n6 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



water if he pleases, and then works it by gently rising and 

 falling the top of the rod. It will then be taken for a larva, 

 spider, or some other water insect, and he will thus improve 

 his chance of sport. Indeed, I have known very good fishermen 

 fish so and take very good fish. 



Here is another wrinkle. To fish a stream to the best ad- 

 vantage in this way the angler should pick out a tolerably 

 rapid one, get above it, and cast into the head of it, sinking 

 and working his fly, and as he does so he should gradually 

 foot by foot let out line, and in this way, without moving, 

 he may fish down a run thirty or forty yards in length, and 

 probably some very good fish will reward his efforts, but he 

 will have to work them up against the stream and not let 

 them go down, and he must strike at the slightest touch, for 

 he will not see his rises. In fishing down, as the line is always 

 tight, the angler must be very careful not to strike too hard. 

 The lightest touch is enough, and a sharp stroke will part the 

 tackle to a certainty, particularly if the gut be dry and has been 

 used much before* 



At night, however, the angler should always fish down, 

 or rather across and down, or he will miss three-fourths of his 

 rises owing to the slack line not giving him sufficiently quick 

 intimation of the rise. Added to this, unless he makes too 

 much disturbance, the fish will let him come within two or 

 three yards of them, and the fish being usually on the watch 

 for any insect that moves, no matter how or what, will take his 

 fly boldly. But I shall recur to night-fishing hereafter. The 

 question of fishing up or down, therefore, is, to a certain extent, 

 a divided question, but the angler should always give the 

 preference to fishing up. But in whatever style he fishes, as 

 his art is one of clever deception, he should attend to and 

 imitate nature as closely as possible. 



In very windy weather, or in difficult places, 'midst trees 

 and bushes, the angler will often have to employ other ways 

 of casting. When the wind is blowing heavily down-stream 

 or he has trees at his back, he will have to switch his line.f 



* It is surprising that the author should not have warned the beginner in 

 fly-fishing for trout against holding a finger on the reel line. To do so in 

 fishing with fine tackle, whether with wet or dry fly, is to render occasional 

 fracture of the gut inevitable. On the other hand, in salmon fishing, the 

 tackle being stronger and the hook larger, more force is required to bury the 

 barb, and this is ensured by keeping a finger on the reel line. ED. 



This plan is more often adopted in salmon-fishing with the double- 

 handed rod than in trouting, though in the latter it may at times be used 

 with advantage. F, F, 



