The Success of the Sport. 231 



the minnow or the worm. The latter, should the 

 morning be fine and warm, not ^infrequently does 

 considerable execution in rough broken water. 

 Caddis-bait is also of good service from daybreak 

 till eight or nine o'clock ; in fact it succeeds better 

 at that time than during any other portion of the 

 twenty-four hours. August is the best month in 

 the year for early-morning fishing with the small 

 artificial fly, and its fortunes are brightest when 

 the weather is so. 



If the attraction of night-fishing be measured by 

 its success alone, it has very considerable claims on 

 the attention of even the average angler ; for in the 

 best part of the season, during the few hours which 

 intervene between dusk and dawn, it is no uncom- 

 mon occurrence to capture a basket of 15 or 20 Ib. 

 and upwards. The largest takes may be those 

 secured during the day; but I have often, with 

 various lures, scored 22 Ib. during the night, and 

 on very many occasions upwards of 20 Ib. with 

 minnow alone. But of course such baskets are not 

 to be reckoned on every night. It may be, indeed, 

 as I have said, that even in apparently favourable 

 circumstances the sport will flag and the fish will 

 not bite, and that all the resources both of phil- 

 osophy and of flask will be taxed to their utmost 

 to maintain that serenity of mind that has ever 

 been such a distinctive and praiseworthy trait in 



