32 THE TROUT 



place, and endeavour to make him understand the precise spot 

 where the rise was, if the fish does not assist him by again showing 

 himself. The May fly is then dropped in as near to where this 

 fish's nose is supposed to be as possible, which, if not very 

 clumsily done, will most probably insure a rise, and very possibly 

 the fish may be hooked, and if he does not then either break his 

 hold, or the tackle, or harbour himself snugly in the weeds, the 

 chances are he will be caught. But there are varieties of the pot- 

 hunter angler this being one of the first water for divers others, 

 consisting principally of the operatives, from the neighbouring 

 towns and villages, and every poaching bumpkin for miles around, all 

 provided with rods of some kind or other, enter upon the scene 

 about the same time, committing sad havoc amongst the trout 

 who now throw off all restraint upon their appetites, as heedless 

 of the consequences as an alderman at a city feast ; and in like 

 manner both go on gormandizing till the treacherous hook secures 

 the one, and a fit of apoplexy cuts short the career of the other. 



There is also the sly old angler, who, like the solitary pike, 

 never fishes in company, and who may be found poking stealthily 

 about mill leats, ditches, and gutters, with a rod and tackle of rather 

 an antediluvian appearance. He is a rare hand in fishing amongst 

 bushes, stumps and other difficult and dangerous places for tackle, 

 knows every hole and corner in the river, and rarely comes home 

 with an empty basket. Contrasted with the last is the dependent 

 angler, who fancies he can never obtain sport unless he is accom- 

 panied by one of the most poaching scamps in the neighbourhood 

 to shew him all the likely places ; the consequence of which is, 

 that he gets warned off from all the best parts of the river, and 

 which, but for the character of his companion, he would most 

 probably have been allowed to have fished in unmolested. Bear- 

 ing some resemblance to the latter is the fisher with the silver 

 hook, who makes up a bad day's work by purchasing fish he has not 

 the ability to catch, and which he attempts to pass off as the 

 reward of his own skill. Nor can I pass by the poor hen-pecked 

 angler, who, though rarely an ardent lover of the sport, is com- 

 pelled to follow it as the surest means of escaping the eternal 

 admonitions of a termagant wife, who thus drives him to seek 

 that quiet by the water side it is hopeless for him to expect at 

 home. And now candour compels me to show forth some unwor- 

 thy brethren who have sadly fallen off since honest Izaak's days, 



