176 TROUT FISHING. 



enough to get hooked. The third is called the kill- 

 devil, and although, in appearance, not near so like a 

 real fish as the other, yet it spins so well, and is so 

 much softer in the mouth, that it answers, I think, the 

 best of all plans, when you cannot procure the natural 

 bait. Any good fishing-tackle shop will furnish these 

 articles, and therefore it would be a waste of time and 

 of paper to give a minute description of them. 



WORM FISHING. Though fishing with a lob-worm 

 cannot be called trolling, yet it may be right, en pas- 

 sant, merely to state, that this is the best way to kill 

 fish in a mill-hole, when the sun is too bright for the 

 fly, or the minnow ; and also a very destructive plan for 

 night work. But I name such a diversion only as a 

 pastime for the juvenile performer, though not with 

 the contempt as does Dr. Johnson, who says, " Fly 

 fishing may be a very pleasant amusement ; but angling, 

 or float fishing, I can only compare to a stick and a 

 string, with a worm at one end, and a fool at the 

 other." 



If, however, the poor angler should feel sore at the 

 wit, he might, in his turn (if scavenger enough to 

 descend to verbal criticism), have a little pleasantry 

 with the philologer, by brandishing his rod and ex- 

 claiming, 



- u almost as bad, good" doctor, 



as a wag and a worm-fisher, with a comparison at one 

 end, and nothing to compare with at the other ! And 

 when he has put away the stick and the string (and 

 washed his hands) he may substantiate the propriety 

 of his retort by looking out the words " compare to" 

 in the doctor's own dictionary; which we should be as 



