48 BAIT-FISHING. 



a bold biter, sometimes he will mouth the worm without 

 disturbing the line, and if you do not strike he will al- 

 low himself to be brought to the top of the water and 

 then quit the hook. Therefore every time I take out 

 my line I strike, and by that means I take many a trout 

 I should have missed if I had not done so. I always 

 use a winch and a ringed rod, so that if T hook a good 

 fish I can let him have as much line as I think proper. 

 "When you hook one of this kind, gvie him the but of 

 your rod, and keep the top bent so that he cannot break 

 your line, which, for this kind of fishing roust for two 

 lengths from the bottom, be of the best silk worm-gut. 

 This manner of fishing is mostly for his favourite 

 haunts, such as purling brooks and the cooler and 

 smaller rivers which descend from hills and rocky moun- 

 tains. They love rapid currents and clear swift streams, 

 with gravelly, sandy and stonny bottoms ; upon which 

 account they are found in most of our mountain streams. 

 Lower down the rivers, where it is more deep and still, 

 you may find larger and fatter trout, but they are more 

 scarce there than near their sources. If the water be 

 coloured with rain, you may angle the day through ; 

 but if it be clear, from daybreak till nine o'clock, and in 

 the dusk of the evening. But the best way to angle for 

 them in clear water, is with one worm and a smaller hook 

 without shot on your line, which should be as long as 

 your rod, and you must cast it across the top end of the 

 stream and let it go down, and they will seldom refuse it. 

 If used early in the morning: when you use the worm at 

 bottom in the deeps, when the water is coloured, your 



