396 SALMON AND TROUT. 



working order. I say nothing of the fact that I have used it for 



spinning since the year , but ' let us not particularise ! ' as the 



player says. . . . Anno Domini is merely an abstraction, a night- 

 mare, and time only an excrescence on eternity. Notwith- 

 standing which highly philosophical observation, it behoves us 

 all to remember the carpe diem. . . . And yet I am wandering 

 off from my text, and diverting from their proper channel 

 moments which should have gone to a discussion of whether 

 worm fishing for salmon is, or is not, sportsmanlike, and, if so, 

 where and under what circumstances ? 



However, I think I have sufficiently indicated my ideas on 

 the subject in the preceding pages, and the digression will at 

 least save me entrance into a * thorny ' dispute. I can only 

 say that with this tackle, fished in the way I have described, 

 I have repeatedly taken salmon in a bright sun and in the 

 clearest and finest water, and after all other methods of fishing 

 fly, minnow, and the old-fashioned bunch of worms had 

 failed. In fact, Stoddart considers that worm fishing of all 

 kinds is at its best under such conditions ; but I cannot say that 

 I agree with him there, a full or porter-coloured water being, 

 in my experience, generally the best. 



When water or weather is bright, it is, of course, of the 

 utmost importance that the worm fisher should keep carefully 

 out of sight, and as far as possible below the spot where his 

 bait is fishing ; in other words, he must always cast up stream 

 where feasible, letting the current bring the bait down towards 

 him, and keeping as little slack line in the water as possible. 

 This is a sine qud non in my method of worm fishing. Great 

 nicety in the manipulation of both line and bait, as well as fine 

 hooks and tackle, are also required to insure success, and these 

 considerations render it, I maintain, both a truly ' sporting ' 

 and sportsmanlike method of fishing. 



Here is a record of the number of salmon and bull trout taken 

 in this way between the 2Qth of September and ist of November, 

 1879, by Mr. Edwin Darvall and myself during thirty-two conse- 

 cutive days, less six not fishing : 3, 14, i, 7, 9, TO, 5, 14, 6, 7, 4, 



