FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 with its head upstream, the angler's ** strike " is more likely to fix the 

 hook in its mouth than when, standing higher up the stream than the 

 fish, the tendency of the strike is to pull the fly out of its mouth. Lastly, 

 when the upstream. fisher hooks a trout, he has the current in his favour 

 in playing it, instead of against him, and there is less chance of the trout 

 disturbing fresh water in its runs than if it had been hooked by one casting 

 downstream. 



All this is so manifest and is now so generally recognized, that one may 

 feel surprised that it was left for Stewart to discover, or at least to 

 enunciate it for the first time. Why did the obvious advantage of upstream 

 fishing never occur to Barker, Hawker, Sir Humphrey Davy, Tom Stod- 

 dart, or any other of Stewart's innumerable predecessors in angling 

 literature ? The only hint upon the subject that I have found is a sentence 

 in Ronalds 's "Fly -fisher's Entomology," first published in 1836, to the 

 following effect: 



** In brooks where fish are looking upstream for the flies and other 



food which float down to them, good sport is to be had in bright weather 



by walking up the middle and casting either fly or worm before you, 



especially where the water is broken ^ either by running over stones 



or by tumbling over ledges of rocks, etc., into little pools and basins. 



And observe, that fish cannot see behind them: all optics forbid it, 



especially when they are not looking out sharply." 



Twenty years had to run before the truth thus indicated by Ronalds 



was formulated by Stewart and recognized by the angling fraternity; 



but during those twenty years, and for twice twenty years to follow them, 



the number of anglers continued to increase so rapidly and facilities of 



access to angling waters became so greatly improved, that trout ceased 



to be the simple, easily-deluded creatures with which our forefathers 



used to supplement their fare, and have now developed into some of the 



wariest animals of the chase. In all small and moderately sized streams, 



therefore, it is advisable to adopt upstream fishing. It is more laborious, 



because the line has to be cast more frequently; but it is also a more 



delicate art; the files must be placed on the water with greater accuracy, 



and fishing with a short line upstream has this advantage over working 



downstream with a long line, that a fish rising at the fiy can be seen before 



it is felt. 



In fishing large rivers there is less need for concealment on the angler's 

 part; the breadth and depth of the water help to keep him out of sight; 

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