176 WORM-FISHING IN LOW WATERS. 



bank edge, without exposing even the tip of his rod. 

 The line is leaded with perhaps a single pellet of shot, 

 to keep the bait near the bottom, if the strength and 

 depth of the current requires it ; if not, it is all the 

 better without it. The worm is then allowed to roll 

 along with the current, into the interstices between 

 stones, under projecting banks, below bushes, and is 

 guided into any situation where the sportsman's know- 

 ledge of the habits of his game leads him to suppose a 

 fish may be quietly ensconced. The apparition of a fine 

 clear worm thus innocently rolling past the nose of a 

 hungry member of Finsbury is too strong a temptation 

 for fish-flesh to resist. Quiver goes a tail the line is 

 suddenly tugged bob goes the tip of the rod ; and, 

 after a short struggle, a fine walloping fellow of three- 

 quarters of a pound is "louping alive" on the bank. 

 After a smart tap on the cranium, given merely as a 

 hint to be quiet, and not to alarm his neighbours with 

 his playfulness, he is quickly transferred to the creel. 



To an adept, this kind of fishing in clear waters will 

 often afford excellent sport ; but I need scarcely say that 

 it requires both skill and caution to prosecute it with 

 success, and a bungler had better leave it alone, otherwise 

 his vocabulary of religious terms will soon be brought 

 into requisition, and thus render him liable to a cate- 

 chising, if not to a downright castigation, should any of 

 his spiritual superiors be within earshot ; while it can 

 only be followed with any prospect of sport in waters 

 where the banks are moderately high, and rise close by 

 the margin of the water, and where currents set under- 



