158 ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM. 



upon sport when the wind was east than when it 

 was west. 



As July draws to a close, trout do not take the 

 worm so well they begin to be capricious, and 

 will sometimes take only for an hour or two in the 

 forenoon ; so that worm-fishing in our earlier 

 streams may be said to be at an end ; and if the 

 angler continues it through August, he must have 

 recourse to the more backward districts ; and 

 sometimes even to hill-burns. We have known 

 excellent worm-fishers unable to capture a dozen 

 trout in the end of August, where a month earlier 

 they could with ease have filled a basket. And 

 w T orm-fishing may be limited to six weeks or two 

 months in summer the time varying according 

 to the season, for which the best guide we can 

 give the angler is, that it generally commences 

 about a week after the May-flies are done, and in 

 streams where these flies do not exist about the 

 beginning of June. 



All we have yet said on this head has applied 

 exclusively to fishing when the waters are small 

 and clear, and we shall now proceed to what 

 remains of the subject namely, angling with the 

 worm in flooded waters and hill-burns. 



To commence, then, with flooded waters. If 

 the water is very heavy, one or two No. 3 split 

 shot will be found an advantage. In such circum- 

 stances we generally use two common bait-hooks, 

 and tie the one about two feet above the other 



