162 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



Otter. I design angling, Bill, with the salmon-roe, 

 of which I have a store in my creel. See, there are 

 Leister and Swiveltop doing execution therewith on 

 the stream immediately above us. That trite say- 

 ing, " the more the merrier," holds good of this sort 

 of water-raking. Wherefore let us set to they will 

 join us ere long, should we have pitched upon the 

 better pool. Shorten your line, Bill, and throw up 

 against the current. A large single hook you may, 

 on the whole, find preferable to the double ones you 

 have in your pocket-book; however, try them, they 

 will retain the bait more readily than the other, but 

 are scarcely so well adapted for securing the fish. 

 I feel already the rub of a snout against my barb ; 

 and now I have one fast, a good yellow fin, and not 

 a whit out of season, judging by his complexion. 

 Fix a leaden pellet or twain, four inches above the 

 hook, Bill, and while angling, keep your casting- 

 line more on the stretch. Tug smarter, man; you 

 would scarcely run your point through a fungus at 

 that rate of striking. I have another, and shall cap- 

 ture half a score besides, ere you draw blood. 



May. The fault is in the fish, Tom, they bite with 

 such delicacy and want of vigour. 



Otter. 'Tis their manner, Bill, when feeding on 

 this bait, to suck it like the carp but less hesitat- 

 ingly than you imagine. I mistake much if it be 

 not frequently engrossed within the jaws of a huge 

 fellow, without our being able to perceive the slight- 

 est indication of an attack made upon it. The true 



