CLEAR V. FLOODED WATEK. 209 



October in which, a good angler should not kill at 

 least twelve pounds weight of trout in any county 

 in the south of Scotland. There are days when he 

 may easily kill twice that quantity, and the angler 

 who, fishing a whole day that is to say, for nine or 

 ten hours cannot capture on an average fifteen 

 pounds a-day, has not yet attained to eminence in 

 the art. Most anglers seem to think that the 

 difficulty will be to kill the required quantity when 

 the water is clear, but this is not the case, the diffi- 

 culty is only when the water is flooded. Sport in 

 clear water is certain ; sport in flooded water is un- 

 certain. There are occasions when the water is 

 flooded that trout take very readily, and when large 

 baskets may be got with little trouble by almost any 

 one ; but these occasions are " like angels' visits, few 

 and far between," and it has not been our lot to fall 

 in with many of them. Indeed, we have frequently, 

 in a dark water, had great difficulty in killing 

 twelve pounds weight, when we could with ease 

 have killed twice that quantity had the water been 

 small and clear ; and all our best takes have been 

 when the water was in that condition. There are 

 some days, however, even in clear water, when the 

 most skilful angler will require to work very hard 

 to get the required quantity. Nor is it at all 

 possible to accomplish it by a continuous use of any 

 one method of angling. The fly-fisher cannot do it ; 

 the worm-fisher cannot do it ; the minnow-fisher 

 cannot do it ; and, as a matter of course, the May-fly 



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