1 66 WATERSIDE SKETCHES. 



the sturdy oak keeping up an appearance of vitality long^ 

 after its compeers have succumbed, until with a few plucky 

 withstandings of the blast it itself gives in, shivering and 

 heartbroken. 



All these have been marshalled before his review, and he 

 concludes that on the whole, though the autumn in its 

 ripeness may be more enjoyable and beauteous thati the 

 uncertain spring and too hot-blooded summer, he would 

 certainly not vote for a year of unrenewed decay ; he knows- 

 that when the water-weeds begin to rot and drift away from' 

 their roots the fish move into deep water and are more 

 amenable to piscatorial discipline than they were in the 

 days when cover was plentiful. 



Let us, therefore, court practical thought of the sport 

 which yet remains when all else worth troubling about has 

 been suspended. By November the last salmon and trout,. 

 to which we have aforetime borne good will and faithful 

 testimony, have fully retired into winter quarters and winter 

 occupations, and the best that remains for the angler are 

 the fresh-water shark and the grayling. Roach, dace, and 

 perch are in good, some think the very |3est of condition in 

 the late autumn months, but bottom-fishing in the cold and 

 damp, while a fair test of devotion and hardihood, will 

 reign over a comparatively limited constituency, since there 

 are — to adapt a simile from an old Puritan — hosts of fair- 

 weather anglers as well as fair-weather Christians. Pike- 

 fishing, therefore, stands far ahead on the catalogue of 

 winter opportunities. 



Even that sportsman who sneers at humbler members of 

 the craft, and pretends to faint; at the sight of a worm, con- 

 descends occasionally to make advances to the pike, and 



