76 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



' the top after the cast until all your line is 

 submerged/ says some one. No use, sir ; the 

 water-drag is how many times greater! 

 And how many times faster is the travel 

 of the bait ! ' Put on sinkers and fish with 

 a stiffer rod/ says another advocate. Very 

 well, perhaps that is the best way ; but even 

 then, does the worm travel naturally ? the 

 sinker may act as a drag if attached a foot 

 or two up the line, and more or less assist, 

 and such fishing is, we know, often success- 

 ful. And if people will fish, or must fish 

 when they have only a short time to select 

 their days, and if they will preserve their 

 equanimity, and not ' speak back/ and are 

 supplied with plenty of sinkers mounted on 

 rotten gut for attachments (when others are 

 lost}, and still enjoy themselves, and can 

 get their line straight to where they want 

 to place it, this plan is no doubt the best. 



But another potent reason we believe is : 

 That the best-fed and larger class of trout 

 are not feeding on the shallows when a gale 

 of wind is tearing down-stream. (By better 

 class of fish we mean up to the average of 

 the stream.) This is all the more the case, if, 



