SPECIALISING. 47 



will be that after a time Ihe shoals will gradually 

 melt away until not a fin is within sight. 



Such a day and water are not very propitious for 

 any kind of fishing, and for the novice's worm and 

 strong tackle they are hopeless. But there are 

 ways in which a few fish could be secured even 

 now, and the novice will see the necessity of 

 studying them. In a word, he has laid the foundi- 

 tion of his general knowledge, and he must now 

 begin to specialise. He has so far been fishing for 

 fish in general ; he now has to angle for fish in 

 particular, bearing in mind the fact that, though his 

 first method, tackle and bait are well enough on 

 occasion, they are not adequate at all times. Nor 

 in the long run does it pay to fish for fish in 

 general ; the most successful angler is he who 

 fishes for perch or chub or roach, or whatever it 

 may be, and who adopts the methods most suited 

 to his special quarry. These methods are very 

 diverse, and it is wiser to master them one by one 

 than to attempt to learn them all together; it is 

 wiser, too, to progress by natural and easy stages, 

 to make acquaintance with different kinds of float 

 fishing before beginning with the fly or spinning 

 tackle. 



Among the different kinds of fish which the 

 novice has already caught, the perch alone can be 



