396 SALMON AND TROUT. 
working order. I say nothing of the fact that I have used it for 
spinning since the year , but ‘ let us not particularise !’ as the 
player says. .. . Anno Dominiis merely an abstraction, a night- 
mare, and time only an excrescence on eternity. Notwith- 
standing which highly philosophical observation, it behoves us 
all to remember the carpe diem. . . . And yet I am wandering 
off from my text, and diverting from their proper channel 
moments which should have gone to a discussion of whether 
worm fishing for salmon is, or is not, sportsmanlike, and, if so, 
where and under what circumstances? 
However, I think I have sufficiently indicated my ideas on 
the subject in the preceding pages, and the digression will at 
least save me entrance intoa ‘thorny’ dispute. I can only 
say that with this tackle, fished in the way I have described, 
I have repeatedly taken salmon in a bright sun and in the 
clearest and finest water, and after all other methods of fishing 
—fly, minnow, and the old-fashioned bunch of worms—had 
failed. In fact, Stoddart considers that worm fishing of all 
kinds is at its best under such conditions ; but I cannot say that 
T agree with him there, a full or porter-coloured water being, 
in my experience, generally the best. 
When water or weather is bright, it is, of course, of the 
utmost importance that the worm fisher should keep carefully 
out of sight, and as far as possible below the spot where his 
bait is fishing ; in other words, he must always cast up stream 
where feasible, letting the current bring the bait down towards 
him, and keeping as little slack line in the water as possible. 
This is a sine gud non in my method of worm fishing. Great 
nicety in the manipulation of both line and bait, as well as fine 
hooks and tackle, are also required to insure success, and these 
considerations render it, I maintain, both a truly ‘sporting’ 
and sportsmanlike method of fishing. 
Here is a record of the number of salmon and bull trout taken 
in this way between the 29th of September and 1st of November, 
1879, by Mr. Edwin Darvall and myself during thirty-two conse- 
cutive days, less six not fishing: 3, 14, 1, 7, 9, 10, 5, 14, 6, 7, 4, 
