1 6 WATERSIDE SKEICHLS. 



anger as it shoots under the roadway. Incidents of the day r 

 trifling in themselves perhaps, and bits of observation and 

 experience, not startling or profound it may be, are ex- 

 changed, while the clink of the knife and fork beats time to 

 the soothing plash and flow outside the window. 



And so our Opening Day, like all other days, runs to its 

 close, and to-morrow we shall be at our posts in the busy 

 spheres of the big city, better surely rather than worse for 

 those pleasant hours by the waterside ? 



PRACTICAL NOTES ON APRIL FISHING. 



Trout are in prime season in April, which in many 

 rivers is the angler's most remunerative month. It is also* 

 not the least pleasant, since the world of beauty towards 

 its close begins to open on every hand. In spite of its 

 proverbial showers, trout streams are on an average in 

 excellent order in April, being neither too much coloured 

 nor too low. Each day of warm weather brings out 

 new insects, which the trout, after their long recess, are 

 fully able and willing to appreciate. In the matter of 

 flies, though it is well to understand the art of dressing 

 them oneself, fly manufacture has been brought to such a 

 pitch of perfection that it is cheaper and more convenient, 

 as a rule, to trust to the tackle shops. The ordinary trout 

 in April has a good deal of Cassius-like leanness about it, 

 and is very different in colour and firmness of flesh, to 

 the fellow who has had his gorge of the Mayfly. 



The tench may not be the physician the old fishing, 

 masters believed him to be, nor an object of superstitious 

 veneration to the pike, as many living anglers think, but 



