FLIES AND FLY FISHING. 7 



.constantly netted ; and at every fishing station you can 

 generally buy fish. but it is a different affair catching 

 them yourself. The fact is the keeper never knows how 

 far the law will back him up if he runs the risk of 

 interfering with three or four reckless ruffians, " and the 

 poacher who works for another is always a thorough 

 blackguard/' in whom a long day's consumption of liquor 

 has not died out ; for it is nearly always after a day and 

 part of a nights pent at a beer-shop, that these forays take 

 place. Sunday morning is a very favorite time for them. 

 Supposing the keeper, by great pluck and luck, to have 

 succeeded in seizing one of the ringleaders, the rest having 

 decamped with the nets, etc., he can only summon him, 

 and, in nine cases out of ten, he is sentenced to a small 

 fine which is immediately paid. 



The poachers care for nothing except losing their nets\ 

 these they will nearly always fight for, and one man can 

 very seldom take them away. A very common fault with 

 the keepers is a too great regularity in their habits. 

 They generally visit the water at the same times, and 

 these times of course soon become known to any one 

 interested. They also are, as a rule, so much on the 

 water in the daytime, that, where there is only one 

 keeper, he can hardly be much out at night ; they also 



