BAIT FISHING. 11*7 



the numbers in a solemn and distinct manner, and whilst so em- 

 ployed look around you to see where you can cut a forked stick (if 

 not already provided with one) which having made fit into the up- 

 per ferrule of your rod, having first unshipped the top for that 

 purpose, holding the line in your left hand, run the cleft of the 

 forked stick down it with your right till it reaches the hook, then 

 give a gentle push forward, and unless the hook has got a turn 

 round or is otherwise entangled you will clear it ; and if it is en- 

 tangled by pushing with a little more force, you may break off the 

 gut close to the hook, and so save the greater part of your tackle. 

 And don't let an accident of this kind deter you from again trying 

 in a like spot, for I can promise very little hopes of success in this 

 kind of fishing to those anglers who are over careful of their 

 tackle: in fact one of its greatest advantages is, that it enables a 

 person to catch fish in places where it is utterly impossible to 

 throw a fly ; nor is every ardent follower of the sport so fortunate 

 as to enjoy the privilege of an open river to exercise his skill 

 upon ; he must therefore in many instances either abandon the 

 pursuit altogether, or put his skill and ability to the proof by ang- 

 ling in such places as more fastidious anglers in the art will never 

 venture their fortune in. Nor in fact are these spots in reality so 

 inaccessible as they seem, whilst it should ever be remembered that 

 these difficult places contain the best fish, and who will most prob- 

 ably bite too if you can but place your bait in a favourable point 

 of view before their eyes : so that if an angler can but manage 

 to get in his line there, he will be amply repaid for his labour. 

 One day I had been fly fishing in a brook that runs between 

 Bishop's Waltham and Botley : the day was a very bright one, 

 and the stream very clear, so I whipped away for a long time and 

 caught nothing. At last I came to a part of the stream that was 

 completely overgrown with lofty alder bushes, so much so indeed 

 that, being then in full leaf, no part of the stream was visible 

 through them. As I knew nothing of the country, having never 

 fished in that part of the brook before, I walked on for some dis- 

 tance hoping to find it less incumbered, but all to no purpose ; so 

 I abandoned the fly for the time, and having cut away a few of the 

 bushes so as to admit of my flipping in my bait, and a small por- 

 tion of my line, I set to work amongst the clods of turf that 

 were lying about the gutter drains, and soon picked up a supply of 

 worms. Having baited with some of these I cast in through one 



