UPSTREAM WORM FISHING 79 



" Well ! " says an uninitiated onlooker, " who 

 would have thought that a fish would have been so 

 near the edge, and in such shallow water too ? " The 

 more you fish the upstream worm, the greater will be 

 your astonishment at the number and the size of trout 

 caught in such places. 



Having basketed his fish, the angler rebaits his 

 tackle, and then gently moves a yard further upstream, 

 repeating his systematic casting. In this manner he 

 stalks his quarry up the one side to the head of the 

 stream. Yes, " stalk " is the word which most 

 adequately describes this man's methods, as he takes 

 the greatest pains to avoid being seen. It is work, 

 and hard work too, on a blazing hot day ; but it pays, 

 and it is only necessary to see the expert's basket 

 at the end of it to be convinced. There is always a 

 good dish of fish, and, as often as not, a very large fish 

 to top off with. 



The stepping stones having been reached, our friend 

 leaves the water. Keeping well away from the edge 

 he returns to the tail of the stream and wades some 

 eight yards across. His first cast is made upstream 

 and slightly towards the bank he has just left, the 

 next one more directly in front, the next inclined 

 towards the opposite side, and so on until he is casting 

 more and more towards the far bank. Yard by yard 

 the stream is covered in this manner, as the angler 

 works upwards until two or three boulders are within 



