FLY FISHING IN FRANCE. 87 



to one against me. However, it settled their 

 fishing. 



They got dreadfully laughed at, and were 

 never seen out with rods, lines, or nets again 

 whilst I was in Quimper. Most of the French 

 are fearful poachers ; they have the love of 

 sport, but they rarely do it in a legitimate 

 manner, either in fishing or shooting. 



The trout rod for Lower Brittany should be a 

 small one, and tolerably stiff. It is a great 

 fault with many of our English rods that they 

 are too limp, and often nearly useless for throw- 

 ing against the wind. Moreover, there are so 

 many weeds and stumps of old trees in these 

 Breton streams, that unless your rod is pretty 

 stiff and you give the fish the but the instant 

 you have struck, he is gone. Many and many 

 a time on a cold March morning I have had to 

 take a header in the larger streams to clear a 

 friend's line, because he would let his fish run. 

 I was once fishing some thirty miles from 

 Quimper with my English friend. He was a 

 very nervous man, and had had all sorts of ideas 

 drummed into his head as to the savage character 

 of the Bretons. 



