Worm Fishing 
‘4 Devotee to the Art of Fishing,” Says the Author, 
‘‘Should Know All Baits That May Appeal to His Quarry” 
HY is it that worm fishing is 
a sudject so little discussed 
amongst trout fishermen? This 
method, sometimes derisively called 
“plunking,” is an art little understood, 
and the reason is that a certain snob- 
bery has grown up amongst those most 
skilled in the use of the dry fly. 
Without doubt, dry fly fishing up 
stream or casting over a deep pool just 
on the verge of the backwash, where 
the feeding trout lies waiting what the 
god Pluvius may send his way, de- 
mands the greater skill and is the most 
exquisite class of fishing, besides re- 
quiring the most expensive tackle. 
However, a method which is constantly 
being” brought to the notice of all 
habitues of the stream and which has 
on occasion been known to be used by 
the most excellent sportsmen surely de- 
serves some consideration. 
A devotee to the art of fishing should 
know all baits that may appeal to his 
quarry, should know when these baits 
may be used and how they may be used. 
I have before me the record of a salmon 
weighing 61% pounds, taken in the 
free waters of the Tay, near Perth, in 
Scotland, on the rod and line with a 
lob worm by a Mr. T. Stewart. Mr. 
Stewart evidently knew when to use a 
worm. As the best 
time for fishing is 
whenever one has the 
opportunity, so there 
are occasions when 
nearly every method 
is valueless. 
A trout  bottom- 
feeding will take no 
notice of a dry fly. 
The most lively worm 
will be quite ineffec- 
tive in engaging a strike from the fish 
busily feeding on a rising hatch of flies. 
| HAD an exceptional experience il- 
lustrative of the latter instance at 
the end of last April in a stream so 
dangerously in flood and so dirty that 
I was wading with great difficulty and 
could not see my hand nine inches 
under the surface. There had been 
very little doing that day and I was 
creeping cautiously down stream, tak- 
ing advantage of every over-hanging 
branch to steady myself, casting out 
the worm and letting the current carry 
it down in a manner which I shall ex- 
206. 

By W. E. SCUDAMORE 
plain later, when a great rise occurred 
about twelve feet below me, not more 
than fifteen feet from the bank, in a 
spot that my worm had not yet passed. 
I saw at once that it would be easy to 
piace a worm over the exact spot from 
the place where I stood. An interesting 
tight seemed imminent. In preparation 
for a big one, I carefully examined my 
leader, knots, and hook, replaced the 
worm I had with one of my best, and 
placed it in the water well above where 
the fish lay and guided it gently down 
to him. I expected a vigorous snatch 
at it and was all ready for it, but 
nothing happened. Two similar casts 
brought no better results. After the 
fourth cast, however, just as the worm 
reached the spot where this perverse 
fish lay, he broke water again. Obvi- 
ously, he was rising to a fly and ig- 
noring completely that which few fish 
of any kind anywhere will ever refuse, 
a pink, wiggly worm! 
WAS not to be outdone in this man- 
ner. With as little movement as 
possible I retrieved the worm, and took 
a damp cast with the flies attached—a 
Cahill, a Cowdung and a March Brown 
—from the tin which I always carry 
with me when on the stream. I re- 
placed my worm cast with these wet 
flies. At the intense moment that the 
flies passed the “rise,” the beauty once 
more broke water with a rush and 
I felt a tug, gave a slight 
twitch of the wrist to 
set the hook, and it 
was all over. In 
other words, I had 
just “prieked” him. 
An old maxim of 
anglers — “Where 
there’s one, there’s more,’’—determined 
me almost instantly to try again from 
another angle, and although in better 
judgment I should not have tried to 
wade up stream under the dangerous 
condition of the water, I slipped ashore, 
re-entered the stream well below the 
spot and worked my way upstream. 
In my excitement in this rush of waters 
I was by no means cautions in climbing 
over boulders and splashing, forgetting 
that while sound above water means 
little or nothing to fish, even the 
slightest jar beneath the water means 
a great deal. In consequence, just as 
I arrived within casting distance of the 
“struck.” 
pool there was a rapid cross movement 
in the water and a trout, which must 
have been well over eighteen inches in 
length, splashed its way upstream in 
the shallow water under the further 
bank. The water was so shallow and 
the fish so large, in fact, that both my 
wife and I saw plainly its dorsal fin and 
tail. 
ES, a_ successful fisherman must 
offer the fish what they are feed- 
ing.on, when they are feeding, and in 
the same manner in which the natural 
feed is being offered. 
In the British Isles, it is customary, 
when using the worm, to fish upstream, 
and where practicable, this is the better 
method, as the attention of the inhabi- 
tants of the underwater is generally 
directed upstream and they are more 
approachable from below. The Scotch, 
in particular, are adepts at worming 
upstream, especially for sea trout, 
where on the Border Esk and the Liddle, 
two rivers famous for this subtle fish, 
a 14 or 16 foot rod is generally used 
and the utmost care is necessary when 
the water is low. How shy is this fish 
of the approach, but how worth while 
when you have one, fresh run from the 
sea, securely hooked! 
The less open banks of the streams 
in the United States and Canada and 
the floods caused by the melting of the 
snow in the hills, leave the fisherman 
no choice in the early season. In most 
instances, he must wade downstream. 
In the first month of the season, the 
weather is far too cold and the water 
too murky for the offering of a fly to 
be met with much interest by the fish. 
They have had a dull, cold winter, and 
are now looking for something sub- 
stantial in the way of feed to be 
brought down by the flood. Worms, 
hellgramites, larvae, beetles,  ete., 
washed from the banks and under the 
lighter stones are what they want. 
1a selecting tackle for worm fishing, 
a fly rod of nine or ten feet length 
may be used. The work will not hurt it 
and a rod is needed with which to feel 
the slightest touch. And, let me here 
disabuse your mind of the belief that 
skill is unnecessary—there are many 
things to observe and practice. A con- 
siderable nicety of touch must be ex- 
ercised, and wading must be carefully 
