226 AN ANGLER'S HOURS xm 



were employed for half an hour first, while 

 across the middle of the pool, just where 

 it is deepest, lies the trunk of a recumbent 

 willow with projecting branches. This leaves 

 about three square yards for fishing, and that 

 leaves no room for sentiment. A worm is 

 essential to the fishing of this place, and with 

 a worm shall it be fished. The angler has 

 brought a stiff" little fly-rod, nine feet in 

 length, which is sturdy enough for worm- 

 fishing and at the same time able to throw 

 a fly a long distance when a heavy tapered 

 reel-line is used with it ; it is just the 

 thing for brook-fishing, in which power is 

 required, combined with shortness. He fits 

 it up and attaches a strong worm -trace 

 weighted with a small bullet to the running 

 line ; he uses a large hook, on which he puts 

 a small lobworm, hooking it in the middle 

 and once only, for this gives it more freedom 

 to wriggle, and so attract the fish. Then he 

 drops his baited hook into the rush of the fall, 

 and waits. Thames trout-fishers know well 

 that the trout in a weir lie just where the 

 water seems roughest, right under the foam. 

 The fact is, that immediately under the fall 

 the commotion is merely superficial ; deeper 



