DIFFICULTY OF FLY-FISHERS. 57 



artificial fly-fishing is the most difficult branch of 

 the angler's art, and this is another reason of the 

 preference accorded to it, since there is more merit, 

 and therefore more pleasure, in excelling in what is 

 difficult. An opinion, however, has of late years 

 been gaining ground, that worm-fishing in a clear 

 water is more difficult than fly-fishing. This 

 opinion has been supported by Mr. Stoddart, who 

 says : " It may perhaps startle some, and those no 

 novices in the art, when I declare, and offer more- 

 over to prove, that worm-fishing for trout requires 

 essentially more address and experience, as well as 

 a better knowledge of the habits and instincts of the 

 trout, than fly-fishing. I do not, be it observed, 

 refer to the practice of this branch of the art as it 

 is followed in hill-burns and petty rivulets, neither 

 do I allude to it as pursued after heavy rains in 

 flooded and discoloured waters ; my affirmation bears 

 solely upon its practice as carried on during the 

 summer months in the southern districts of Scot- 

 land, when the rivers are clear and low, and the 

 skies bright and warm.""* 



This is an opinion from which we entirely dis- 

 sent, and though Mr. Stoddart offers to prove his 

 assertion, he does not attempt doing so. That there 

 are fewer worm-fishers who meet with success when 

 the waters are clear, than there are fly-fishers who 

 meet with success when the waters are coloured, we 

 admit. But between fly-fishing when the waters 

 * Stoddart's Angler's Companion, chapter vi. page 106. 



