294 FISHING GOSSIP. 



with that of losing a good trout at the last moment, 

 and anglers have various ways of giving vent to their 

 pent-up feelings, depending upon their peculiar 

 idiosyncrasy. But of all the different means of relief 

 there is perhaps none at once so satisfactory and so 

 reprehensible as that referred to by a late great 

 humorist who, if not an angler, was the friend and 

 associate of anglers : 



" The flask frae my pocket 

 I poured into the socket, 



For I was provokit unto the last degree ; 

 And to my way o' thinkin', 

 There's naething for 't but drinkin', 



When a trout he lies winkin' and lauchin' at me." 



Everything, we say, combines to render fly-fishing 

 the most attractive of all the branches of the angler's 

 art. The attempt to capture trout which are seen to 

 rise at natural flies is in itself an excitement which 

 no other method possesses. Then the smallness of 

 the hook and the fineness of the tackle necessary for 

 success increase the danger of escape, and conse- 

 quently the excitement and pleasure of the capture ; 

 and for our own part we would rather hook, play, 

 and capture a trout of a pound weight with fly than 

 one of a pound and half with minnow or worm, where 

 the hooks being larger, there is less chance of their 

 losing their hold, and the gut being stronger, there is 

 less risk of its breaking. Fly-fishing is also the 



