TROUT-FISHING 



Much respect as fishermen owe to W. C. Stewart, "the Practical An- 

 gler," to the soundness of whose principles I have paid tribute in another 

 chapter, one cannot but marvel at his advice about a rod for fly-fishing 

 from a boat or the shore of a lake. 



** The rod for fly-fishing from a boat need not be longer than thir- 

 teen or fourteen feet, as that is long enough to keep the angler out of 

 sight. ... In angling from the bank a rod of two feet longer might be 

 advisable."* 



Phew ! it makes one's back ache to think of such a weapon. One has to 

 cast much more incessantly in fishing a loch than in fishing a stream, 

 whether for salmon or trout, wherefore the labour of wielding so long a 

 rod would be distressing. As for keeping out of sight, I have often been 

 surprised by the indifference shown by trout to the approach of a boat. 

 Sometimes one will take the fiy almost under the blade of an oar. Nine 

 or ten feet is plenty of length for the rod. 



I have left myself little space for observations on minnow-fishing for 

 trout, whether in stream or lake. Of the use of spinning-bait in rivers I have 

 no experience whatever, wherefore all I shall say about it is that it is a de- 

 testable practice. The river trout is too chivalrous a creature to be offered 

 any lure except the fly — ^natural or artificial. It is the case, of course, that 

 trout may be taken with minnow at times and under conditions when they 

 will not look at the fly, but in proportion as the minnow -fisher is success- 

 ful so does he diminish the chances of the more dainty craftsmen. I have 

 known men, skilful at sport, so keen on killing that, if fish could not be 

 taken by fair means, they would have them out by foul, such as " snatch- 

 ing " a salmon. Now I am far from pronouncing minnow-fishing in rivers 

 to be foul sport; but it seems to me very poor sport and inimical to the 

 interests of fly-fishing. So it is when practised in lochs, with one excep- 

 tion, namely, when the game is the great lake trout usually termed 

 "ferox." That class of trout never can be taken except with a sunk bait, 

 for it dwells in the deepest water where surface lures cannot be seen. 

 Trailing a spinning -bait for ferox from the stern of a boat requires no 

 skill on the part of the fisher; the boatmen take him over the likeliest 

 ground; he is responsible only for the soundness of his tackle. And faith! 

 that had need to be sound in every part, for a large ferox fights like a 

 small torpedo. 



These great trout seem to draw towards the shallows in the evening. 



•r*# Practical Angl*r, p. 174 (ed. 1857). 



135 



