KILLING BAITS. 1J5 



ten yards of the bank, I found the water con- 

 siderably shallower than I had expected. Having 

 therefore thrust my rod through the bushes, I 

 was walking out quite leisurely when souse I went 

 in up to my chin ! I soon scrambled out, and 

 found that I had placed my rod on the stump 

 of an old alder tree instead of the bottom, but on 

 searching my pockets I found all my fish had taken 

 their departure with the exception of five ; besides 

 considerable damage to fishing hooks, and sundry 

 other articles, which I had before kept high and dry 

 in the upper pockets of my jacket. 



' N. B. A small silk landing net with a handle 

 eight or ten inches long, is the most convenient 

 thing possible in this kind of fishing, as you need 

 not then come out of the water to land your fish ; 

 but take care when you have brought your fish 

 close to you that he does not hook you with your 

 drop fly, when you probably break your casting 

 line, and lose your fish. 



' And now I will conclude by saying that although 

 / prefer the fly, I must allow that the largest fish 

 are killed by the maggot and grasshopper. The 

 most destructive way with both, is to sink and draw, 

 and it is not unusual to kill four or five fish in a 

 day exceeding two pound in weight, while you 

 seldom get much above * a pounder* with the fly, 

 and the average may be taken at nearly three- 

 quarters of a pound during the day. But ' chacun 



