TEOUT FISHING WITH BAIT. 91 



way cannot fail to be rather short. You cannot, when 

 walking on rough banks, or wading, have loose line hang- 

 ing about ; but you may get a much increased length 

 of cast by employing the Nottingham mode of casting 

 a light dace float, already explained and depicted at Fig. 4, 

 Plate 1. By this means any reasonable length likely to be 

 needed can be commanded. Some anglers prefer to spin 

 upstream and draw down; but the bait must spin very 

 well to do much execution at it ; still, I have seen 

 fish killed in very clear water thus, which would hardly 

 have come to bag fishing down. The method of casting, 

 &c., is precisely the same as that for down fishing, the draw 

 being, of course, somewhat more rapid. 



The necks of the sharp streams in rough, rapid, or even 

 white water are the best spots to spin for trout. In open 

 and moderate water the trout soon learn to grow shy of 

 the minnow, and constantly come provokingly short at it. 

 When you see a trout come at the minnow, and follow it, 

 don't be flurried, but spin steadily on, or any sudden stop 

 or change will probably frighten the fish altogether : 

 whereas, just as the bait enters the bend, and as it rises 

 towards the surface at the end of a draw, he is very likely 

 to make a dash at it or if he declines that cast he 

 may take it the next ; strike smartly but not too heavily, 

 when you feel a touch, and not before indeed feeling 

 should supersede seeing in this matter, and the less you 

 see the better. I once saw a seven pound trout come at 

 my bait at Sunbury ; I saw his great white mouth open, 

 and the bait disappear, and I struck. I felt nothing at 

 all, the bait uninjured came one way, and the trout of 

 course went another. If I had not seen that fish, I most 

 likely would have waited till I felt him, when I should 

 have hooked him. But to this day I never can make out 



