2 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



country every week ; and the fewer the hours spent 

 in travelling the more good is to be got out of it. 

 But in most districts trout fishing is not to be had 

 within a short journey of a big town, or at any rate 

 such trout fishing as will give the novice much 

 encouragement in the shape of even moderate 

 success. Also, as a rule, it is very expensive. On 

 this matter I shall have something to say later. 



Salmon fishing is attended by similar difficulties 

 to an even greater degree, and in any case I would 

 not counsel the novice to begin with it if he seeks 

 to make angling his principal recreation. Those 

 who begin with the salmon rod are very likely to 

 end with it, and so to miss many pleasures which 

 might have been theirs had they started in less 

 ambitious fashion. Salmon fishing is a dangerously 

 fascinating pursuit ; it tends to make other kinds 

 of angling seem dull unless one has thoroughly 

 grasped their attractions before one takes to it. 

 Few people, however, are so situated that they can 

 begin with the salmon rod, so the point is not very 

 important. 



It follows, then, that a considerable proportion of 

 those men who " commence angler," probably two 

 out of three, will be content to angle for fish in 

 general, and will not at first aim at game fish in 

 particular. They will also seek to begin with the 



