22 



This is a sure game, but it requires a good deal of skill. There 

 ,are hundreds of flies ■which jou may catch by the river sides, 

 and at which the Trout are rising, that you can dib with. There 

 are also artificial flies of erery size and colour — the best are 

 those that resemble the natural one. July and August are the 

 best months for bottom fishing with the worm; but I have 

 caught Trout with the worm, at times in May and June, but 

 this was when the water was coloured, and when the fish, not 

 being able to see to feed on flies, were obliged to grub on the 

 bottom. Experience, however, has convinced me that July and 

 August are decidedly the two best months for bottom fishing 

 with the worm. When the water is discoloured I have found 

 that Trout take the worm better than any other bait that is 

 used. 



The rod for spinning the Minnow should be thirteen or four- 

 teen feet long, light and not stiff. As your line is light and 

 your tackle fine, you are likely to break when you get a run if 

 you fish with a stiff rod. Besides, Trout when hooked some- 

 times make tremendous leaps, and if he leap from you and 

 and you have a very stiff rod, something must break. I have 

 seen this happen many a time. There is no occasion whatever 

 for a stiff rod ; the only advantage of which is, that when you 

 have hooked a fish of five or six pounds you can throw it over 

 your head, a stupid plan that I have seen adopted by blunder- 

 ing fishermen who care nothing for rod or tackle. 



The rod for fly fishing should be thirteen feet long, and 

 light, but not too weak in the middle, a fault common in fly rods. 

 I remember fly fishing for Grayling with a fiiend of mine on the 

 Trent. He was fishing with a well got up, nice looking rod, 

 .which no doubt cost a goodly sum, but, unfortunately, it , was 

 too weak in the middle. The fish were rising fast with both of 

 us, but for every one he killed I killed three. He could not un- 

 derstand how this was, and it was a long time before I could 

 make him believe the cause, which was, as I told him, that his 

 rod was too weak in the middle. A rod for fly fishing should 

 be light, the lighter the better, if you can preserve strength and 



