THE "NORTH-COUNTRY ANGLER 5 ' QUOTED. 151 



Country Angler," and written by a north country- 

 man, which contains much sound information 

 upon dibbing. The writer seems to have been a 

 sort of poaching angler, and takes an especial 

 delight in using the most killing baits, caring very 

 little whether the method he adopts or recom- 

 mends be sportmanlike or not. He would, no 

 doubt, estimate his sport by the number of fish 

 he killed, and not by the difficulty he experienced 

 in killing them. We will take him, however, as 

 a guide to a certain extent. He is a practical 

 man, but, like the generality of local anglers, 

 who have had no opportunity of measuring them- 

 selves with ubiquitous ones, he is full of con- 

 ceit, and thinks himself an angling admirable 

 Crichton. He says, " I generally begin fishing 

 in the shade, or under bushes, in May, and con- 

 tinue it all the three following months, which we 

 call the four hot montha. Most anglers in those 

 months fish only in the mornings and evenings, 

 unless the sky is cloudy, and there is a brisk 

 wind on the pools ; for there one may have very 

 good sport, and kill large fish. In these months, 

 when there is no wind, and the sun is shining, 

 from about ten o'clock in the morning, till four 

 or five in the afternoon, is the best time for shade- 

 fishing." The author then describes the fittest 

 rod, but on this point he is not so good a judge 

 as Mr. Elaine, who rightly says, " A long and 



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