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CHAPTER VII. 



TROUT-FISHING WITH THE MINNOW AND 

 PARR-TAIL. 



EVERY branch of the angler's art requires its separate 

 measure of address, observation and practice. All the 

 departments are not equally fine, and, of course, do not 

 make the same demands upon the skill and experience 

 of the craftsman. Trouting with the worm and salmon- 

 roe, for instance, in discoloured water is a coarser and 

 at the same time simpler and less ingenious manner of 

 fishing than trouting by means of the artificial fly ; and 

 if we descend to bring into the comparison such branches 

 of the art as are pursued with float and set-line, and 

 those which have for their object the capture of the less 

 cautious sorts of fish, such as pike, perch, eels, &c., the 

 distinction becomes still more evident. 



Allowing, then, the above assertion to be correct, what 

 place, in the consequent arrangement, ought I to assign 

 to that division of the art now under treatment ? Shall 

 I class it among the subtle, more refined, and difficult 

 departments, or shall I allot it room with those which, 

 comparatively speaking, are coarse and inelegant, 

 requiring little exercise of judgment, small experience, 

 and no great stretch of attention ? Now, although not 

 willing to allow it the very highest position, as a branch 

 of our craft, I make no hesitation in saying, that, as far 

 as regards the display of skill and science, it stands on 



