EXPERIENCES WITH 'BOB' 67 



tackle, it was all of no use (bearing in mind " Bob's " 

 high standard of attainment) without a useful 

 knowledge of the ways and habits of trout at 

 particular times in the ever-changing fishing season. 

 Even to cast up and across stream, and to follow 

 the old nostrum of keeping your line in the water, 

 was only " touching good medicine " with the tip 

 of the tongue, and quite ineffective unless the whole 

 draught could be taken. 



Like all good experts at this kind of sport " Bob " 

 could tell you, in his own way, the why and where- 

 fore of most things, but he could not do for you 

 what he had done for himself practise. He could 

 tell you to be observant, and you could see he was 

 all that himself, but you had to exercise the faculty 

 yourself, and make the knowledge it brought your 

 own. 



There were other fishermen in and out of the 

 locality who seemingly possessed all " Bob's " 

 mechanical skill, but who fell short of him in attain- 

 ment. And wherein lay the all important difference 

 between them ? Was it the result of taking pains ? 

 They all took pains. I myself believe that the 

 essential difference lay in the fact that " Bob " took 

 not only pains but the right kind of pains. 



He was no genius, but he had developed his 

 ordinary faculties whilst fishing, far more so than 



