angler's eye, is of great import- 

 ance in fly-fishing, and indeed in fishing of all kinds. This consists 

 in perceiving a< a glance where the fish may be ^resumed to be, 

 in any stream' or water. This apparently intuitive knowledge, 

 is solely the result of observation and experience, and no written 

 or verbal directions can convey it to the young beginner. Still 

 without it no man can hope to make any satisfactory progress in 

 the art. An expert angler, if he sees a brother of the craft 

 flogging away in certain parts of the water, detects in a moment 

 that he can have no correct notions on the subject, and is, in this 

 matter, a veritable ignoramus. "For, to an angler's eye, it is 

 requisite that a stream ever should have a certain shape a contour, 

 a physiogonomy, a character to solicit his attention and favour 

 Every disciple of the rod carries about with him an ideal figure 

 of a perfect stream, where, in all rivers under every parallel 

 f latitude and longitude he is morally certain to find the object 



