26 CHATS ON ANGLING. 



trees, and in this stretch were located many heavy fish. Working up to 

 that water, I found an ardent ignoramus doing "sentry-go" up and down 

 the stream, walking on the very edge of the water. I presume he thought 

 that if he only persevered he would eventually find the " fool of the 

 family," but the result — the inevitable result — was that the fish were 

 scared throughout that whole length for the rest of that day, as that stretch 

 was bare and sadly lacking in shelter. 



In considering the merits and demerits of dry-fly fishing, one cannot 

 be altogether blind to the fact that down-stream fishing must inevitably 

 prick and therefore educate many more fish than the floating fly. This 

 being so, it is still more inexplicable that in former days, in chalk-stream 

 waters, our forerunners were able to account for far heavier baskets of 

 trout than we are, despite the heavy restocking our streams now receive, 

 to their great advantage ; and we necessarily come back to the old point, 

 what can we do to secure an adequacy of free-rising fish? Is our system 

 of fishing the rise wrong ? Or does the mischief lie more in our river, 

 water, and weed management ? And can we so improve these as to 

 obtain the desired results ? Angling is now so much sought after, chalk- 

 stream and other similar waters command such high rents, that surely it 

 is worth the while of those interested in the sport to initiate and carry 

 through some exhaustive inquiry into the subject. 



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