202 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



has not yet attained to eminence in the art. Most 

 anglers seem to think that the difficulty will be to 

 kill the required quantity when the water is clear, 

 but this is not the case, the difficulty is only when the 

 water is flooded. Sport in clear water is certain ; 

 sport in flooded water is uncertain. There are occa- 

 sions when the water is flooded that trout take very 

 readily, and when large baskets may be got with 

 little trouble by almost any one ; but these occasions 

 are " like angels' visits, short and far between,"" and 

 it has not been our lot to fall in with many of them. 

 Indeed, we have frequently, in a dark water, had 

 great difficulty in killing twelve pounds weight, when 

 we could with ease have killed twice that quantity 

 had the water been small and clear ; and all our best 

 takes have been when the water was in that condition. 

 There are some days, however, even in clear water, 

 when the most skilful angler will require to work 

 very hard to get the required quantity. Nor is it 

 at all possible to accomplish it by a continuous use 

 of any one method of angling. The fly-fisher cannot 

 do it ; the worm-fisher cannot do it ; the minnow- 

 fisher cannot do it ; and, as a matter of course, the 

 May-fly fisher cannot do it. It can only be done by 

 a judicious use of the four methods, according to 

 circumstances. Nor can it be done by fishing con- 

 tinually in one stream ; the stream also must be 

 varied according to circumstances. 



In order to fulfil the promise made to the reader 

 of explaining how this can be done, we shall now go 

 over the whole angling season, and mention the 



