70 FISHING IN EDEN 



their day's work was done. As a general rule they 

 fished with long lines down stream. Not many of 

 them waded. We fished up and across, and waded, 

 because it was in this way we found we hooked 

 more fish. None of us knew, at that time, that the 

 question of " up " or " down " was debatable. We 

 all went our own way, and had plenty of room. 



In fishing the bigger Lower Eden, below the foot 

 of the Eamont, in later years, I have found that 

 " up " and " down " can be varied according to 

 circumstances with advantage. Where the streams 

 are large the fish are more spread out, and require 

 more searching for, but they are less easily disturbed 

 than in the lesser Upper Eden and becks I fished as 

 a boy. 



Practice certainly always preceded theory with us. 

 In wandering since how much I missed at that time 

 through lack of printed angling lore I have 

 been greatly consoled by a scientific friend, who 

 says that theory always does follow practice, and 

 that the experience of the engineering shops 

 furnishes the material for the text-books. If I had 

 said to " Bob," " What is your theory of this, that, 

 and the other ? " he would, with all his practical know- 

 ledge, have been quite at a loss for an answer. The 

 things he did, and the way he fished, were none of 

 them based on hearsay. When he got to the water, 



