ON EAPID STREAMS. 169 



a capacity for the appreciation of the passion. It 

 is this feeling of tameness and monotony which 

 attaches itself to the idea of the worm and float, 

 which makes the first idea of worm-fishing so dis- 

 agreeable and uncongenial to the soul of a fly 

 fisherman. And if I could say no more to you 

 than that by applying the same tedious art to 

 trout fishing you would find it destructive, iq. 

 disgust might you spurn my words, in justice call 

 me a fisher for the pot, and not a fisherman worthy 

 the title. Happily my acquaintance with worm- 

 fishing is so foreign to any float-fishing, or angling 

 (so called), that they have but a name in common, 

 and I could heartily wish their titles were as 

 dissimilar as is their mode of practice they 

 essentially differ in every way ; so much so, that 

 whereas the one is a low art, so restricted in prin- 

 ciple as to be easily acquired, the other is so 

 complicated and varied, requires such a full know- 

 ledge of the whole system of fishing to rightly 

 guide us in its selection ; such intimate acquaint- 

 ance with the habits of the trout to apply it, and 

 sucli practical skill in its usage to obtain success, 

 that it is a rich field, captivating and gratifying 

 to a fisherman, and one beset with so many 

 difficulties that few attempt it, and very few 

 indeed carry it to its full perfection. 



I could not consider any man a perfect disciple 

 of our art, if he were not a good worm fisherman ; 

 he may be good with the artificial fly, natural fly, 

 beetle, or minnow, but if he is not far advanced in 

 the art of worm-fishing, I hold that man to be very 



