234 THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLER. 



sportive humor, within the "ring" of a rise, just the 

 same as when in quest of smaller. quarry. This requires 

 a considerable amount of application to accomplish at a 

 good distance; but just as the experienced cricketer 

 handles the bat with tact and skill, so must the salmon 

 fisher wield the rod; proficiency in both is the reward of 

 constant practice, and of that only. 



Some anglers acquire a certain right, and in some 

 instances a left-hand cast, and acting up to an orthodox 

 system, swing without deviation upon all occasions. The 

 thing to do is, as we have elsewhere stated, to adapt one's 

 self to the situation at all times, and learn to handle 

 the tools so as to cast in any direction requisite to reach 

 the fish. It is an endless source of pleasure to the adept 

 to test his powers of casting under more than ordinarily 

 difficult circumstances. He well knows that assiduous 

 application to this matter is repaid by exceptional sport, 

 and that too, when but little is doing in the well thrashed 

 open. 



When a fish is hooked, the variety of expedients re- 

 sorted to is frequently considerable, one of the most 

 common is that of " jiggering."* In this a side to side 

 motion is described by the line in the water. This is 

 caused by the fish endeavoring to rake or rub out the 

 hook in the bed of the water, or upon a flag or sub- 

 merged stone. It is believed by some to be caused by the 

 mere shaking of the fish's head in mid-water, but this is 

 pure nonsense. We have watched the action of jigger- 

 ing fish in clear water often, at almost every angle, and 

 have generally found that a continued "jigger" bodes ill 

 for the consummation of the capture. During a late 

 visit to the Hebrides we experienced a rather striking 

 instance of this. Upon the occasion in question we had 



*0ur black bass, when hooked in running shallow waters "jigger;" 

 at least I have had them to go through a modified form of the action 

 described in the text. 



