FISHING 55 



vented an inrush of fish, but it also checked any 

 escape of air from my waders. The latter con- 

 sequently became so inflated that they acted as 

 lifebuoys and caused the lower part of my body 

 to float on the top of the loch while my head 

 remained immersed beneath its surface. I should 

 have died miserably of suffocation but for the 

 timely intervention of a passing shepherd, who 

 mistook me for a German dirigible balloon that 

 had been recently observed in the neighbour- 

 hood, gaffed me through the waders with his 

 crook, and thus released the pent-up air and 

 enabled me to resume that erect position which 

 distinguishes so many human beings from some 

 of the beasts that perish. 



We now come to the question of bait, under 

 which category I may include live-bait, dead- 

 bait, white-bait, and the ordinary artificial fly 

 with which every fisherman is familiar. 



The choice of suitable bait requires the exer- 

 cise of common sense as weU as some slight know- 

 ledge of the habits of different fish. Although 

 it is on record that a perch has been caught with 

 its own eye baited on a hook, it would be crass 

 stupidity for an angler to attempt a repetition 

 of this feat. One might as weU imagine that 



