158 TROUT FISHING. 



TROUT FISHING, &c. 



As this letter has led us into trout fishing, it may 

 really be worth while (before I proceed to the alphabet 

 of birds) to make a few remarks on this favourite 

 pursuit, for the information of the young sportsman, 

 because, although much has been, yet a little more 

 may be said on the subject, as every art must daily 

 improve in a new school. 



A few hints, however, are quite enough on that 

 which is foreign to our title. Almost every one 

 is now-a-days a " piscator? The Fanatico, about 

 Easter, goes off as busy as the cockney on his wunter, 

 when bound to Epping. He generally takes a great 

 many things, and kills a few fish. The old angler 

 takes a few things, and kills a great many fish. Some 

 dark, warm, windy, drizzly days, early or late in the 

 season, and particularly when a fine breeze blows 

 from off the banks of a river, where no one has begun 

 fishing, the trout are so easily taken, that a basket 

 full is but little proof of skill. One might then 

 almost train a monkey to catch a trout. But, at 

 other times, and particularly when fish are well fed, 

 is the time to see who is, and who is not, an angler. 



About ninety in a hundred fancy themselves 

 anglers. About one in a hundred is an angler. 

 About ten in a hundred throw the hatchet better 

 than a fly. Here we take the average. Now for a 

 few very common faults. One who lets his fly lie 



