FOREST AND STREAM 
1181 
An English Expert Making a Long Cast on a Scotch Salmon River—Note the Absence of Drift and Brush. 
AMERICAN AND BRITISH ANGLING COMPARED 
OUR ENGLISH COUSINS ENJOY GOOD SPORT, 
BUT UNDER WIDELY DIFFERENT CONDITIONS 
I N the following remarks it is not my intention 
to praise one method above another but to 
show what may be learned in a casual visit 
and what an American angler can do on a Brit¬ 
ish stream. Unfortunately business prevented 
the writer from fishing till the tag end of the 
trout season in September, but then, the gray¬ 
ling season was just in its prime. So I chose the 
midland county of Derbyshire for the rivers 
Wye, Derwent, and the Dove—undoubtedly the 
three best grayling and trout streams in Eng¬ 
land There is ample reason why the cheeks of 
England’s children are rosy, verdant fields ever 
green, for the rain—“it raineth every day.” not 
showers, but steady down-fours day after day, 
making the rivers always full, if not in flood, so 
that, during my short two weeks’ sport I learned 
the art (new to me) of bait fishing with gentles 
or maggots. 
The gentle is a live bait unknown here, or if 
known, rarely, if ever used, and the main purpose 
of this article is to introduce it, if possible, to 
take the place of the common garden worm so 
universal and popular in our mountain brook 
trout fishing. The name gentle is preferable to 
maggot, and as a bait, should be called gentle. 
In its larval or “creeper” state the gentle grows 
from the egg of the large bluebottle fly and when 
mature (especially if well fed) attains to three- 
quarters of an inch in length and one-eighth of 
an inch thick at the head. At all stages of growth 
it is perfectly white and if properly hooked, will 
wriggle and kick continuously both in and out 
of the water, and better still, permits of a con¬ 
siderable amount of casting without being flicked 
off the hook. No matter whether we fish on 
the surface, or with split shot at the bottom, two 
or three gentles on the hook shows a savory and 
lively tit bit which no trout or grayling will ever 
be able to resist successfully. 
By Louis Rhead. 
The case in which gentles may be procured is 
a decided advantage over worms. They are per¬ 
fectly clean and dry, and the breeding of them 
is simplicity itself. The largest and best are fed 
upon raw beef or liver, either of which should 
be placed in a small box of sawdust in the open 
air, if the temperature is warm enough for the 
parent bluebottle to blow its eggs. The young 
creeper soon appears, very small at first, but in 
a short time, by continual feeding, grows big 
enough for use. Care should be taken to keep 
the sawdust and food dry so that no unpleasant 
odors are present, and the handling of the gentles 
more agreeable. We now select from the breed¬ 
ing-box a goodly supply and place them along 
with plenty of sawdust in a round tin can, the 
cover of which should be perforated for fresh 
air, then with our tackle we start off for the 
river, which, if we find flooded, it will be best 
to fish in quiet eddies at the bottom away from 
swift-running water—in fact, precisely as we fish 
with a worm. In previous articles I have de¬ 
scribed in detail the art of worm-fishing for 
trout, and in gentle-fishing no deviation from that 
method is necessary. All species of fish swallow 
worms immediately, so they do a gentle, for that 
reason, strike the fish at once it bites. 
I shall now briefly describe the British angler, 
his tackle and his streams. As with us, the great 
majority (in words) scorn live-bait fishing, but 
strangely enough how oft we find these scoffers 
well supplied with gentles, as they innocently re¬ 
mark, “in case fish fail to rise to the fly.” Most 
British anglers wield a longer and heavier trout 
rod than we do, for what reason I am unable 
to explain, as their fish are no bigger, nor are 
their streams. They rarely wade, but fish from 
the banks, ten, sometimes fifteen, feet back from 
the water, more necessary with them than with 
us because their fish are more shy. Neverthe¬ 
less, the custom is excellent, when possible, either 
in quiet or rushing water. Where the British 
are in advance of America, is in the use of small, 
fine flies and more delicate leaders. Though I 
neither saw nor heard of any remarkable catches, 
the streams I fished were well stocked, and both 
trout and grayling seemed to be feeding at the 
surface almost all the time. Yet I confess I 
made no great havoc among them, any more 
than did the resident anglers, a thing which could 
hardly be expected from one inexperienced with 
every feature of the weather, fish and water. 
On my own stream I am, by long practice, fa¬ 
miliar with every lurking place on the river, no 
matter how often trout have been taken there¬ 
from. The best fishing of the river Wye runs 
down from Chatsworth to Haddon Hall and at 
Rowsley joins with the Derwent, where, thus 
enlarged, it continues on to Matlock and beyond 
about ten miles with considerable flow of water, 
what we should term a little river or large brook. 
Various clubs and private persons rent or own 
stretches of water from three to eight miles in 
extent, and the members’ dues are from twenty to 
a hundred dollars per year and made up mostly 
of local residents of the middle class. A few 
hotels sell day tickets to guests for a dollar and 
some of the clubs issue a limited supply of day 
and weekly tickets at the same price or more. 
Here lies the difference between British and 
American fishing; there is practically little or no 
free fishing in England. All waters are con¬ 
trolled by private persons or clubs, so the stranger 
is made to pay according to what he desires. If 
poor, the angler can get a twelve cent day-ticket 
to fish the plebian canal for common roach, perch 
and other coarse fish. We are guaged by our 
social standing and the cash we are willing to 
expend in our aspiration for sport while in Eng¬ 
land, unless, indeed, we have friends or introduc- 
