422 SALMON AND TROUT. 



To carry the baits for worm-fishing an open-mouthed bag, 

 from three and a half to four inches square, and attached to 

 a button of the coat or a button-hole by a loop of string, 

 will be found much the most convenient method. Indeed, 

 when constantly wading knee- or waist-deep m water, any other 

 plan is almost impracticable — unless it be that of the smaL 

 angler whose answer, when asked 'What it was he was carrying 

 in his mouth ? ' has become proverbial. 



In spite of the medio tutissiinus ibis maxim, there is yet a 

 certain drawback attached to this sort of mid-river work, — the 

 drawback of losing time and disturbing the water by getting out 

 on the bank for the purpose of landing the fish. On the other 

 hand, the attempt to transport them direct from the water to 

 the creel without a landing net is an almost hopeless, as well 

 as patience-trying, undertaking. The worm-fisher must, there- 

 fore, practically as a matter of necessity, adopt a portable land- 

 ing net, and that should be so arranged as to be instantly 

 brought into play when required. To effect this some fisher- 

 men carry a very short net with a wooden hoop, and a handle 

 about one and a half foot long which they pass under the creel- 

 strap, or a small strap attached to the coat, under and behind 

 the left arm, and thence into the pocket. The best form of hoop 

 for this sort of pocket net is pear-shaped, about eight inches 

 wide by eleven inches in length. Such a net ought not to 

 exceed 3 or 4 oz. in weight, everything complete, and with 

 it a fish of two or three pounds weight can be landed. (See 

 chapter on Tackle). 



During nine days' fishing in the Cumberland Eden and neigh- 

 bouring streams Mr. Matthew Humble, Chesterfield, killed 410 

 trout. He had forty-six a day on an average. He used the Pennell 

 tackle. Several of the baskets weighed 20 lbs. or 21 lbs.; the 

 lightest was 12 lbs. Mr. Humble's was certainly by far the most 

 successful recent fishing in the North of England.— The Rod and 

 Clin, July 4, 1889. 



