TROUT THE FISH MOST SOUGHT AFTER. 7 



which, the poet thinks, should be reserved for the 

 master, and we suppose for all his followers, in the 

 next ; and our purpose is not to make more anglers, 

 but to make successful anglers of those unsuccessful 

 at present. 



Some fish afford more sport in their capture than 

 others ; but for whatever kind necessity may compel 

 the angler to fish, its capture will always afford him 

 amusement, provided he has not been accustomed 

 to anything superior. The juvenile cockney who 

 bobs for gudgeon and eels in the dubs and ditches 

 in the neighbourhood of London, and whom a trout 

 of a pound weight would scare out of a year's growth, 

 plies his lure as unremittingly as the sportsman who 

 captures the monarch of the streams in some noble 

 river, such as Tweed or Tay. 



Of all the inhabitants of the fresh water, no fish 

 is looked upon with such favour by the angler, and 

 none affords him such varied and continuous sport, 

 as the common fresh- water trout. This is owing to 

 its being the most difficult to capture of all the finny 

 tribe, not excepting the salmon itself, to the sport 

 it affords when hooked the trout being stronger 

 than any fish of its size and to its fine edible 

 qualities. 



In some parts of England trout have almost dis- 

 appeared, and the angler has been compelled to have 

 recourse to meaner fare ; but in Scotland trout are 

 more plentiful than any other fish, and trout-fishing 

 is within the reach of all. The difficulty is not to 



