FISHING AS A PINE ART. 117 



waters ; and as the number of anglers increases, so will the 

 shyness of the fish, and the difficulty of catching them. I 

 verily believe that some fish know as well as the angler what 

 is going on for their destruction ; Thames fish in particular, 

 which, perhaps, indulge in a piscine smile as they see 

 and hear the punt moored, and recognize the descent of 

 the familiar ground-bait, indicating most plainly the 

 " carrying on the same old game." 



Here I would quote a passage from Stewart's Practical 

 Angler bearing upon this topic : — 



" Much fishing," he says, " besides to a certain, extent thinning the 

 trout, operates against the angler's killing large takes by making the 

 remaining trout more wary, and it is more from this cause than the 

 scarcity of trout, that so many anglers return unsuccessful from much- 

 fished streams. The waters also now remain brown-coloured for such 

 a short time that the modern angler is deprived, unless on rare occa- 

 sions, of even this aid to his art of deception ; and the clearness of the 

 water and the increased wariness of the trout are the main causes why 

 the tackle of fifty years ago would be fouud so faulty now. Fifty years 

 ago it was an easy thing to fill a basket with trout, not so now ; then 

 there were ten trout for one there is now. The colour of the water 

 favoured the angler, and the trout were comparatively unsophisticated ; 

 now filling a basket with trout, at least in some of our southern streams 

 open to the public, when they are low and clear, is a feat of which any 

 angler may be proud. . . . Angling is in fact every day becoming more 

 difficult, and consequently better worthy of being followed as a scientific 

 amusement. So far from looking upon the increase of anglers with 

 alarm, it ought to be regarded with satisfaction ; the more trout are 

 fished for, the more wary they become ; the more wary they are, the 

 more skill is required on the angler's part ; and as the skill an amuse- 

 ment requires constitutes one of its chief attractions, angling is much 

 better sport now than it was fifty years ago." 



This is quite true; and though, perhaps, I may be 

 charged by " outsiders " with somewhat exaggerated views 

 of angling as an " art," I maintain that it is a most con- 



