FISHING AS A FINE ART. 115 



thus he must not only be well versed in all the ordinary 

 knowledge and practice of his art, but be also a " ready " 

 man. 



That the angler should be all I have described him, and 

 that fishing should be treated as a Fine Art, is absolutely 

 necessary now-a-days, in consequence of the high education 

 of modern fish. The expression. " high education " may 

 perhaps raise a smile on the face of some non-angling 

 sceptic, if perchance my Notes are scanned by such an one ; 

 but anglers well know what I mean by it. The fish of 

 our rivers, lakes, and ponds are very different creatures 

 now to what they were, say, some fifty years ago, when but 

 one angler could be counted for every hundred at the 

 present time who ply the gentle art. In former days 

 there were miles and acres of water in the United King- 

 dom hardly ever fished; now there is hardly an inch 

 which is not overworked, so popular has fishing become. 

 The less fish are tried for in any particular water, the easier 

 they are to catch. A mere tyro, with the clumsiest of 

 tackle, can take fish where the race is unconscious more 

 or less of the arts of his enemy, man. Some years ago I 

 used to fish on what was almost a "virgin" pond, in 

 private grounds at Blackheath, and I found no great 

 difficulty in catching a dozen or so of carp and bream in 

 an afternoon, weighing from 3 lbs. to 6 lbs. each. I should 

 doubt whether there is a pond in the country where such a 

 feat could be accomplished now. Out of a similar pond at 

 Stratford, in Essex, when quite a boy, in a few hours 

 I took enough carp, averaging 1 lb. a-piece, to fill all 

 the available pails and watering-pots belonging to the 

 house, lugging the fish up, often two at a time, on half- 

 baited hooks, without intermission. They had never been 



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