164 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 pur- 

 suit, for the information of the young sportsman ; be- 

 cause, 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 particu- 



fished for many years, in Hampshire and part of Dorsetshire, con- 

 cerning which I can therefore speak from experience. 



* It is not generally known, that at the very early part of the 

 season, and before the trout are worth dressing, they will sometimes 

 rise in almost any wind (except just before rain), and even with a 

 bright sun. A friend and I caught twenty brace in an hour and 

 three quarters, on the 24th of March, in a severely cold wind, and 

 on a sunshiny day. But, after the season had advanced, we might 

 as well have thrown our flies on the grass, as attempted flogging the 

 water at such an unfavourable time. 



