FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 bottom sometimes ends abruptly in an expanse of soft mud or adhesive 

 clay, and there are few sensations more unpleasant than sinking suddenly 

 into such places. They are easily avoided if the fisherman will " ca' canny," 

 travelling through the water witb a sliding motion of the feet along 

 the bottom so as to test the ground in advance. Thigh boots or water- 

 proof stockings are useless for loch -wading — ^worse than useless, for the 

 angler is certain to go deeper than he means or to make a false step, letting 

 the water in over the tops, when his comfort is at an end for the day — a mild 

 way for expressing intense discomfort, as I can testify from recollection 

 of a long day's salmon-fishing on the Lochy. 



Those who are acquainted with that fine river will not require to be told 

 that it cannot be fished without wading — deep wading, too — in strong 

 streams paved with round, smooth stones that give a very treacherous 

 foothold. Having been invited to fish the Camisky water, I had to borrow 

 a pair of wading trousers from my host, who hung them outside the 

 smoking-room door ready for my use on the morrow. There were three 

 boys in that house, sons of my host; I am not aware of having done anything 

 to incur their displeasure, nor do I attribute the dastardly trick they 

 played me to malice any more than I suspected a retriever puppy of 

 unorthodoxy when it got hold of my Bible, tore out and chewed, but refused 

 as resolutely as any professor of the higher criticism, to swallow, the 

 greater part of the Pentateuch. No, it cannot have been malice, but sheer 

 mischief that prompted these youngsters to fire an arrow through 

 the seat of the breeks I was to wear the next day. I never detected the 

 lesion until I plunged waist-deep in the icy river next day, and then if, like 

 the prophet Elisha, I could have pressed she -bears into my service, those 

 sniggering youngsters would have had a rough time. 



Wading -trousers are indispensable for loch -wading, and make it much 

 less fatiguing than fishing from the bank, for the water lends consider- 

 able support as one proceeds with a sort of gliding motion. As we are 

 on the subject of waders, let me offer a wrinkle to the purchaser of wad- 

 ing trousers. Do not be persuaded to take a pair too short in the fork. The 

 vendor of these articles perhaps never wore a pair of waders; he is con- 

 cerned only to ensure a neat fit and consequently is anxious they should 

 not look baggy; but bagginess is indispensable if one is to avoid the in- 

 tolerable discomfort caused by trousers too short in the fork. If the fisher- 

 man's coat is of the ordinary length, he will have to tuck it into his waders, 

 which not only makes his figure needlessly inelegant, but makes the 

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