LAKE FISHING 



hastily and hard than is usual or desirable ; and a 

 smash will then most probably ensue. 



When trout are large it seems requisite to let a 

 longer time elapse before the strike is made, whether 

 in lake or river, than when they are small ; and I can- 

 not help thinking that as a rule fishermen err on the side 

 of striking too rapidly. Certainly this appears to me 

 to be the case when using the artificial Mayfly. When 

 the river fished is a rapid, rough stream, where trout 

 do not run to a large size, then the quickest possible 

 strike must be made, because it is probable that in 

 such water the rise is not noticed till it is half over ; 

 and also because, the current being swift, the whole 

 operation has to be correspondingly nimble in its 

 execution. 



But to return to lake fishing. What I have 

 hitherto said in relation to this subject has been ex- 

 clusively in connection with fly fishing. There are 

 other methods of killing trout in lakes ; indeed nearly 

 all the monsters of which any records exist have 

 been caught by spinning, either with a phantom or 

 a natural minnow. In Ireland, on the Westmeath 

 lakes, ' dapping,' or using the blow line with the 

 natural Mayfly, accounts yearly for the great majority 

 of the big trout captured in those charming waters. 



Mention of Ireland suggests the introduction here 



E2 



