SEASON FOR WORM-FISHING. 153 



more readily ; and if the angler must have a bait, 

 he will find a much more deadly one in the May- 

 fly, which forms the subject of the next chapter. 

 There are some anglers who never fish with any- 

 thing else but worms ; a proceeding we can only 

 account for by supposing that they are deficient 

 both in knowledge and taste. When worm-fishing 

 is not in season, the trout captured by it are neither 

 so large or so well- conditioned as those taken with 

 the fly. Trout never take a worm freely till they 

 are thoroughly satiated with surface food ;" and this 

 seldom happens until the. May-flies are off the water, 

 or at a time varying from the beginning of June to 

 the beginning of July. It is now that worm-fishing 

 commences in earnest, and really good and exciting 

 sport it is. The trout are in splendid condition, 

 strong and vigorous ; so that a half-pound trout at 

 this season will afford as much play as one of twice 

 the size would have done two months earlier. It 

 is the most certain and deadly of all fishing ; and 

 by it more trout may be captured in the month of 

 July than by any other means in any other month 

 of the year. And he is not worthy of the name of 

 angler who cannot, in any day of the month, when 

 the water is clear, kill from fifteen to twenty pounds 

 weight of trout in any county in the south of Scot- 

 land.* 



Sport can also be more relied upon in this than 

 in any other kind of angling ; thunder in the air, 

 * See introductory chapter, and footnote. 



