274 WHERE TO CAST Till. \\CUM, 



red worms, requires a neat touch and a light hand, as the- 

 slightest snap from a trout, such as none hut a very prac- 

 tised worm-fisher would detect, is sufficient to tear and 

 spoil the worm ; and the young hand had better graduate 

 at tough dew-worms until he acquires skill. 



To bait Stewart's tackle, take a worm (or even two if 

 needed), and stick the small hooks through it in various 

 places, taking a turn of the worm round the gut between 

 each hook, as shown in Plate VIII. figs. 2 and 3, p. 284. 



When the big hook is used, the trout often takes the 

 bend or only the shank in its mouth, and either feels the 

 steel within or the dra upon the worm, and quickly 

 rejects it, and as the point is not in his mouth, a strike 

 merely alarms him without hooking him ; but it is next 

 to impossible for a fish to take any part of the worm in 

 his mouth with Stewart's tackle without having one or 

 two of the hooks in his mouth. 



In worm-fishing it is often indispensable to wade. 

 Indeed, in nine times out of ten, particularly in fine-water 

 fishing, the angler will have to wade more or less. In 

 thick water he may avoid this somewhat. He must, of 

 course, wade up-stream, casting into every likely spot as 

 far as he can above him, allowing the bait to roll down 

 stream until it travels down level with him. The side of 

 a big stone or rock, the edge of sharp streams, narrow runs 

 between weeds or stones, the gravelly tails of pools or just 

 before a rapid, under bridges or by bridge piers, by over- 

 hanging banks, and at times even in deep holes, are all 

 places to be fished carefully. In what I have called ' the 

 eye ' of a stream the experienced worm-fisher will always 

 look for a bite, if he has ope in the stream at all, as here 

 the trout always lie watching for the first chance of the 

 food that comes down, and the bait should always be 

 allowed to make a thorough tour of this eligible hunting- 

 ground. 



