INTRODUCTION 47 



mist on the water as fatal in dry-fly fishing, 

 though not necessarily prejudicial to the 

 wet fly, a distinction for which he gives a 

 very reasonable explanation. 



As regards sea-fishing, I doubt whether 

 fog has much effect on, at any rate, 

 ground-fish, though, as it is not usual to 

 leave the shore with any menace of fog 

 in evidence, opportunities of judging its 

 influence are very few. More than once, 

 however, I have been surprised when at 

 anchor by a passing fog, during which the 

 safest course is just to remain on the 

 ground till the land clears ; and on one 

 occasion at any rate the tedium of waiting- 

 was relieved by some of the fastest 

 whiting fishing that I ever remember 

 having. I do not, however, attribute this 

 to the effect of the fog, but merely to my 

 having anchored on a particularly good 

 ground near the Eddystone and to the 

 whiting being that afternoon on the feed. 



From the foregoing summary of the What, then, 



* Y 1 / 1 



lines on which the present inquiry has ^gather- ir 

 been prosecuted, it would seem as if most 



