246 TROLLING WITH WORMS. 



voyage by angling from the ship's stern for those 

 fish which swim in its wake. 



On days when the salmon tribe will refuse the 

 artificial fly, they will act differently towards the 

 worm, but you must angle for that species of fish 

 with careful neatness, with a fine gut-line, deli- 

 cately leaded, and without the incumbrance of a 

 float. A lively worm dropped in rapids, eddies, 

 mill -tails, worked artistically with the water, and 

 ever and anon spinning it against it by means of 

 a swivel-trace will rarely fail in affording diver- 

 sion. After nightfall in summer, worms, trolled 

 upon the surface of the water, will be taken by 

 large trout. 



Gentles, or maggots, come next after worms 

 as a good bottom-bait. They suit the summer 

 and autumn months best, and most fish will take 

 them. They are bad baits for gudgeon, perch, 

 pike, eels, and, indeed, for most sorts of fish that 

 prey upon other fish. I have observed that in 

 some parts of the Thames they are not so good a 

 bait as worms, and that in other parts of that 

 river they are better. Wherever the puntmen 

 ground-bait constantly with worms, there the 

 worm will prove the best bait. On the contrary, 

 where gentles are the constant ground-bait used, 

 they will be found the best angling bait. Fish 

 become habituated to either of these baits, ac- 

 cording to the frequency of their finding them in 



