388 SALMON AND TROUT. 



To carry the baits for worm-fishing an open-mouthed bag, 

 from three and a half to four inches square, and attached to 

 a button of the coat or a button-hole by a loop of string, 

 will be found much the most convenient method. Indeed, 

 when constantly wading knee- or waist-deep in water, any other 

 plan is almost impracticable unless it be that of the small 

 angler whose answer, when asked ' What it was he was carrying 

 in his mouth ? ' has become proverbial. 



In spite of the media tutissimus ibis maxim, there is yet a 

 certain drawback attached to this sort of mid-river work, the 

 drawback of losing time and disturbing the water by getting out 

 on the bank for the purpose of landing the fish. On the other 

 hand, the attempt to transport them direct from the water to 

 the creel without a landing net is an almost hopeless, as well 

 as patience-trying, undertaking. The worm-fisher must, there- 

 fore, practically as a matter of necessity, adopt a portable land- 

 ing net, and that should be so arranged as to be instantly 

 brought into play when required. To effect this some fisher- 

 men carry a very short net with a wooden hoop, and a handle 

 about one and a half foot long which they pass under the creel- 

 strap, or a small strap attached to the coat, under and behind 

 the left arm, and thence into the pocket. The best form of hoop 

 for this sort of pocket net is pear-shnped, about eight inches 

 wide by eleven inches in length. Such a net ought not to 

 exceed 3 or 4 oz. in weight, everything complete, and with 

 it a fish of three pounds weight can be landed. The telescope 

 net, however, described at p. 8 1, is in many respects a great im- 

 provement on this somewhat rough and ready appliance. All 

 the other net-slings and similar contrivances that I have seen 

 seem to possess the speciality of allowing the net to slip out of 

 the socket when it is not desired, and to get stuck or hitched 

 up in some way or other at the moment of requisition. 



All nets should be made of dressed silk, so that they may 

 not get sodden, rotten, or catch in the hooks or tackle. 



