io8 How, When, and Where to Fish for Mahsecr. CHAP, vi- 



fish, because I think the best fish are generally found in them, and I 

 prefer one good big fellow to two or three smaller ones. But in fishing 

 the eddies, try and bear in mind that there is generally one on your 

 own side of the river, just as good as the one under the opposite 

 bank. Why should you be seized with that " ulterior is ripce amore" 

 which seems to be almost universal ? Why ? Probably because you 

 had not prospected the place before you came to it, as I recommended, 

 and are standing right over it, before you were aware of its existence, 

 and have consequently spoilt it for all fishing purposes. Whereas had 

 you prospected, and stalked the place, as I recommended, you would 

 have shown nothing but the tip of your rod over the bank, and with a 

 short line would have dropped your bait in close under it. It is time 

 enough to try the run, and the opposite bank, after you have tried your 

 own side. The opposite bank or eddy is, in nine cases out of ten, 

 more difficult to reach than the one under your nose, and, from the 

 breadth of the river or run, frequently quite unapproachable. Do not, 

 therefore, neglect the eddy on your own shore. 



The still deep pools also are not to be neglected. From a boat 

 they are the easiest fishing of all, and yield the biggest fish. On this 

 account some prefer to fish the pools only. An extra reason for 

 fishing the pools is that when from the cold the fish are off their feed 

 on the shallows or runs, they seem to retire to the pools, and a 

 stray fish may be provoked into taking in the pools, when no sport is 

 to be got out of the runs. The plan is simply to let out plenty of line 

 so that your bait may be spinning far away from the boat, which might 

 otherwise frighten the fish, and deep, because big fish ordinarily lie 

 near the bottom, and the deeper the pool the better the fish as a rule. 

 Having let out the line the bait is spun by the motion of the boat, so 

 that it is really spun by the boatman not by you. When you realize 

 this awful fact it strikes one that it is very similar to shooting sambre 

 that have been driven out to you by the beaters, instead of stalking 

 the stag yourself like an honest sportsman. In letting out the line, of 

 course you will take care, having the boat in motion, to keep the bait 

 off the bottom, for you do not want to catch that, like the man in 

 Punch, who got fast into the Kingdom of Scotland. This may be 

 done by raising the point of the rod as required. Commence at the 

 lower end of the pool, and row up against the stream, regulating the 

 pace by the stream. Fix the rod with the reel free, or hold it, as you 



