112 ANGLING. 



season of the year, and the particular locality. Observa- 

 tion and experience must be the joint teachers of this 

 special knowledge, for no verbal directions can impart it- 

 There is also the fine feeling of a sportsman to be acquired, 

 which checks the mere butchery of the fish, otherwise than 

 by fair fishing, which places the love of sport above the 

 satisfactory basketful of shining beauties in tbeir grassy bed. 

 The whole art of angling has been truly said to be the know- 

 ledge of how, when, and where to fish, and what to fish 

 with. 



The trout, which after all is the special object of the fly- 

 fisher's ambition, is a gentlemanly fish, of high instincts. 

 Not for him are the slow sluggish stream or muddy waters. 

 He leaves them for coarser natures. He likes not grovel- 

 ling in the mud, but courses along the watery highway, 

 which runs clear over a gravelly bed. He is nice in his 

 taste, and prefers the sportive fly to the lowly grub. He 

 is not easily entrapped, he calls forth the highest skill of 

 the angler, and often comes off the victor in the encounter. 

 He is truly the fish of the spring, and is in the primex* 

 condition when nature is decked in her gayest apparel. 

 From September to March he disappears from the angler's 

 calendar. He waits until the daisy shoots from the sod, 

 and then he delights in the shallows and the rougher 

 streams, running into deeper water and shady pools, where 

 he sojourns during the heat of summer. In whirlpools and 

 holes he delights. He loves the sharp current of a mill 

 race, where he can retire behind a rock or a big stone. 

 Sometimes he is to be found under bridges, or between 

 two arches which divide the current. He is gregarious and 

 loves his kind, and though his size and condition vary ii i 

 different countries, his main characteristics remain the same, 



