FRESHWATER TROUT 29 



of trout, that so many anglers return unsuccessful 

 from much-fished streams. The waters also now 

 remain brown-coloured for such a short time that the 

 modern angler is deprived, unless on rare occasions, 

 of even this aid to his art of deception ; and the 

 clearness of the water and the increased wariness of 

 the trout are the main causes why the tackle of fifty 

 years ago would be found so faulty now. Fifty years 

 ago it was an easy thing to fill a basket with trout, 

 not so now ; then there were ten trout for one there 

 is now the colour of the water favoured the angler, 

 and the trout were comparatively unsophisticated ; 

 now filling a basket with trout, at least in some of 

 our southern streams open to the public, when they 

 are low and clear, is a feat of which any angler may 

 be proud. To do so he must oppose craft to craft, 

 and cunning to cunning, and must study very closely 

 the habits and instincts of the trout. Angling is, in 

 fact, every day becoming more difficult, and con- 

 sequently better worthy of being followed as a 

 scientific amusement. So far from looking upon the 

 increase of anglers with alarm, it ought to be regarded 

 with satisfaction : the more trout are fished for, the 

 more wary they become ; the more wary they are, 

 the more skill is required on the angler's part ; and 

 as the skill an amusement requires constitutes one of 

 its chief attractions, angling is much better sport now 

 than it was fifty years ago. 



