FLY-FISHING. 303 



a better acquaintance with the habits of the trout ; 

 and we believe that a mere novice would, in a large 

 water, catch more trout by fishing down than up, 

 because the latter requires more nicety in casting. 

 But to attain anything like eminence in fly-fishing, 

 the angler must fish up, and all beginners should 

 persevere in it, even though they meet with little suc- 

 cess at first, and they will be amply rewarded for their 

 trouble. 



The only circumstances in which fishing down 

 has the advantage of fishing up, is when the water is 

 so dark or deep that the fish would not see, or if they 

 did see, would not have time to seize the flies, unless 

 they moved at a slower rate than the stream. We 

 think that this rarely applies to angling for river 

 trout, as when inclined to feed upon flies they are 

 generally on the outlook for them, but it does apply 

 to salmon and sea-trout fishing. Both these fish lie 

 in strong deep water, and as they are not accustomed 

 to feed upon flies, they are not on the outlook for 

 them ; so that if the salmon-fisher were to throw his 

 flies up stream, they would come down at such a rate 

 that the salmon would never see them. Besides 

 which, it is obvious that whatever salmon take the 

 angler's fly for, they cannot take it for anything they 

 have seen before, and therefore there is no reason for 

 supposing they can detect anything unnatural in its 

 motion. 



