Chapt: vi. The secret of good fishing. 85 



end too much pains can scarcely be taken. Again and 

 again have I urged this as the main secret, on brothers 

 of the angle, who questioned how on earth I managed 

 to get my basket so full of trout. But again and again 

 have I found that all the same they have only half ad- 

 mitted its force, concluding, ostrich-like, that because 

 they could not see the fish, the fish could not see them. 

 I feel therefore, from the experience aforesaid, that it is 

 almost a hopeless task to convert my reader from the 

 general neglect of this maxim, to a thorough belief in 

 the all importance of keeping it constantly in view, and 

 of acting up to it with the amount of painstaking care 

 that is necessary to command success. Indeed I find I 

 constantly have to be taking my own self to task for not 

 being sufficiently careful in the matter, thoroughly though 

 I believe in and practice what I preach. 



Properly to appreciate the necessity for exercising 

 unusual pains to keep out of sight it is as well to consi- 

 der the facilities which the fish has for seeing. To begin 

 with its sight is, I believe, as good as ours, perhaps 

 keener, for the formation of its eye is said to be very 

 good; and it is natural that it should be, for it is, of all 

 others, the sense on which it is mainly dependent for its 

 existence, .and with what rapidity it sees the minutest 

 objects passing in the water a little observation will soon 

 show. Cmteris paribus then, it ought to see us as quickly 

 as we see it. But other things are not equal by any 

 means. It has great advantages of size, color, position 

 and element, of all of which it naturally avails itself. 



