GIPSY ANGLERS. 97 



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For trout-fishing I would name Scotland as being before all 

 other countries. " What," it has been asked, " is a Scottish 

 stream without its trout ? " Doubtless, if a river has no trout 

 it is without one of its greatest charms, and it is pleasant to 

 record that, except in the neighbourhood of very large seats of 

 population, trout are still plentiful in Scotland. It is true the 

 railway, and other modes of conveyance, have carried of late 

 years a perfect army of anglers into its most picturesque 

 nooks and comers, and therefore fish are not so plentiful as 

 they were fifty years since, in the old coaching days, when it 

 was possible to fiU a washing-tub in the space of half-an-hour 

 with lovely half-pound trout from a few pools on a bum near 

 Moffat. But there are stUl plenty of trout ; indeed there are 

 noted Scotch fishers who can fill baskets from streams near large 

 cities that have been too much fished. 



The place to try an angler is a fine Border stream' or a 

 grand Highland loch ; but I shall not persume to lay down 

 minute directions as to how to angle, for an angler, like a poet, 

 must be born, he can scarcely be bred, and no amount of 

 book lore can confer upon a man the magic power of luring 

 the wary trout from its crystalline home. The best anglers, 

 and fish-poachers, are gipsies. A gipsy will raise fish when no 

 other human being can move them. If encamped near a stream, 

 a gipsy band are sure to have fish as a portion of their daily 

 food ; and how beautifully they can broU. a trout or boU a grilse 

 those only who have dined with them can say. Your gipsy is 

 a rare good fisher, and with half a rod can rob a river of a few 

 dozens of trout in a very brief space of time, and he can do so 

 while men with elaborate " fishing machines," fitted up with 

 costly tackle, continue to flog the water without obtaining more 

 than a questionable nibble, just as if the fish knew that they were 

 greenhorns, and took pleasure in chaflSng them. Mr. Cheek, 

 who wrote a capital book for the guidance of those I may call 

 Thames anglers, says that the best way to learn is to see other 

 anglers at work — which is better than all the written instractions 

 that can be given, one hour's practical information going farther 

 than a folio volume of written advice. It is all in vain for men 

 to fancy that a suit of new Tweeds, a fair acquaintance with 

 Stoddart or Stewart, and a large amount of angling " slang," wiU 

 make them fishers. There is more than that required. Besides 

 the natural taste, there is wanted a large measure of patience 

 and skill ; and the proper place to acquire these best virtues of 



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