SALMON- ANGLING. 319 



so gaudy, but it is ruinous to fly-fishing. If a parr has been 

 trailed over a salmon, there is little chance of its rising to the 

 fly for some time, perhaps not even for that day. The Scotch 

 peasantry have invented a substitute for the Thames trolling- 

 rod. I had one made by a country joiner, although without 

 joins t which cast even the fly nearly as well as my best 

 salinon-rod; but the point being stiff it was better adapted 

 for parr or minnow. By unwinding the length of line you 

 wish to throw from the reel, and then pulling it through the 

 large rings, until only a few yards hang down with the ap- 

 pended bait, you can jerk it out something after the manner of 

 an English troller, with this difference, that the cast is made 

 over the right or left shoulder. Some prefer a supple top, 

 which entices the fish from its lively spinning, but is more 

 apt to miss them. After all, it is but a sorry shift for the 

 beautiful smooth underhanded casts of the Thames anglers. 

 Even a moderate performer with a London trolling-rod would 

 excel the most skilful Highland parr or minnow fisher. 

 There is also this great advantage on the side of the southern 

 rod, that it injures the bait far less. But indeed the English 

 manner of baiting, and their whole arrangement of trolling 

 tackle, are very far superior to ours. I have fished with 

 Thames trollers who were so particular as to bait differently 

 with a bleak from a gudgeon. 1 A bleak is best on a dark 

 windy day, from being showy a gudgeon on a calm bright 

 day, as its dark colour conceals and confounds the hooks. 

 By the same rule, a loach is good in our lochs in clear weather. 

 Bleak, however, is thought the best spinning bait on the 

 Thames, unless at very rapid mill-dams, where the tougher 

 gudgeon is not so apt to spoil. 



1 A bleak, with three rows of three hooks, tied back to back, and a single hook 

 the reverse way, to separate the lowest row from the one above : and one top 

 hook through the lips of the bait. A gudgeon, two rows of three hooks, one of 

 two, and a single hook for the lips. It is of no use to describe the process of 

 baiting, as every man must take a practical lesson from a good troller before he 

 can make any hand of it. 



