NORTHUMBERLAND 



best, and speaking generally, it is not such as he would 

 devote much attention to with a fly in the same state 

 of the river. When the worm drops, it must be allowed 

 to float down naturally towards you uninfluenced by 

 the rod. A check to the movement of the gut is 

 usually the only visible sign of a bite, not always easy 

 to see in quick, broken water, though it is often 

 accompanied by that other subconscious sensation of 

 touch. It is well to wait three or four seconds, with 

 a single hook, at any rate, before striking. Sometimes, 

 however, the fish will move swiftly up-stream directly 

 it seizes the worm, when the bite is of course much 

 more obvious. It is quite pretty work, though, and 

 perhaps not so easy of accomplishment as it may 

 appear from this bald description. It is well to be 

 up and doing betimes in bright weather, though the 

 precise hour may be left to the inclinations of the 

 angler. But if on the water by six or seven, you can 

 generally count on the fish taking till about ten o'clock ; 

 for I am not concerned with the all-night fisherman, 

 under which head fall so many of the working folk 

 of the north country, who will get into the river after 

 supper and fish up many miles through the night 

 and early morning hours, and be back by train or 

 cycle to their workshop, mine, or factory at the 

 regulation hour. This is a destructive business, and 

 to be deplored, particularly as this type of angler 

 generally baskets everything, however small. It has 

 been a regular practice, however, for all time that 

 matters up here, though there are signs that in the 

 general interests of the fishing public some limits 

 may yet be set to it. 



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