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CHAPTER VI. 



ON FISHING WITH THE WORM FOR TROUT. 



To a perfect novice in the art of angling, nothing 

 appears simpler than to capture trout with the worm, 

 provided the water be sufficiently muddled to conceal 

 the person and disguise the tackle of the craftsman. A 

 mere urchin, with a pea-stick for a wand, a string for 

 his line, and a pin for his hook, has often, under such 

 favourable circumstances, effected the landing of a good- 

 sized fish. But to class performances of this description 

 among feats of skill were quite ridiculous, and they are 

 just, to as small an extent, samples of successful worm- 

 fishing. It may perhaps startle some, and these no 

 novices in the art, when I declare and offer moreover to 

 prove, that worm-fishing for trout requires essentially 

 more address and experience, as well as a better know- 

 ledge of the habits and instincts of the fish, than 

 fly-fishing. I do not, be it observed, refer to the 

 practice of this branch of the art as it is followed on 

 hill burns and petty rivulets, neither do I allude to it, 

 as pursued after heavy rains in flooded and discoloured 

 waters; my affirmation bears solely upon its practice 

 as carried on during the summer months in the southern 

 districts of Scotland, when the rivers are clear and low, 

 the skies bright and warm. Then it is, and then only, 

 that it ought to be dignified with the name of sport; and 

 sport it assuredly is, fully as exciting, perhaps more so, 



