222 AN ANGLER'S HOURS xm 



and to feel that one is not through igno- 

 rance fishing in spots where no trout can 

 possibly be. 



Now for brook-fishing a man must have 

 an open mind ; he must not be wrapped up 

 in theories, or too submissive to public 

 opinion. If one method of fishing seems 

 to him more likely to succeed than an- 

 other, he must be prepared to adopt it, and 

 must to a certain extent disregard what is 

 considered dignified in a sportsman. He 



should be ready to But it occurs to 



me that all this preamble may have pre- 

 pared the reader for the worst, so I hasten 

 to say that I do not mean the setting of night- 

 lines or the use of a net. I only intended 

 delicately to introduce the question of the 

 worm. The matter is simple enough in 

 reality. Some parts of a brook cannot be 

 fished with a fly, by reason of the bushes 

 and trees on the banks, and in other parts 

 (except on that one evening) the angler 

 might throw flies for ever without getting 

 a rise. Therefore, if these parts are to 

 be fished at all, there is only one thing 

 for it a worm. Even in the parts of 

 the stream where a fly can be used with 



