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ANGLING

BY

FRAKCIS ^RANCIS,

Author of '■'■ A Booh on Angling," S^e. ^e.

" I care not a jot,
I envy no lot.
So I have a rod and can fish.

SECOND EDITION

LONDON: HOEACE COX, 346, STRAND, W.C.

1883.

ANGLING

BY

FRANCIS (FRANCIS,

Author of " A Book on Angling" S^c. ^c.

I care not a jot,

I etivy no lot.

So I have a rod and oan fi»h.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON: HOEACE COX, 346, STRAND, W.C.
1883.

LONDON :
PBINTKD BT HORACK COX, 34(6, 8TBAND, W.C.

Jprrface to tJje Seconti iSftritton.

In producing a second edition of this work I have
no great changes to announce. I have endeavoured
to perfect the instructions as to bottom fishing,
though there has been no very striking improvement
worth note of late years, and I have striven to
simplify somewhat the rudiments to young anglers
taking to trout fishing. The size and shape of the
first edition was somewhat awkward for the con-
venience of carriage, and that I have seen fit to alter
accordingly.

Francis Francis.
The Firs, Twickenhamy
1883.

iviS^GieS

preface to tfje JFtrst (!Hliitiotu

Eteby book should have a raison cTStret and it might be
thought by eome persons superfluous that I should have
written another and a less comprehensive work after having
written a book which contains so full an account of the
art in every branch as " A Book on Angling," published
by Messrs. Longman, and now in its fourth edition. The
popularity which that work has attained might very well
satisfy all my desires, but I have been told many times
that my " Book on Angling " has not touched a very large
class of anglers comprehended in those who cannot afford
to pay so much as 15«. for a guide to their favourite
■amusement. Owing to the manner in which " A Book on
Angling " is got up, and the expense incurred in producing
the coloured plates — all of which are of necessity done by
hand — there was no possibility of bringing it within the
means of the large body of anglers whom I have referred
to, and I have been asked again and again to write a
book of a somewhat less extensive nature and without the
coloured plates, or the long list of salmon flies contained
in my first work. I have now yielded to this demand, and
I trust that the present work may fulfil the requirements
of the persons for whom it is written.

A reviewer of my "Book on Angling" lately, in the

PREFACE. V

course of what was upon the whole a very favourable and
even kind review, in one of the principal morning papers,
said that I was rather opinionated — in saying which he
stated neither more nor less than the truth, and I plead
guilty to the charge ; for, in writing books on angling, I
have endeavoured to write them as far as possible from
my own experience, and to avoid, as far as I could, giving
a mere rechauffe from old angling works. Indeed, I have
striven to borrow as little as 2)08sible from any one, merely
giving what I know to be the ordinary methods and
practices in vogue as regards the sport of angling in these
later times. I hardly see how a person endeavouring to
do this could be other than opinionated. The question
appears to me to be, not whether I am opinionated, but
whether the opinions I have expressed are the best that
the angler can follow. Now I take upon me to say that I
have endeavoured to give the best methods and plans of
angling, and that, in doing so, I never have hesitated —
and I should take shame to myself if I had — to give full
credit to the authors of those plans for their inventions,
be they whom they may ; and, in doing so, I venture even
further to say, that I have often taken hints from brother
anglers where their ideas appeared good, and given them
the credit of them, but with whom on many other points
I have no sympathy or agreement whatever. Where I
have been able to speak solely from my own experience,
and where that has seemed to me the best to draw from,
I have not hesitated to do so. No doubt it would have
been far easier for me to have said Izaak Walton says so
and so, Salter recommends this, Ronald advises that, and
" Ephemera " the other. But angling has made hirge
strides since the days of those writers; and though in
many instances their experience and advice still stands

▼i PREFACE.

good, yet in many others it is simply obsolete and useless.
In the present book, with very few exceptions, I have
drawn almost entirely from my own stores. The tackle
from my box, which I constantly use, and the flies from
my books which I find the most killing, I have simply
taken and described, and, consequently, in this book I
fear I shall be found more opinionated than ever ; but if
any one will show me a better rod, line, tackle, or fly, than
any I recommend, and I find on trial that it is so, I shall
never be slow to adopt it, and to recognise not only its
usefulness, but the services rendered by the inventor to
the cause of angling. For I trust, whenever I am called
upon to lay down the pen, that no man will ever be able
to say, " He did not act fairly either to his contemporaries
or to those he drew his information from;" for that I
hold to be one of the most disgraceful charges which can
be brought against an author. But if I strive to behave
fairly to others, I can hardly be blamed if I am tenacious
of my own rights. In angling, as in all other matters,
one cannot do better than stick to the Church Catechism,
and to " do to all men as you would they should do unto
you ;" and I think that any author who has adopted and
striven to carry out this motto purely and simply, may
look back on his career without regret.

Feancis Fbancis.
The Firs, Twickenham,
1877.

CONTENTS

PAOB

Preface iii

CHAPTER I.
Introductory — Bottom Fishing 1

CHAPTER II.

Mid-Water Fishing 18

CHAPTER III.

Surface or Fly Fishing 22

CHAPTER IV.

The Gudgeon — The Pope or Ruff — The Bleak
— The Roach — The Rudd — The Dace — The
Chub — The Barbel — The Bream — The Carp
—The Tench— The Perch 25

CHAPTER V.
The Pike 63

CHAPTER YI.
Trout Fishing with Bait 81

viU CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

PAOB

Fly FisniNQ for Trout 94

CHAPTER VIII.
Trout Flies 110

CHAPTER IX.
Grayling Fishing 127

CHAPTER X.

Salmon Fishing 130

CHAPTER XI.

Salmon Flies 143

CHAPTER XII.
On Tackle Making, &c. 151

Addenda 162

ANGLiisra.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY— BOTTOM FISHING.

Who first invented the art of angling it would be very
hard to say. Probably in all ages of the world the neces-
sities of mankind induced them to practise it in a more or
less rude fashion. When Dame Juliana Bemers wrote
about it, hard upon four hundred years ago, to judge by
her illustrations and descriptions, it was rude enough in
all conscience; and even in the days of Walton and
Cotton, more than a hundred and fifty years later, it was
scarcely in a condition to fulfil the more modem require-
ments of the present century. Since those days hundreds
of books on angling have been written, and in the present
time they appear to issue fi'om the press at the rate of
about one per month or even more ; and within the last
quarter of a century the art has made far greater strides
towards improvement than it ever did in four times the
period since Dame Juliana's day. And I fear that the
schoolmaster has been abroad, and the fish have become

2 ANGUNa.

well educated too, so that if any of the old practitioners
were now to appear on the banks of their favourite trout
streams they would find their skill and their tackle alike
unequal to the capture of those " trouts of 20in." &c.,
which we read about so constantly in their works.

The art of angling is divided into three sections,
" bottom fishing," or fishing with a bait on the bottom ;
mid-water fishing, comprehended principally in spinning
and trolling ; and surface fishing, which is chiefly prac-
tised in fly-fishing.

We will commence at the lower round of the ladder,
and take bottom fishing first. Bottom fishing is the
most primitive style, no doubt. We all more or less
began with bottom fishing, and pitched minnows and
sticklebacks out on the grass, with a pin, thread, and
worm with as much interest and delight, and perhaps
a good deal more than we now evince in the cap-
ture of a two-pound trout, or even of a lordly salmon !
Anon promoted to a real halfpenny hook and a withy, the
noble gudgeon or the festive roachling became the
sweeteners of our existence. The withy was discarded
for a sixpenny two-joint hazel rod ; until, finally, on
some glorious red-letter day — which we all remember so
well, and will to the last hour of existence — papa — having
heard from Dr. Whackem that Frank was really doing
his declensions very creditably indeed considering his age,
and had said his 4th prop, of Euclid without a mistake —
considering that if he knew the value of two, it would
be quite proper that his eldest-bom should be equal to one
angle at least — prepared a surprise for us ; and when we
walked into the breakfast parlour on the morning of our
twelfth birthday, there sat the dear old man with that
noble four-and-sixpenny four-jointed bambooer which we

BOTTOM FISHING. 3

had so long scanned with anxious infraction of the tenth
commandment in the window of the local tackier, who was
also a hair-dresser, toj- shopper, stationer, newsman, and
tobacconist ; and beside it on the table a paper parcel con-
taining a bamboo winder, with a real line and float, and a

gut hook. Ah h ! Times have passed since then, and

many strokes of good fortune and unexpected luck have
happened, but few that gave us such delight as that !
With some such appliances the young angler will pro-
bably commence his career as a real angler. With a bag
of well scoured worms (after a wormey week or so, during
which worms have been discovered about the house in
unusual places, to the terror of the housemaid and indigna-
tion of mamma), he will make his way to brook, river,
or pond, and try conclusions with the denizens of the
waters. At first he will fish for anything that comes
along. As he improves he will go out with a set purpose
to catch some particular kind of fish, then he may be said
to be on the high road to knowledge.

Bottom Fishing may be practised either from the shore
or from a boat. Whichever the angler selects to com-
mence from, he should always remember the cardinal rule,
" Study to be quiet." It is an old rule, a very old rule,
but it has had the approval of all anglers, from Father
Izaak's time down. Be as quiet and unobtrusive as
possible. You may catch many kinds of fish either from
the land or from a boat ; but if you wish to fish for carp,
say in still waters, you will find it better to fish from the
land, as they are very shy, and the least movement of the
boat causing wave or ripple will suffice to make them still
more shy. We will suppose, therefore that the angler
commences from the shore in still water — say a pond. To
do so effectually. he will find a good long light rod of some

fi 2

4 ANGLING.

fourteen or fifteen feet desirable, with which he can swing
out a good length of line. To this will be fixed a winch
or reel with some thirty yards of line. Suppose he is
fishing in four or five feet depth of water, he will be able
to fish some three or four and twenty feet from the shore.
If he wishes to cast his line still further out he must draw
it down from above the second or third ring, as described
hereafter, in Nottingham angling, and thus he may get
out another eight or ten feet.

As pond fish, and indeed all fish in still water, bite
very slowly and nibble a good deal first, the float
gives ample warning of a bite to the angler; and he
may lay his rod down on the bank without any detri-
ment to his fishing, and resume it as soon as he has
a bite. For the more convenient exercise of this plan it
is usual to stick a forked stick a yard or so out into the
water, so that the butt of the rod and reel rests on the
shore, and the body of the rod is supported above the
water in the fork of the stick. A light line of fine but
strong Derby silk, which will not sink to the bottom
too heavily, and so entangle in the weeds, &c., is best.
The float may be as light as it possibly can be consistently
with the power to fish comfortably — a too light float will
sometimes blow about in the wind, and will not swing out
well. Three or four shreds of rush tied on the line make
a light and very unobtrusive float, and in clear water that
is a point worth studying.

The whole of the tackle from some distance above
the float to the hook should be of single gut, as fine
as can be fished with, considering the strength required.
The bait should always rest on the bottom, as pond
fish feed chiefly on the bottom : the depth, therefore,
between the float and the hook should be somewhat

BOTTOM FISHTNG. 5

more than the depth of the water, and the lowest shot
with which the line is loaded, to balance the float, should
be at least a foot above the hook. There is another
advantage in the bait resting on the bottom, and that
is, that is its natural position, and it does not thus
challenge the suspicion of the fish ; and as the gut, which
is in immediate connection with the hook, rests on the
bottom too, it is not seen. That most cunning of all fish,
the carp, may be taken in this way when it would be
hopeless to fish for him with the bait hanging just off the
bottom, for he could then see the gut at once, and also the
shots that weight the line, and probably the float above ;
and if the float is of a nice white and vermilion, or some
other dazzling rainbow coloui*, it will afford the old carp a
capital text on which to preach an instructive sermon to
the young ones on scarlet abominations and the Lady of
Babylon.

To fish in this way, however, you must have a clear
bottom and free from weeds, otherwise the bait will sink
amongst the weeds and be hidden. If the pond, there-
fore, has any gravelly places, or hard clay bottoms, then
if they are not clear of weeds, you should get some one to
rake spaces. A very large space is not required — one or
two spots, some 30ft. or 40ft. square, will suffice ; of course,
the larger they are in reason the better chance for more
fish, but if places like these be cleaned out between the
weeds, here the big carp and tench will wallow and feed ;
and if before fishing the angler baits such spots for a few
days with a good store of grovmd bait, such as malt, rice,
pearl barley, boiled potatoes, or worms and gentles, so as
to accustom the fish to feed there, he will much increase
his sport. If he is not able to do this, and has only say
one day's fishing at his disposal, his best plan is — first to

6 ANQLINa.

pick out two or three of the best of such spots as he can
see, and fix his forked sticks ; to plumb the depth, and
keep an accurate register of it in each spot so as not to
have to do it again when he wants to fish, and then,
throwing in a few handfuls of bait at each place, to begin
with the one first baited, and to vary from one to the other
as sport may counsel. To plumb the depth, fix a leaden
plummet on the hook, then swing the plummet out to the
spot you want to fish. Let the line stand upright in the
water, the plummet just touching the bottom ; mark the
place where the surface of the water cuts the line, and fix
the float accordingly, taking a half hitch of the line round
the quill to prevent slipping. The best sized hook for this
sort of fishing will be one of about No. 7 or 8, of the
round bend series, as this will take both carp, tench, perch,
and even small roach too.

In &shing such places the angler will always find that
with such sharp-eyed fish it is as well to have a tree,
hedge, bank, or bush at his back, if he can get one, so
that his body does not stand out clear against the sky
behind him. It is quite astonishing what a difference
this makes. I have often seen a trout take a fly within
five or six yards of me, I having the high bank at my
back, when, if I had been on the bank with the sky at
my back he would not have looked at my bait, but would
have been off under a stone or weed for shelter. A hurdle
propped up on end answers very well for this purpose if
there is nothing else naturally placed. It should, however,
be put up a week before fishing, to let the fish get accus-
tomed to it.

And now we will suppose the angler — his pitch chosen
and baited, his depth plumbed beforehand, his rod all
ready — he walks gently down, puts his little stool or

BOTTOM FISHINa. 7

basket behind some tree or bush (for he should never
sit on the damp ground), then he baits his hook with
a well scoured red worm, covering it completely, and
leaving veiy little more tail hanging off the point than he
can help ; he next slings the bait out as far as he can into
the pond, lays the rod down carefully, resting it on the
fork, lights his pipe if he is a smoker, or gets out his book
if he is not, and waits. The top of his small quill projects
a bare half inch above the surface. " Ha ! was that a
motion of the float ? " " Yes, no doubt of it ; there it
dipped, and there it bobbed right under water ! " — and
here the tyro would seize his rod and do something
desperate, when he would lose his bite and scare his fish
for his pains ; but the experienced angler merely puts
down his book, takes up the rod very softly, so as not to
disturb the float in the least, and waits. The float keeps
on shaking and bobbing, now dipping down well under
water, and now darting an inch or two one way or the
other, and at length, as a reward for his patience, the float
sinks slowly down, assuming a horizontal position, and
sails steadily off six inches under water. Then is the
time, and a short, jerk of the angler's rod top arrests the
thief, who, mighty indignant and a little alarmed, darts
off at full speed. He must then be handled and played
according to his size, the angler's object being to get him
away from his pitch, and to make as little disturbance as
possible, so as not to alarm the other fish. A capable
landing net, with a good long light handle so as to reach
well out beyond the margin, is useful.

It is desirable to make as little noise in stumping about
the bank as possible, as the still water easily conveys the
slightest sound or vibration ; and the angler should also take
care as much as possible to keep within the shelter of his

8 ANGLING.

tree, bush, or hurdle. If fishing for carp exclusively,
paste will be found a better bait than worms for the hook,
but all this will be treated under the head of " carp," and in
the proper place. After taking a fish or two the best plan,
if the angler observes that they are scared at all, will be
to throw in a handful or two of bait, and to go to the
next pitch, and so on to the next when the same occurs,
or back to the other as he may fancy — thus he will save a
good deal of time, and increase his chance of sport.

This is the first and simplest kind of fishing, and, as I
have said, is usually the method in which the young angler
first breaks groimd into the noble art : if a boat is used
there is no difference in the method. But ii' small perch or
roach are the aim, then the bait should not be on the
ground, but an inch off it, and the angler may, if he has a
mind, use a couple of hooks, one six inches above the other.

Bottom fishing in running water is rather more difficult
of achievement ; and this again is divided into fishing
with a moving, and fishing with a still bait. The moving
bait is either allowed to trundle along the bottom without
a float, in which case the angler strikes by feel (this is
described under worm fishing for trout), or it is attached
to a float which is weighted, and the line plumbed, so that
the float shall carry the hook just off the bottom, now and
then perhaps touching it, or " tripping," as it is termed,
and the float projecting half an inch above the surface.
This travels along down stream, and whenever the float
bobs or sinks under the water, the angler (unlike " still "
fishing) strikes at once with a short, sharp, upward jerk of
the wrist, for the fish bite much quicker in running than in
still water. Little time is afforded them to nibble at and
play with the bait as it floats away down stream from
them, if they do not secure it in their mouths at once.

BOTTOM FISHINa. 9

So that when the angler sees his float bob under water he
may be pretty sure that most of the hook is inside the
fish's mouth.

In float fishing in running water from the bank the
angler keeps the top of the rod immediately above the
float, and so follows it all down his swim, so as to be
able to strike truly and at once, and thus he seldom
has or wants more than two or three feet at the most between
his rod-point and his float. The rod should be as long
as he can comfortably use, but it must be comparatively
light, as there is no putting the rod down at this kind of
fishing ; it must be poised the whole time ; and many a
time has my arm ached up to the shoulder and my hand
grown numb with holding one of these long cane rods
common to the Lea. These rods are used of a prodigious
length in some instances, even to two or three and twenty
feet and when the size of the fish taken with them is con-
sidered, it looks as if the angler were using the mast of a
young fishing smack ; I shall notice them in " roach
fishing." In this matter the angler must suit himself to
his own convenience and powers. For ordinary bank fishing
from twelve to fifteen feet will be found quite long enough.
For punt or boat fishing from ten to twelve feet is ample. In
choosing a swim the fisherman will be guided by circum-
stances, such as the time of year, the state of the water, the
kind of fish he wants to catch, and so forth — matters
which all materially affect his choice.

Some fish lie in much heavier and swifter streams
than others, and some in eddies altogether, while in
clear water the calm deep-running waters hold the fish,
and in a flood they are found in great eddies close under
the banks. Experience either of his own or of some
friend will determine all this for him. If, however, he

10 ANGLING.

does not know the river, and cannot see the fish, and
has no one to ask, then he had better look along the
bank and see where the grass is worn from the long stand-
ing of feet, where a few grains of bran may be left,
or the paper that wrapped the sandwich has been cast
aside, and then let him look narrowly about and he will
doubtless find a swim. Failing in all this a swim neither
too deep nor too shallow, with sheltering weeds not far
off, or some place of refuge very handy should be selected.
If he selects one or two, and baits them, as advised in
still fishing, good ! If he can bait them two or three
nights before, better still ! but in that case he must sleep
like a Bristol merchant, with one eye open, or some rival
may accidentaUy appropriate the result of his baiting —
than which few things in fishing are more exasperating.
Some of the puntsmen on the Thames, in places where
there is any strong rivalry, sometimes do this. But it is a
low, mean thing to do, and only one degree better than
picking a man*s pocket ; indeed, as far as the honourable
feeling in the matter goes, it is worse, and I never would
permit such a thing, or employ any man who did it ; but
the rivalry that exists among Thames anglers through
club prizes and " weighing in " has caused a good deal of
objectionable work in this way. The same care is requisite
in bank fishing as in pond fishing — quiet and unobtrusive.-
ness are very essential to sport.

In bottom fishing from a punt the process is slightly
different. The pitch being chosen, the punt fixed — on the
Thames this is done across the stream; on the Norfolk
rivers with the stream ; on the Trent slightly askew — the
depth is taken, the bait cast in (this usually is made up in
large balls either mixed with clay or without) ; a rod of
from ten to twelve feet is used, and as much line as the

BOTTOM FISHING. 11

length of the rod, or a little more, is let off above the
float. The float is then drawn up close to the boat, and
the swim commences, the angler keeping his rod as well
over his float as he can. When the float has travelled
down stream as far as he can allow it to go, he strikes, in
case any fish should snap at it as it rises off the bottom (a
very favourite moment) by reason of the tension of the
line ; then he draws the float and tackle back up stream
to the boat, drops it in again, and begins another swim.
If he hook a good fish he has to take care that he does
not get round the punt pole, in which case grief is usually
the result. If two anglers be fishing from the punt, and
one hooks a good fish, it is as well that the other should
withdraw his line till the fish is landed, lest it should foul
and tangle the other's line, and perhaps even get off ; and
while the fish is disturbing the swim many fish are not
likely to bite.

In case of a very large fish, say of ten pounds and
upwards, if I am using very fine tackle, I always like
to let the punt loose, and, getting below the fish, take
him into strange water if possible, where he has no holt
or hide to go to, and where he does not know the country.
For lack of this I have lost many a noble fish, as a big fish
always has a hide, and sooner or later remembers and runs
for it, when you may wish him " good day." Float and
tackle must be suited as near as possible to the weight
and rapidity of the stream, and the angler should never
fish with it a shot heavier than is necessary, as extra
weight helps to ^frighten the fish, wears out the rod top,
and tires the wrist, for it must be remembered that the
angler strikes many thousands of times in the course of a
day, and that which is little in itself becomes great by
repetition. In very quiet, easy streams, where big roach

12 ANGLma.

and bream still congrejijate, a light quill or porcupine float,
that will only carry about three or four No. 4 shot, is ample,
and from this you may go through all grades up to a cork
as big as a small carrot, or a large radish, and a dozen or
twenty B B shot. After this floats are vanity and are
useless, and you must use a ledger.

Stream fishing is, as I have said, subdivided into fishing
with a travelling or tripping bait, with or without a float
(these I have spoken of) and also with a stationary one,
with or without a float. The first of these latter is termed
"tight corking," and the latter ledgering or ledger fishing.
In tight corking a good heavy float is used, the line is well
leaded, and allowed to rest on the bottom, and the float
therefore is set six or eight inches or more too deep. The
bait rests on the bottom kept in its place by the shots, the
float is held up so that it cannot be carried under water by
the stream, and as soon as a fish comes up and mumbles
the bait the float gives warning of it.

If the angler likes it better, a combination of ledger
and float can be made, which is the acme of tight
corking and one of the most killing methods employed.
It is simply to use a light ledger lead instead of fixed
shots. What the ledger is I will now unfold. The
cut of the tackle may be seen at Plate 1, Fig. 1. A
bullet or a flat lead with a clean round hole through
it is the lead — this lies upon the bottom. The line
runs through it, and on the hook side of it at any space
from two to four feet — I like a good length, it gives
the bait more play — a piece of wood or a shot is fixed to
prevent the bullet or lead coming down on the hook.
Thus you can weigh the lead two or three feet from the
hook and bait, and it can get no further. Now when the
line lies free on the ground, if anything touches the hook,

PLATE I.

BOTTOM FISHING. 13

it is felt at the rod point as sharply if not more so than if
there were no lead, because the line between the lead and
rod is kept tight. When a fish bites it is felt instantly,
an inch or two of line is yielded him to let him get the
bait and hook well in his mouth, and at about the third
try you strike, smartly lifting lead and all in the stroke.
A light pistol bullet with a hole in it is used in tight
corking. N.B. — This is a capital method of fishing for
carp in rivers. There is one other way of stationary bait
fishing, and that is by what is called the clay ball. A
single hook, or sometimes a small triangle is used, or bit
of stick half ah inch long tied on the line a foot or eighteen
inches above the hook. The hook baited more often than
not with six or seven gentles, a bit of clay and bran is
worked up as big as an orange, a handful of gentles put
inside it, the cross bit of wood in the line buried in it, the
clay worked about it, the line wound into it once or twice
till the hook bait only just protrudes from the ball (some
even bury it in the ball, and let the fish rout it out, but
this is quite needless delay), and the ball hanging on the
line is dropped to the bottom. The gentles wriggle their
way out of the clay. The fish come up and pick them off,
and in doing so rarely miss the hook. As soon as a bite
is felt — and it is astonishing how distinctly you feel
one — a strike sticks the hook in the fish and shakes off
the clay ball. A cut of this tackle is given in Plate 1,
Fig. 2.

I have mentioned the method of bottom fishing pursued
by Norfolk and Trent anglers. The former differs little
from that pursued by the Thames anglers, save in the
position in which the punt is moored, which is lengthwise
with the stream. The two anglers facing either bank — a
plan which avoids the rough boil and bubble caused by

14 ANGLING.

the Thames plan of mooring across stream — though it is
quite possible that this boil and bubble serves to hide the
angler from the fish, and to make them bolder in their
biting — and this when the water is only five or six feet
deep is certainly an advantage. In Norfolk, however, the
swims run from ten to sixteen or more feet in depth, and
there is no need for any concealment at that depth. In
other respects, owing to the depth, they use somewhat
longer rods, and heavier tackle than would be employed
on the Thames, but there is no other peculiarity in their
method. On the Trent the system is quite different from
that on the Thames. They do not as a rule fish short
swims — only the length of the rod and line. If fishing
from a boat they take very long swims. The bait — mostly
worms or greaves — is thrown in loose, not in balls ; the
depth plumbed, and the float set, so that the bait may drag
the ground, and the swim is commenced. As the float
travels onward, line is constantly paid off the reel, so as to
give as slight a check to the tackle as need be until the
bait has travelled down stream the requisite distance,
which may be anything, from thirty or forty yards to
double that distance. Thus the hook bait is sure to
travel over the greater portion of the ground bait, which
it does not in the restricted swim so often used on the
Thames, in the which plan most of the bait is eaten far
below the swim, where the fish do not have a chance of
seeing the hook, and indeed may be thoroughly gorged
before ever they are attracted within its range at all. For
fish are not drawn up from a distance so quickly as some
folks suppose. It takes several nights steady baiting to
draw fish up from a distance to some new quarters. Of
course, if they are on or about the spot in any quantity
already, it does not take long to get them together.

BOTTOM FISHING. 15

Thus it will be seen that the Nottingham or Trent plan of
cavering sixty or even seventy yards of stream is ten times
more captivating than the old Thames plan, and it is now,
for barbel, bream, and chub, commonly adopted on the
Thames. The Trent tackle is peculiar. The lines are of
the finest Derby silk, so as to lie lightly on the water, and
not to impede the quickness of the strike. The reels turn
on a well finished spindle, and a touch sets them twirling
with wonderful rapidity,* and though they are very
suitable for the purpose for which they are wanted, and in
-the hands of an experienced person work perfectly, yet in
the hands of a tyro they are a stumbling block and a
snare too. They overrun, so that every turn they are set
running, the line gets all into a rumble tumble and
tangle. What the young angler has to learn is, while
holding the rod with one hand, so that it can be pressed
against the edge of the reel at will, so as to stop the
running of the line instantly, with the other hand by
regular and quick touches of the little finger, to spin the
reel round so as to give off line freely to the drag of the
float, and at the same time to regulate the pace. This is
not easy, and nothing but practice, and a good deal of
practice, will do it.

The casting of a float, bait, or ledger, to a distance
off the reel, is not easy either. It must be practised,
and a good deal practised too, to accomplish it neatly
and well. No explanation is of any use; after seeing
it done, and noting it as well as he can, the aspirant

* Many anglers use these reels for a variety of purposes, and
it is often essential that they should run yerj freely indeed, and
at the sUghtest touch. A correspondent in the Field lately
urged for this purpose the necessity of having the spindle thin
and very true.

16 ANGLma.

must practise — practise — practise ! At first he will be
dangerous to himself and everybody near, and instead of
his float and hook landing on the swim where he wants it,
it will be more likely to land in his arm, or his ear, or eye,
or somebody else's, where no one wants it; but he will
soon mend, and a week will see him well on the road to
eipertness. It is quite necessary to accomplish this well
to be an expert bank fisher on the Trent ; the swim, par-
ticularly in barbelling, often lying out beyond the reach of
the rod, and requiring very neat and exact casting. To
fish a swim at such a distance is the acme of perfection and
skill in bank fishing; because, having once baited and
plumbed your swim, you must always keep in the same
line of country so as to be at the same depth, and your float
must travel steadily down the long swim (though bank
swims are not nearly as long, as a rule, as boat swims),
and line must be given out so that there may be no
lateral pull or wrench on the float, whereby it may be
diverted from its proper course; and this is not easy,
indeed, with a bad wind and a rainy day it is almost
impossible.

These swims, too, are often deep, and in order to cast the
tackle a float called a slider is employed. This has a wire
loop at top and bottom, through which the line slides freely.
The depth being plumbed, a bit of india-rubber elastic is
tied on the line at the requisite distance. This presents
sufiEicient obstruction to prevent the line sliding further than
is reqiiired through the small eyes of the float, but not
sufficient to prevent its being drawn pretty easily through
the larger eye of the rod point and the rings thereof.
Thus, when the tackle is lifted out of the water the float
slides down to the topmost shot or weight, and rests there.
When dropped in the water it floats and slides up the line

BOTTOM FISHINa. 17

till the top eye meets the rubber, the bait and shots sink-
ing to the bottom.

This is the greatest modern invention in bottom-fish-
ing. Holes of any depth, and at any (reasonable)
distance from the shore may be fished with it, and
even in slightly variable depths the float, with manage-
ment, will do a good deal to accommodate itself to the
various depths. A cut of the slider is shown in Plate 1,
Fig. 3. The lighter and easier method of fishing from the
bank on the Trent is called " dacing." I think it by far
the pleasantest method of bank fishing. The rod and
tackle are lighter than in the last, and the swim is rarely
more than some twice the length of the rod from the shore.
If it is a yard or two beyond, and is not to be reached by
the ordinary swing of the rod — as the tackle is too light
to cast it well ofE the reel, and the line will not hang loose
or lie on the ground without kinking, the Trent fisher
takes hold of the line somewhere up between the third and
fourth rings, and enough line being left to swing out the
tackle, as much line is drawn off the reel as can be kept
tight by the left hand being extended backwards. The
swing being made, the line is let go by the left hand, and
flies out, giving two or three yards of extra length to the
cast, and this may be increased by taking the line from
higher up the rod. For an illustration of the method see
Plate 1, Fig. 4. I have mentioned previously that this
cast is very useful in pond fishing in getting out more line
than you could otherwise cast. It is useful also in minnow
spinning for trout.

18 ANGLING.

CHAPTER II.

MID-WATER FISHING.

The second division of fishing is that of mid- water fishing,
and this may be sub-divided between spinning and live
baiting. Taking live baiting first as being linked with
float fishing ; this is practised in two ways, with a float
and without a float ; live baiting with a float is employed
for taking pike, perch, and sometimes trout. The float
and weight of the tackle are proportioned to the size of
the bait. When a large bait is used a heavy weight is
required to keep it down in the water, as the tendency of all
fish, when hooked, is to strike upwards towards the surface.
It is often necessary, when the fish to be caught are very
large, to use large dace and roach of three and four to the
pound as baits ; and in this case the float is made of cork,
and it is as large as a good- sized Bergamot pear. In
this style of fishing, which is chiefly for pike, one bait
will be found enough ; and it is desirable to have a swivel
between the float and the hooks, in order if the fish turns
round much that he should not twist and hang the line up,
as often happens without this ; and it is as well to have
another swivel to attach the tackle to the reel line, so that
the reel or running line may not be entangled with the
tackle. Also it is desirable that the running line should

MID- WATER FISHING. 19

be kept as near the surface as possible, so that it may not
sink and become caught in the weeds below, and so check
the free motion of the bait or the run of the fish. To
effect this fix a small piece of cork on the line, a yard or
two, if possible, above the float. The bait must be allowed
to swim rather below mid-water unless the water is very
deep, when it should be placed nearer to the bottom. The
object is to fix it so that it may be seen best over the
largest area of the bottom ; and of course the depth and
colour of the water must be duly considered, as in thick
water, unless the bait is put pretty close to the fish, he
will not see it at all.

For float fishing for perch, or even trout, a lighter
tackle and float is used. That used for trout must,
of course, be suited to the size of the trout. For
perch the tackle would be a float equal to carrying a
couple of minnows which should be set at such a depth
that the lowest minnow shall clear the bottom by an inch
or two, and the one above, shall hang so as to be about
from fourteen to eighteen inches above the bottom. When
I come to jack and perch fishing, I shall give a closer
account of how these tackles are to be used. Another
species of live-bait fishing is by means of a paternoster.
This is simply a gimp or gut line, according as it is used
for pike or perch, with a plummet of lead on the bottom,
and with two or three hooks as the depth of water, Ac,
requires, these hooks being baited with a small fish —
minnow, gudgeon, dace, or what not. The plummet is
cast into the water, and, sinking to the bottom, the line is
held tight, so that the least touch of a fish can be felt ;
and as soon as it is supposed that the fish has the bait in
his mouth,, the angler strikes sharply. A plan of a
paternoster is given in Plate 1, Fig. 5. Occasionally a live

c 2

20 ANGLING.

bait is put upon a single hook, or a small triangle, and,
with two or three shot, just enough to sink it to mid-
stream, line is paid out, and the bait allowed to go where
it wilL This is chiefly done in trout fishing.

The next division in mid-water fishing is in the arts of
spinning and trolling. Spinning is practised thus : a
small fish is taken — minnow, gudgeon, bleak or dace
chiefly, and is fixed upon a series of hooks called *' the
flight," 80 that the tail is slightly crooked. These are
then hung on to a tackle, divided in short lengths by two
or more swivels, which is called the trace. This is
weighted with lead to sink it to mid-water. The tackle is
then jerked to a distance into the stream, and is drawn in
to the shore or boat by short draws of the left hand, the
right holding the rod; and as the bait comes shooting
along through the mid- water, the crook in the tail causes
it to revolve rapidly, the swivels permitting it to do so
easily without twisting up the line. This attracts the fish,
who dash at the bait and are caught by the hooks.
TroUing or dead gorge fishing is a method employed
exclusively for pike ; and that, too, only when they are in
large weed beds or places so obstructed with rubbish that
neither of the other methods can be employed ; a long
thin plummet of lead is used with a twisted wire running
through it, to one end of which is a loop, and the
other a pair of hooks opening di rersely. The loop end of
the wire is then thrust into the fiah*s mouth, down through
its stomach, and out at the tail. The hooks stand out
pretty close on each side of the mouth. The tail is tied
on to the wire by a lap or two of silk, and the lead, <fcc.,
is concealed in the belly of the bait. This is hung on to a
tackle by a swivel, and is dropped here and there into
the holes between the weeds, and played up and down by

MID- WATER FISHING. 21

jerks at the rod point, and as it sinks, shooting to the
bottom, is now and then seized by a pike, who having
been allowed from five to ten minutes to pouch or swallow
the bait is hooked and hauled out to the best of the
fisher's ability.

22 ANGUNG.

^ CHAPTER III.

SURFACE OR FLY FISHING.

Tbi8 is the most skilful and artistic method of fishing of
any. It is divided into fishing with the real, and fishing
with the artificial fly. In the first method, a real fly, as a
Mayfly, shorn fly, bluebottle, or some other large fly, is
used ; a fine hook is carefully passed through the thorax,
and the bait is then dropped or cast on the surface of the
water. In the first case the mode of working the fly is
what is termed " dibbing," or " daping." The angler —
with a line about half the length of the rod, and with a
good long light rod, a yard or so of fine gut, and a hook
suited to his bait — notes some spot where a fish is rising,
and going cautiously behind any bush or stump that will
shelter him from the eyes of the fish, he protrudes his rod
gently over the water, and allows his bait to fall on the
surface of the water about two or three feet, or more if
need be, above the fish, and lets the stream bear it down
over the fish's head ; if the fish rises he gives him just
two seconds to get the bait or fly well in his mouth, then
strikes, not too hard, and gets his fish out with as little
disturbance as possible. This method of fishing is used
chiefly for trout, though it is also employed for chub,
when a cockchafer or grasshopper, &c., is used. The
great thing to study is concealment from the fish. There

SURFACE OR FLY FISHING. 23

is, however, another method of daping, called " blow-line
fishing," which is employed in the open, away from
bushes. In this case, of course, the angler has to stand
at a distance from the fish. To this end a long rod is
generally employed, often from eighteen to twenty-two
feet long. A piece of line called the blow line, and made
of the lightest floss silk, and about twice the length of
the rod, is employed ; to the lower end is fastened a link
or two of fine gut, and a light hook. The fly, usually a
Mayfly (or even two), is put on the hook, the rod held
upright, the angler having his back to the wind; as
soon as the line is released it is carried by the wind away
from the angler; and when well extended over the
water, the fisherman lowers the point of the rod until
the flies fall upon the surface of the water some
distance away, where they are allowed to drift naturally
over the fish. In this way the angler can cover a fish
seventeen or eighteen or more yards away from him.

Then there is the plan of casting the natural fly ; certainly
one of the most artistic methods of employing a natural
bait at all, and not easy to accomplish thoroughly. An
ordinary single-handed fly rod and line is used, with three
yards of gut and a light hook ; one or two flies are put
on, and standing with his back to the wind, and the line
between his left finger and thumb, just above the hook,
and as much loose line waving in the air as he thinks he
can cast ; the angler waves his rod backwards and forwards
once or twice to swing the length of line clear, and then,
making his cast, lets go the hook and away goes the bait
to its destination ; it is allowed to go down stream to the
full length of the line, and is then pulled up and re-cast ;
when from frequent immersions the bait is destroyed or
the line wet and heavy, a new bait must be put on, or the

24 ANGLING.

line allowed a few minutes to dry. The frequent spoiling
or whipping-off of baits is the great objection to this
m^od.

rHshing with the artificial fly is, perhaps, the most
popular kind of fishing practised in this kingdom ;
thousands of anglers never practise any other kind of
fishing. I need hardly describe what an artificial fly is,
but for the few who are quite uninitiated I may merely
say that it is an imitation of a fly, made of various
materials, chiefly silks, fur, and feathers, which is fixed
on to a hook. This is then cast to a distance on the
surface of the water, and, being drawn or carried by the
stream gently floating along, is mistaken by the fish for
some live fly or other insect, and the fish rises to take it,
when, before he can discover the cheat, the hook is twitched
sharply into his jaw, and he is translated speedily to
another element. A good variety of fish are taken by the
artificial fly, chiefly trout and salmon, and all the other
species of the salmon, &c., as sea trout, grayling, and
charr ; more or less chub, and dace, and sometimes roach,
perch, and pike, and even eels and flounders have been
known to take a fly. These are the various methods
employed by the lawful brothers of the angle, in their
endeavours to capture the fish of the British Islands. I
proceed now to deal with each fish and its mode of capture
separately.

THE GUDGEON. 25

CHAPTER IV.

THE GUDGEON {Oyprinus Oohio),

Setting aside minnows, bull-heads, loaches, and stickle-
backs, and such small game — for I have known a treatise
to have been written on the correct method of capture of
the last noble quarry, and if I remember aright, a pickle
bottle played a prominent part in the process. For my
eldest son, at the tender age of eight, wrote a treatise on
the above sport, as he styled it, for the " Information of
his Young Friends." I repeat, " setting aside " all
this, the gudgeon is usually the first quarry of the
young angler, that is always providing he lives where
they are found. The gudgeon is gregarious, and where
you catch one you may catch others, sometimes in large
numbers ; indeed, I have known as many as ten dozen of
gudgeons caught at one pitch. The gudgeon runs to six
or seven inches in length, but seven inches is a large one.
The largest I have seen are (or rather were, for I have
seen none of late years) found in the river Itchen, in
Hampshire. The bait which they prefer is a small red
worm, or cockspur, as it is called in Trentshire ; they will
take a gentle or any other small insect, but nothing is so
attractive to them as a red woi*m. Red worms may be
found in old leaf mould or vegetable refuse, and it is a

26 ANGLING.

very good plan to have a heap of this mixed with some
very rotten old manure, covered over with a bit of carpet
to keep it moist in the summer. The worms will soon
^^preed in it, and the angler can then choose what he
requires from time to time. They keep well for a week or
more, in a few bits of old rag or rotten net, which is the
best thing to scour and cleanse them in, provided they are
kept fairly moist and in a cool place.

The tackle to use for gudgeon fishing is a light taper
cork float, proportioned to the stream, and a yard or two of
tolerably fine gut. Plumb the depth, and set the float so that
the bait shall just drag the bottom, the hook must be a small
one, number 9, 10, or 11 ; the rod, of course, must depend
upon whether you are fishing from a punt or from the
bank. The ordinary rods used for these means will do,
and last, but not least, the angler must have a large heavy
iron rake, with a long stout handle, to rake the bottom
with. All else being ready, the bottom, for a space of
some two or three square yards, is vigorously raked, so as
to disturb the sand and earthy particles, and to send them
down stream in a cloud. This attracts the gudgeon, who
expect to find fresh food in the freshly turned up gravel,
and they flock to the spot from some distance down.
Then, the raking finished, the angler drops in his tackle,
and if the gudgeon are there, and are feeding, his float
will not move a yard before it will bob down with a dash
that there is no mistaking. A quick short stroke and a
brief pull will bring the little brown fellow wriggling to
the top, when a touch at the bait to re-settle it on the hook
is all that is required, for the same bait will often take six
or seven or more fish before it is worn out. When the fish
begin to grow tired of biting, another turn of the rake
may bring them on afresh for a short time, and even a

THE POPE OR RUFFE. 27

third rake will sometimes, when they are plentiful, pay
fairly ; but it is seldom that two rakings do not suffice to
bring to hook all that mean to bite. Perch often come
into the swim, and are taken when gudgeon fishing.
Indeed, should the presence of a perch be suspected, by
reason of a sudden cessation of biting, it is as well to put
on a larger worm, or to have a paternoster with a minnow
on handy, so as to get rid of Mr. Perch, who sadly disturbs
the equanimity of your clients. Dace, too, are often
taken in the gudgeon swim, and indeed this method of
fishing is often used purely for dace ; in the same swim
with the gudgeon, too, is often captured the Pope.

THE POPE OR RUFFE (Perca cemiui).

If there be a deepish still eddy by the side of your
gudgeon swim, and a bank or bough beside it, there you
will probably (in the River Thames, at least) find good
store of popes. Like his great namesake, the Pope, " he
leads a happy life." The angler does not often trouble
him, for he is of little value ; and if caught by accident
he usually gets turned back again. Netsmen will not be
troubled with him either, as he fetches nothing either as a
live bait or for edible purposes, though the small amount
of flesh on the Pope is very sweet and wholesome, and like
that of the gudgeon. It is a curious little fish, and
though so little sought for does not seem to increase
much ; indeed, in the Thames, I doubt if it has not, of
late years, diminished. It lives exceedingly well in small
ponds. I have had one in a bait pond for above a twelve-
month, and it has grown considerably ; and, let who will
starve, he is always fat and hearty. Pope are not common
in English rivers, and not a great deal is known of them.

88 ANGLING.

They are said to have been first discovered by Dr. Caius,
the founder of Gains College.

THE BLEAK {Gyprinus albumus).

This lively silvery little fish is the exemplification in
fish life of perpetual motion, for he is never still, darting
hither and thither, snatching at any floating trifle that
seems to promise food ; his activity is incessant. Throw
on the water a bit of bread, and, before it has floated
fifty yards, if there be bleak about, it will be surrounded
by a perfect shoal of them, all struggling and jostling
to get a crumb of the desired morsel. The embouchure
of a drain is a favourite hunting-ground for them ; there
they may be seen in shoals, darting through the filth and
capturing the atoms that pass down. They will take
worm, gentle, or fly freely, either on the bottom, in mid-
water, or on the surface, and the best way to catch them,
perhaps, is by whipping with a single gentle. They are
by no means bad eating, cooked like sprats, and formerly
the nacre was collected from their scales, and fetched a
good price for silvering various objects, particularly
artificial pearls. It has been often a matter of question
what becomes of the bleak in the winter, as they are
hardly ever met with then.

THE ROACH {Gyprinus rutilus).

The roach was years ago, when roach fishers were
nothing like as numerous as they are now, called " the river
sheep," because he was so unsuspicious and so easily
caught ; but now he by no means deserves so simple a
character; where he is seldom fished for, he may be
correspondingly incautious, but a big roach in a fairly

THE ROACH. 29

fished stream is a mighty wary fellow ; and though they
may abound, you may tempt them in vain, and even when
they are hungry and are feeding, and the water is coloured
by rain, the finest tackle is required to make a good take
of them. The roach is a great vegetarian, and feeds
largely on water plants ; and while the weeds are in a
flourishing state during the summer, it is difficult to get
the larger roach to come out and feed freely on other
matters ; but when the winter frosts have rolled away the
weeds, and made them sour and inedible, the big roach
come out, and, if the water be in good condition, feed
fairly, and then is the roach fisher's paradise ; and in the
metropolitan and midland districts, there are more large
roach killed in February, March, and even part of April,
than during any other month.

As a rule on the Thames, and in waters which adopt
the Thames rules, roach fishing, with all other bottom
fishing, is closed to the angler on the 15th of March ;
but throughout March they are, as I can testify, m
the very prime and height of tip- top condition; a
March roach of a pound, from a good gravelly bottom,
is, barring the bones, as good a fish as need be cooked ;
they do not spawn till the middle or latter end of May, so
that even fishing out March, they have still six weeks at
least before they commence spawning ; which is more than
enough protection in all conscience, particularly as the
best of them do not come out of the weeds, as a rule,
much before January. There are thousands of big roaches
in the Thames which probably never see an angler's line ;
while in the weeds, if a clear space can be found, a few
may be taken with silk weed, that is the long, slimy, silky
looking weed, which is found on the bottom. A lump of
this being wrapped on the hook, as I am told (for I never

80 ANGLING.

tried it), attracts the fish, and good takes have often been
made with it. The best baits for roach are, during the
summer, gentles, with a change to red worm or greaves
(in Trentshire, " scratchings,*') which may be used, but in
the winter either paste or pearl barley carries the palm, or
a little bit of the brown of a crusty loaf. These are the
best baits, but there are a great variety of others : insects
various, as ant flies, or eggs, caddis-bait, blood worms,
boiled-wheat and barley, green-wheat, and many other
matters. The best ground bait for roach is that used by
the great majority of the Thames fishermen, and this in
the summer consists of bran and carrion gentles mixed up
with clay into balls ; and when the summer is past and
carrion gentles cannot be obtained, scalded bread, bran,
and boiled rice, mixed up either with clay or by itself,
forms by far the best ground bait. If no clay is used, a
small stone (as big as a walnut) should be inclosed in the
ball to make it sink.

Here is the very best recipe for ground bait I know —
it is my own. Get a big pudding basin and fill it
two-thirds full of old crusts, as stale as you please, fill up
with boiling water, and stand a plate over it, to let it soak
for a quarter of an hour. Take a breakfast cup of broken
rice and boil that, get about two-thirds of a peck of bran,
put into it about a quart of barley meal, and well mix.
Then squeeze out most of the water from the soaked bread
and stir that in, pour the liquor off the rice and stir that
in also, and work it all up together, adding a little of the
rice liquor now and then if it is too dry. Then, when of
the right consistency, work it up into balls of the size of
moderate apples with a stone in the middle. If it is too
dry it won't adhere well. If too wet it breaks up in the
water. It should be tough and consistent. This will

THE EOACH. 31

make about twenty or more balls — enough for one day's
fishing. It is the best ground bait ever made. Take care
the materials are sweet and fresh, and don't keep it more
than forty-eight hours or it will turn sour and drive the
fish away. Some people use brewers* grains, bullocks*
blood, and a host of similar matter.

One thing should always be observed carefully, viz.,
having got your fish together, be very careful not to
overbait or overfeed them, or the fish will soon get
gorged and refuse the hook. This is a great fault
with many of the Thames puntsmen : they will throw
in ground bait enough in one day to last for four
if the fish are feeding, and many a promising day is
thus destroyed ; a little now and then, just enough to
attract attention and to keep the fish on the look out is all
that is needed. The skilful angler knows that his object
is to keep the fish on the watch and eager for the hook,
not to fill their bellies and make them capricious and
dainty.

There is a method of ground baiting which, in low
clear water, is sometimes very effective, and not only
for roach, but for bream and other fish, and that is termed
" blowing the trumpet " — a long tube of zinc is used deep
enough to reach the bottom of the water. This is sunk
and fixed to the side of the boat or punt. The upper end
has a bell or trumpet shaped mouth, in fact it is a long-
spouted funnel. A large tub of mud or clay and water,
with bran, &c., and sometimes blood and any debris that
can be easily got and will attract roach, is then mixed all
up together until it becomes a slush. A pint or two of
this from time to time is thrown into the bell of the funnel
and emits a stream of mud at the bottom of the water,
which discolours the water and much atti-acts the

82 ANGLING.

fish. The angler, of course, fishes as much as he can in
the clouded stream that issues from the fissure, and I have
heard of capital takes made in conjunction with this
apparatus. On the Trent the red worm (called there the
cockspur) is held to be the best bait ; but the Trent fishers,
though the best barbel fishers perhaps in the world, are
not equal to the cockneys at the roach. The bank fisher
for roach often employs what is called a " Lea " rod, that
is a light cane rod some 20ft. or 22ft. long or even more.
With this rod no reel is used, and only enough line to
allow a couple of feet or so above the float. When the
angler hooks a good fish the long rod enables him to
follow its movements about over a good deal of ground ;
and, as the fish tires he gradually pulls off and drops
joint after joint on the ground until only three or four
joints are left, a process which brings the fish at last
within reach of the landing net.

In punt fishing, of course, the usual lift, or 12ft.
light cane rod is used. Some people use a rather
longer rod in order to give an extra yard or so of swim,
but a very slight increase in the length of the rod tells
most heavily on the muscles of the arm and hand in
the course of a long day's fishing. The Trent fishers
use a light 12ft. rod, not quite so stiff as our punt rods,
with upright rings, and with this, which is called a
" dacing rod," and with a light Derby twist line they pull
the line back from between two of the upper rings by the
left hand, and holding it as far back from the rod as c(5n-
venient, with a gentle swing and by releasing the line so
held simultaneously, they can cast their bait and float out
into the stream at any reasonable distance from the shore ;
the light line lies on the surface of the water, and although
there may be 15ft. of line out it does not swell or hang,

THE EOACH. 33

and the stroke on the float is instantaneous and free.
Thus they obviate the necessity of using those long Lea
rods, which are cumbrous in the extreme, and require two
hands to hold them. But it is also certain that they can-
not strike so accurately, and thus lose more fish and bites.
But, whatever rod or style the angler adopts, this tackle
must be of the lightest and neatest; you cannot have it
too fine for roach fishing, and I quite agree with the Rev.
James Martin — whose " Angler's Guide," published in
1854, contains the best directions as regards roach fishing
ever published — that you cannot be too nice or particular
on this head. Over and over again have I seen single hair
beat the finest and most delicately stained gut; and
though at one time I was rather sceptical on this point, I
am now a complete believer that the finer the tackle you
can conveniently use the better, and that nothing goes
down so well with shy roach as single hair. You must
keep yourself out of sight, too, as well as your tackle.
You need not get behind a tree, but it is as well to have
one at your back when you are fishing from a bank. I
have often noticed the difference evinced by the move-
ments of the fish when the angler was visible from the
bank and when he could put himself in front of a tree, and
the difference would scarcely be credited.

I have running through my field one of the finest
roach rivers within fifty miles of London, and where
the roach are unusually fine and good. I have fished
at all times of the year, and under all kinds of cir-
cumstances for years, and have full experience of what
I state. In coloured water, of course, less caution is
necessary, though even then fine tackle will tell on the '
catch, but in clear water, unless you can keep out of
sight, you will not catch a fish, and at the best you will

D

34 ANGLING.

not catch many. The size of the hook must be ref-
lated by the bait you use. A somewhat larger hook may
be used for paste than is used for geutles or worm. Some
anglers like hooks with very short shanks, but I do not
think it a good plan, as they do not strike truly, they ai-e
more apt to spring, and many fish are lost by them. When
the roach are biting shyly, a small hook with one gentle
will often do better than a larger one with two.

Boach vary a good deal in their method of feeding. Sonie-
times the float dabs down with a sharp pluck. I do not
like to see that, for either the fish are small, and when the
small fish are "on" the big ones are not, or they are rather
more sporting than feeding. Sometimes they niggle at the
bait, and the float goes " tip, tip, tip," just dipping to the
surface with short sharp jerks. That is not a good sign
either, as you have to wait till the float goes under, and
▼eiy often it does not. But when you see the float sink
down steadily and gravely in a way that there is no mis-
taking, then be sure that the big ones are at work and the
fish are well on ; and if there are plenty of them, and you
do not overfeed them, and no change comes over the
weather, happy fellow, you are in for a good day. Then
waste no time, ground bait sparingly, and conduct your-
self quietly. As soon as you have hooked a good fish get
him down out of the swim as soon as you can, and with as
little noise or splashing as possible.

The best floats for light work are straight porcupine
quills. Some people like those jointed quill floats ; I
do not, they are apt to get out of order and take in
water just when you don't want them to. A very
thin cork case may be set upon the porcupine if a
heavier float is wanted. The bait should be as near as
possible to the bottom without hanging. The running

THE EUDD— THE DACE. 35

line should be as fine as need be. I have seen some
of these fine silk-dressed lines, which are perfect if
the dressing does not, as it too often does, weaken the line
too much. Keep as little of the running line in the water
as possible when fishing, so that the strike may come as
directly as possible on the float ; play your fish lightly but
firmly, and always use the landing net to a pretty good
fish. In coloured water tight corking is often a capital
method for the roach. Beyond aU be quiet and unobtru-
sive, and likewise patient.

THE RUDD {Cyprinus eryophthalmus).
This fish is often confounded with the roach, but it
differs in several particulars. The dorsal fin is further
back in the rudd, while the upper lip is more prominent in
the roach, the roach being over and the rudd underhung.
It is, as a rule, too, thicker and deeper, and is of rather a
more olive colour, and it grows to a much larger size,
roach rarely reaching 2^1b., while rudd sometimes run up
towards 41b. Rudd are sometimes caught in the Thames.
In Osterly Park and Hatfield they are abundant. In
Slapton Ley they reach a large size, and in Norfolk they
are plentiful. They take much the same baits as the
roach, and may be fished for in the same way. They take
a fly well in Slapton Ley. They are very good table fish
it is said, though I have never eaten them.

THE DACE (Gyprinua leuciscus).
This pretty fish may be often found in the same streams
and caught in the same swims with roach ; nevertheless, as
a rule, they prefer somewhat sharper and shallower
streams, feeding, as they do, more upon the surface. The
dace is frequently found in trout streams ; indeed, there

D 2

36 ANGLING.

are few trout streams where they are not more or less
found. In such places they are decidedly a nuisance, and .
it is desirable that they should be kept down by the net as
much as possible, or in time they will interfere with the
trout. On the Thames and its tributaries in suitable
places dace take the fly well at times, and in a good day
the angler may capture several dozen of them. They
require quick striking, however ; indeed, many of the most
successful fly fishers for dace keep on casting quickly, and
strike every time whether they see a rise or no, allowing
the fly to dwell but a short time on the water ; for they
take and reject the fly very quickly, and have a nasty habit
of following the fly without taking it. It is a common
practice to tip the fly with a natural gentle or a bit of thin
under-rind of bacon, or even a scrap of washleather to
make the fish take a better hold. Although the fly should
be small, it is as well to have a pretty good-sized hook, as
ihey contrive to get off very often. Any small bright, red,
black, blue, or yellow fly does, and a couple of turns
of tinsel improves it.

For float fishing much the same plan must be pursued
as is used for roach, though in the summer a shallower and
sharper stream will often be found desirable. The dace,
too, has less liking for paste and farinaceous baits than the
roach, preferring first the red worm, and next the gentle.
They bite rather quicker than the roach, and require
quicker striking. They rarely run above Jib. in the
Thames, though in some of its tributaries — as the Colne
and elsewhere — they reach fib., and sometimes close on
lib., and in the Kennet over lib. The best take I ever
had on the Thames was thirteen fish that weighed
71b., and this was after my companion had had his pick of
the take. They were taken with lob worm when barbelling

THE CHUB. 37

at Eiclimond. There are large dace in some of the
southern rivers; and I shall never forget my dismay,
many years since at Downton, on the Avon, when a keeper
promised to get me a pailfuL of dace for jack bait for
spinning, when he brought me a lot with scarcely a fish
under haK a pound ; one would have needed to substitute
a punt pole for a rod to be able to cast and work them
properly. They are very good for the table if fried nicely and
crisply, with a squeeze of lemon and cayenne over them,
or marinaded. To do this they should be cleaned, then
trimmed, and placed in layers in an open baking dish ; boil
some vinegar, with salt, mace, and pepper in it, and a few
bay leaves, and pour it over the fish ; then bake for a
short time, and in two days you will be able to eat
them, bones and all, without difficulty, and they are
piquant.

THE CHUB {Gyprinus cephalus).

The logger-headed chub, called by the French un mllairif
because he is not good for the table, though when up the
river and short of provisions one may do a deal worse than
eat a fresh-killed chub. The chub, I think, first opened
to me the magic realms of piscatory literature at a very
early age. Who does not recollect that chub with the white
spot on his tail in Walton, and with which he purchased
the milkmaid's song ? Little thought the modest kindly
old man how future ages would reverence that little brown
book of his, and that what he then sold for Is. 6d.
might in course of time come to be sold for from 101. to
201. sterling. But to return to chub : the chub is a
handsome-shaped, gallant-looking fish ; and a basket such
as I saw lately, of eight weighing from 21b. to 41b. each,
all caught with the fly, forms a very satisfactory after-

38 ANGLING.

noon's chnbbing, because it argues many smaller ones
turned back again to grow. I never take, or at least keep,
a chub under lib., and more often, if the fish are running
well, not under IJlb. They are very little use, though on
the upper parts of the Thames the people gladly buy
them at fourpence a pound, coast fish not often reaching
them.

Chub may be taken in various ways — they will take
either float or ledger freely, they take the fly greedily, and
at times both live and spinning bait, though these latter
are not always certain. When roach fishing in a punt you
will often get hold of a few chub quite at the end of the
swim ; and if you let out a few more yards, and make a
somewhat longer swim, you will often pick up a chub or
two when barbel fishing, both with float and with ledger ;
the chub are nearly sure to be handy to the swim in larger
or smaller numbers. Though a shy fish, there are few
bolder biting fish than the chub, when it does bite, and
whether it be at bait, fly, or fish, he lets you know that he
is at the hook unmistakably. At the fly he makes a rush
and a dash which you cannot fail to see and hear too ; and
when he does get the lure within his big leathern chops
he holds on, and is easily hooked, and, imless he gets to
weeds, does not easily get away. The first rush or two of
big chub is very fierce and determined, but he does not
make so long a resistance as the barbel.

If the angler desires to fish specially for chub with
a float, the best way is to plumb the hook to about
two-thirds of the general depth of the stream, and to
fish with a travelling float tripping just outside the
boughs where chub are supposed to be, and casting
in an old fragment or two of bait every now and then
to attract the chub^ and draw them from their holes.

THE CHFB. 39

Large takes of chub are made thus: — In Nottingham,
bullock's brains and pith are fished with; the pith is
simply the spinal marrow, this is used for the hook.
Cut the outer rind off with a sharp pointed pair of
scissors, and wash the contents carefully; some recom-
mend it to be scalded. Some not. The angler can try
both and please himself. A pipe of it about an inch long
does for one bait. It is very tender, and needs some pains
to fix it on the hook. The brains should be scalded, a few
fragments being thrown in from time to time, and allowed
to drift past the bushes along which the angler may be
fishing. It is a very taking bait, and chub are very fond
of it in mid-winter, when it is chiefly used. There are
many other baits, as cheese cut into square bits of goose-
berry size, rotten cheese and suet beaten to a stiff paste.
Greaves, and even worms or wasp grubs, answer nearly as
well, and the tail of the fresh-water crawfish boiled is a
choicely good bait for " big uns."

The chub is very carnivorous, and will eat a variety
of things, and beetles, grasshoppers, cockchafers, humble
bees, &c., do well for dibbing or daping; or a very
small live frog, only a bit of the skin of the back
being taken on the hook so as to preserve his life
without injury, is a capital lure. Chub holes or bushes
are generally pretty well known, and the angler, in
getting to ore to dape, must keep out of sight, and
make as little motion with his rod point as possible,
moving it slowly and circumspectly; for, though the fish
bites boldly when not frightened, he is easily alarmed,
and you rarely catch more than two, or at the outside
three, chub out of the same hole, without giving the others
twenty minutes' rest to recover. The hook used, both for
float fishing and dapiug, should be suited to the bait and

40 ANGLING.

the size of the fish, but a No. 6 will usually be small
enough. In fly-fishing for chub you may use artificial
beetles, humble bees, wasps, chafers, &c., &c., &c. The
flies used are chiefly palmers,* red, black, and green of
large size, with peacock herl, black or yellow bodies, and
with a silrer twist on the bodies ; and, if a bit of wash-
leather is used as a tail it is more attractive, while if you
can keep three or four gentles on the bend of the hook it
adds greatly to the value of the fly. I have found a silver
tinsel body, with brown turkey wing, and a furnace hackle
kill well. A sandy red palmer with a yellow orange body
kills well, too ; all the flies should be of grilse size, or
even small salmon size.

A strong rod is wanted to fly-fish for chub, as the
sport is chiefly pursued under boughs, among stumps
and roots, and in holes among rushes where weeds
abound, and if you get hold of a 41b. chub, as you some-
times do, it wants a strong rod and strong tackle to
prevent him from getting into the weeds or roots. I
always use a grilse rod and grilse tackle; that is, a
double-handed rod of about fifteen or fifteen-and-a-half
feet, and No. 2 salmon gut ; and I hardly ever remember
losing a fish by hanging up in weeds ; whereas, I have
heard of persons losing them by the dozen with single-
handed tackle, and they are always the largest fish.
Another thing, too, is, if you get hung in a flag or rush,
you can break it without going in with the boat and
spoiling the cast. In casting under the boughs it wants a
capital sculler, one who is an adept at whipping the
boughs himself, and who knows just where the fisher
wants the boat put without telling. It does not require

* For how to dress a palmer, see " red palmer " or " hackle "
in " Trout Flies."

THE BAEBEL. 41

any light casting for chub ; the bigger and louder flop the
fly makes on the water, the more certain it is to attract
the notice of the chub ; but it is desirable to cast as close
in under the boughs as possible, and to do this habitually
without getting hung up requires skill and judgment. If
you do get hung up, always try mild measures first, as
persuasion really is better than force^ and often saves a
breakage, or much trouble. Of all the artificial flies, &c.,
I find nothing do so well as the artificial cockchafer. It
will cast to any reasonable distance, and is hugely fancied
by chub, as there are very few that will not move at it ;
and, to insure their taking it, put about three or four
tough gentles on the end of the hook (they will stand
some whipping before they wear off), and this renders it
almost irresistible. The silver-bodied fly, with turkey
wing, comes next in my estimation, then the humble-bee,
the orange palmer, the black palmer, and so on, but none
of them are the worse for a gentle or two on the hook,
The ledger is not a chosen method of fishing for chub, but
it frequently kills the best when fishing for barbel. Nor
is either live-bait or spinning a recognised method, though
both of these styles take them at times. Chub are fre-
quently taken in the Thames between 41b. and 51b. in
weight, occasionally between 61b. and 61b., and now and
then between 61b. and 71b. ; above that they are very rare,
though they have been known in other waters to run up
to 91b.

THE BARBEL (Gyprinus harbatus).

Next to the roach, perhaps, the barbel is the most
popular fish with London bottom fishers ; while on the
Trent it takes the first place. It is a handsomely shaped
fish, and well formed for the water it inhabits. Its

42 ANGLING.

rounded, compact body, pointed head, and large fins being
peculiarly adapted to these rapid and heavy waters ; the
roughest water in a river being frequently the most
favourite haunt of the big barbel, while the swifter and
heavier streams are nearly always their chosen resort.

Barbel are taken with the ledger or with float tackle,
either while roach fishing or with the traveller in the
Nottingham fashion — for which purpose the slider float is
chiefly used, as it accommodates itself to any slight varia-
tion in the depth of the swim better than any other.
They are also taken by expert fishers with a light pistol
bullet and no float, the bullet being fixed a yard above
the hook, and the tackle and bait allowed to trundle
naturally along the bottom ; when a bite is felt at the rod
point, or seen by the stoppage of the tackle — any slack
line being gathered up — a smart backward strike, well
over the shoulder, usually succeeds in fixing the hook.

The ledger for barbelling should always be as light as it
is possible to hold the bottom with, a moderate- sized pistol
ballet often being quite heavy enough, though in some
heavy streams a much heavier lead is needed. There
should be at least three or four feet of tolerably fine but
sound gut below the bullet, so as to give the bait plenty of
play, and as fine a running line should be used as is
possible, as it holds less water, and enables a lighter lead
to be used. The rod should not be too heavy, as the
lighter it is in reason the easier it is to feel the bite. A
rod somewhat bigger than an ordinary punting roach rod,
but rather stiff er, and made of solid wood, is best. The
hook should be of the long-shanked, round-bend sort,
and not larger than No. 4 or 5, and tied on tolerably fine
gut. Do not strike at the first touch, but when thft tug is
repeated once or twice, strike smartly upwards. The best

THE BAEBEL. 43

baits for ledgering are, firstly, worms ; secondly, greaves ;
and thirdly, a bunch of gentles, though some people occa-
sionally catch barbel with raw beef or ham ; and I believe
that shrimps would make a capital bait if the fish were well
ground-baited with them once or twice, so as to get used to
them, and they are often easier and cheaper to get than
worms. The fishing with traveller float has already been
described. The hook used should be a No. 6 for this pur-
pose, and the tackle comparatively fine, and shotted with a
few tolerably heavy shot. The rod should be about twelve
feet long, moderately stiff, but not too stiff ; the rings
upright, and the line fine Derby twist, while the float must
be chosen with respect to the weight and rapidity of the
swim, and should never be heavier than is necessary.

A barbel swim for traveller fishing is often from thirty
to fifty yards long, and the float must be allowed to
travel over that distance with as little check as possible.
Whenever the float dips suddenly, strike firmly, and
back over the shoulder; and if you hook your fish,
keep on winding him up to the boat whenever you
can, and, by the time he comes up within reach, he
is usually (unless he is a big one, or unusually vigorous)
pretty well done. When the fish are well on at this
style it is very pretty fishing indeed. In fishing from
the bank, the angler must refer back to what I have said
on the Nottingham method. The only difference between
it and traveller fishing from the punt is that you often
have to cast the float some little distance out into the
stream, and that it is much more difficult to guide it well
down the right swim for any distance, particularly if it
happens to be a windy, rainy day. Indeed, rain is the
worst enemy you can have in traveller fishing, as it makes
the line hang in the rings, and checks the float constantly,

44 ANGLING.

and this is much worse in bank fishing than in punting, as
it drags the float out of the swim. The roach tackle and
method have already been described, and barbel often
give capital sport with them, particularly when the big
ones take a single hair hook, as they are prone to do.
Then the angler must prepare for a long fight, extending
to one, two, or even three or more, hours, as I have expe-
rienced, and it generally ends in the fish getting away after
all, as I have also experienced. I once hooked a barbel on
single hair, and played him for three and a half hours,
&Qd, when I got him in, he only weighed 61b. ; hut he was
hooked in the back fin, and though I was much disap-
pointed in the size, it was almost equal to killing a fish of
double the weight hooked fairly ; and I count it the
greatest angling feat I ever did, as the stream was strong,
and at least half the struggle was carried on in the
darkness of a November evening, as the care required, and
the delicate handling of so large a fish, hooked foul (and
very badly so too), in a sharp stream, with a single horse-
hair, was by no means an easy matter to administer. My
arm was stiff for a day or two from the strain. This hap-
pened at Hampton Court, just below the weir, in 1846. I
could not do it now, I am sure, though I have landed
bream of the same weight in my own stream with single
hair ; but the fish are very different in their powers, the
stream is easy, and you stand well over your fish.

The clay ball already mentioned is also a capital method
of taking the barbel. When they are shy, and the water
is low and clear, a small triangle and a bunch of gentles
should be used. Barbel sometimes take the spinning
bait early in the spring at the weirs, when the angler is
spinning for trout, but it is not a recognised method of
fishing for them. Barbel run up to 161b. in weight, but

THE BAEBEL. 45

are not often taken over 111b. or 121b. The largest I ever
got was 121b., and that was with lampem bait, which they
are fond of in the Thames late in the season, when the
lampems are running. Ground-bait with the head and
entrails of the lampems, and fish with a bit of the fish about
gooseberry size. The ledger is best for this work. Barbel
are very capricious, at any rate in the Thames ; some years
they bite very badly, and only a very few decent takes are
made. Often they will not bite for weeks, and then they
come on well for a week, and numbers are taken every-
where. This more often than not happens after a moderate
flood, when the water is clearing. In the thicker water use
the ledger ; and as it clears try the traveller. A hundred-
weight and more is often taken in a good swim in a day,
and I have known 3cwt. or 4cwt. taken out of a good swim
in two or thi*ee days* fishing.

When you want to bait a barbel swim, first be sure that
the barbel are there. Then take care that no one sees you,
if possible ; and the best way to be sure of this is not to
bait in the evening, but just at daybreak ; chop up four or
five himdred lob worms, if you use worms, and either
inclose them in large balls of clay, or throw them in loose
well up stream of the swim you want to fish, so that they
may ground where you expect and wish. Repeat this again
next night, and a third if you think it desirable ; but when
you are going to fish bait sparingly with a hundred or two
only of worms, just to keep them about, but not to cram
them, and bait on this occasion the night before. Then
when you come to fish next morning — if no one else is
fishing your swim — pitch as gently as possible, throw in a
few fragments of worm, and commence. If you use
greaves or any other bait the same method must be
pursued.

46 ANGLING.

The barbel, though he is not given to make desperate
and quick rushes, like the salmon or trout, often makes a
longer and more stubborn resistance, and if he gets near
the boat will often double round the punt pole. An
angler with a good fish round a punt pole is an instructive
sight, and it not unfrequently causes him to utter naughty
words. They are poor eating, though the fishermen use
them by splitting them up, taking out the backbone, and
frying them. I have tried them, but they are watery,
bony beasts, and, unless you belong to a club or want to
show them, they are hardly worth bringing home. I
generally return all under 41b. unless I have someone to
give them to who wants them ; and I wish everybody did
the same, it would be better for sport. Barbel are a
widely distributed fish, and are found throughout the south
of Europe, in France, Spain, Germany, and Prussia, many
being in the rivers of the Crimea.

THE BREAM (Cyprtnus brama).

The French say that " he who has bream in his pond
may bid his friend welcome." I was sceptical on this for
a long time, having once tasted some that were by no
means desirable ; but since then I have tried them from a
gravelly reach of the Thames, and found them very
palatable, and no doubt with French cookery they might
be made very good indeed. The bream usually prefers a
deep hole or eddy to a stream, though occasionally they
are taken in both, and it is not imusual to take bream and
barbel in the same swim, and I have more than once seen
a bream and a barbel on two rods side by side at the same
time. They are fond of a deep hole under a shady tree.
In the Norfolk rivers and broads, which are the great

THE BEEAM. 47

head-quarters of bream, they abound in great profusion,
and the takes there are counted by the stone instead of
the pound. Though the bream in Norfolk rarely exceed
41b. in weight — while in the Thames they sometimes run
up to 61b., and in my little stream, the Crane, a tributary
of the Thames, I have often taken them of 61b. and larger
— ^in the Irish lakes, where they sometimes abound greatly,
bream have been taken up to 91b. The bream is a very
slimy fish, and often when hooked will bore head down-
wards, and rub the line with his side, so that it comes up
sometimes quite coated with slime for a foot above the
hook.

The same methods of fishing for bream as I have given
for barbel should be adopted, viz., by the ledger, the roach
float fishing, and the traveller float. The hook used should
be a size or so smaller than that used for barbel. On
the Thames they ground bait with worms and gentles, and
if you can get a large supply of brandlings they are far
the best even for ground bait, and for the hook nothing
beats brandlings. In Norfolk boiled barley or grains is
the favourite ground bait, but I do not think they would
be found insensible to the worm. Grains and barley, how-
ever, have the merit of being cheaper and much easier to
get. On the Thames, at any rate, the finer the tackle the
better it pays, as the bream there are often shy in biting.
They are also capricious, like the barbel, and may be
caught later than the barbel, an open week in mid- winter
often giving good sport with them, which it rarely does
with the barbel. I have caught them up to the second
week in April, when they began to get rough for the
spawning, as, indeed, do the roach nearly about the same
time, and both of these fish might well be taken till the
end of March — March being one of the best months in the

48 ANGLING.

year for both ; while the whole of June, when they, as well
as the barbel, have hardly ever quite done spawning, and
are never in condition, should be made a fence month in
the Thames for these fish. In quiet eddies or ponds, the
bream will sometimes raise the float when they bite,
instead of pulling it down. I think this is owing
yery much to the shape of the fish when it picks the
bait off the ground and resumes its natural position.

Bream make a smart run at the first start, and fight
boldly for a time ; but the shape of the fish is not cut out
for a very prolonged resistance, and as soon as he gets the
worst of it he turns on his side, making but a clumsy
wobble of it, and gives in. Much depends, however, on
the strength of the tackle ; strong tackle soon beats him,
but he will play very gamely for some time on light. I
&ncy that bream are rather a wandering fish, and that
they are apt to move about a good deal from spot to spot.
I have known them do so in my river, and also on the
Thames.

THE CARP {Gyprinus ca/rpio).

There are all sorts of suggestions as to how the carp
came to England ; but, like the birth of Topsy, there is an
obscurity about it, and I ** 'specs they grow'd," and didn't
come at all ; at any rate it does not much matter — what
does, nowadays, when, as the modem sage says, " There's
nothing new and nothing true, and it don't matter ? "
However, there the carp is — very often occupying water
that is fitter and would be more worthily and remunera-
tively occupied by his betters. Though how good a carp
could be made, we modems, I fancy, do not know, because
we do not attempt to treat them as our forefathers did;
and if we catch one out of a muddy pond, we proceed.

THE CAEP. 49

without further delay or preparation, to eat him, when we
are horrified at the fearful flavour of mud he gives forth.
Now, I cannot help doubting that a fish which can be so
pervaded with an outside flavour, like this, by association,
must be a very delicately organised fish, and should be
capable of a very different result. One thing is admitted,
viz., that 150 years or so ago carp fetched a higher price
than salmon.

Carp, when they grow to a large size, or are much fished
for, soon become very wary, particularly in ponds. I am
inclined to think that they bite much better in rivers ; and
in rivers with a gravelly bottom, like the Thames, they are
far better, even for the table. As they do not spawn till
about June, they are in season through March and April,
and therefore I have advocated the increase of them in the
Thames, as they would afford good sport when the
ordinary Thames fish are out of condition. To fish for
carp, the angler requires to be very quiet and unobtrusive,
particularly when they are in ponds. Carp grub for their
bait along the bottom, and if the angler keeps quiet and
out of sight, he may often see them within reach of his
rod, routing along in quiet and shallow water, with their
tails or back fins above water. I have often taken them
when thus occupied by softly casting my float and tackle
out a yard or two ahead of them, in the direction they are
travelling, and allowing the bait to He on the bottom, when
I have frequently managed to capture the rover. Carp
will take both worms and gentles well at times, but
farinaceous baits are more in favour with the carp fisher-
men of the present day; for if there happens to be a lot of
small roach, perch, or eels in the same pond — as there too
often is — these will, if worms or gentles be used for
ground bait, hasten to the spot and eat up most of it

E

50 ANGLING.

before the carp can find it out ; and, added to this, when
you begin to fish, the first miserable little eel or perch you
take will drive many of the best carp away ; and after you
have taken two or three, there will hardly be a carp left.

Carp will take a variety of baits, as worms, gentles,
wasp grubs, plain and sweet paste, boiled green peas, and
I>otatoes. The last is the best bait that can be used,
particularly with big carp ; it should be about three parts,
or rather more, boiled — rather a waxy sort being chosen —
and the best way of baiting with it is to use a small
triangle on a single thread of gut, with a small loop to the
other end of it, having a good big loop in the line to loop
it on to. Then take a baiting needle, and, hitching it on
to the loop of the triangle, draw the gut through the
middle of the potato and pull the triangle up so as just to
bury the hook points in the potato. Then cut the potato
round with a knife neatly till it is about the size of a good
sized gooseberry, and loop it on to the line — the big loop
allowing the bait and all to be passed through easily. The
best way of fishing this bait is with a very light ledger, a
small pistol bullet being quite heavy enough. The gut
should be fineish, but strong and sound, as a big carp is a
doughty antagonist, and his first rush is not to be sneezed
at. I have been broken in it many a time, when I have
been at all in difficulties ; and carp, as they often run up
to 101b. or 121b. weight, and even larger, and have very
powerful fins, want careful managing at first. They are,
too, pretty cunning, and will run you into a mass of weeds
if they can.

In fishing a pond in this fashion it is best to attach a
very light float to the line, above the pistol bullet, allowing
enough line to permit the bullet to rest easily on the
bottom, and the float to lie on the surface. It is as well.

THE CAEP. 51

if you have any plumbing of the depth to do, to do it the
night before fishing, so as not to disturb the bottom.
Two or three pieces of rush make an efficient float for this
purpose, a half hitch or two being taken at either end of
them ; and, as this is a very common object on ponds, it
does not challenge the observation that a brilliant red,
green, and white float does. Casting the bullet and bait
out to the required spot, draw the float and bullet gently
along a little, so as to tighten the line and to extend the
bait straight out along the bottom from the bullet. You
may then lay the rod down on a forked stick, as you will
easily see by the float any nibble, and have plenty of time
to recover the rod before the bite takes place.

Never strike while a carp only nibbles. Wait till he
drags the float steadily under, and appears to be going
away with it ; when, seeing all clear and in order about
the line and reel for a rush, you may hit him smartly, and
if he is a big one " look out for squalls " — as his mouth
is very tough and leathery, you may play him firmly.
Get him away as soon as possible from your pitch, so as
not to frighten the rest, and land him as far from the
pitch as you can. Then come back to the pitch, quietly
throw in a handful or two of ground bait, and follow up
with the hook as before, and probably in ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour, if the fish are well on, you may see
your rush float " niggle-niggling " again. The best
ground bait, of course, for this work is boiled potato. If
fishing a pond, always bait two, or even three spots, if you
can ; so that, when the fish are rather alarmed at one,
you can rest it and go to another — casting in a few hand-
fuls of bait before you leave, to draw them back again.
Always fish from the shore, too, if you can, as carp are shy
of a boat, and any motion of the water easily alarms them.

E 2

62 ANGLING.

In fishing with the ledger in a stream you would discard
the float, and fish as for barbel, by the feel. In this case,
when you feel a nibble, you must yield some inches of
line and wait for the tug that announces a bite. This is
held to be, by experienced carp fishers, the best and most
killing method of cai-p fishing, particularly for big fish.
The great thing is to let the bait and line rest on the
bottom for a foot or two. In this way the carp sees
neither the line nor the hook, as he cannot fail to do if he
is curious in float fishing when the depth is exactly
plumbed and the bait only just touches the bottom. I
have heard a haricot bean, or even a small broad bean well
boiled, spoken of as a capital bait, but I never tried it.
It seems, however, a very likely bait. I have no doubt,
too, that a lump of pearl barley, such as we use for roach,
would be a good bait, using half-a-dozen corns ; and it
would be a nice bait to ground bait with.

In float fishing use as light a float as you can, and have
the shots or sinker as far from the hook as you conveniently
can ; and here, too, if you can do it, I always find that if
4in. or 5iiL of the hook gut rests on the bottom it pays
best. A worm or other bait only just touching the bottom,
with a row of shot 6in. or Sin. above it, is very likely to
challenge the attention of the carp, who at once sees
something he is not accustomed to, and becomes sus-
picious. To show how different it is when the line rests
on the bottom, I once took a 71b. carp on an eel line with
a coarse string snood and worm bait. Carp always nibble
a good deal at the bait before they take it, and will often
nibble off the tail of the worm, or suck off your paste and
leave the hook showing without taking the hook at all. In
using past/e I prefer sweet paste, made up with honey or
brown sugar, to plain, and I have heard of paste made of

THE CARP. 53

pound cake being greatly affected by the carp. Poor old Bill
Kemp, now with the majority, a capital old carp fisher at
Teddington, used to put on a lump of this as big as a
large gooseberry, and fish it with ledger tackle ; and he
used to take a great many fine carp. He was a wily old
fellow, and many a good day's sport I had with him in
days gone by, but poor old Bill went the way of all
flesh, though he left many good fishermen of his own
name behind him, who still keep up their calling at
Teddington.

The rod used for this work should be about 12ft. or
13ft. long for pond fishing, light and stiff, with upright
rings somewhat like a Nottingham traveller rod, only a bit
stiffer. In punting use the same as for bream and light
barbelling ; the line, a fine dressed one, sound and strong,
to run easy and stand a good strain, and yet not be too
heavy in the water. The gut should have as much play
through the bullet as the longest strand of gut you can
get will give it, so that there should be no check against
the bullet when the carp is nibbling. I always like, if
possible, to bait a pitch or a swim for two or three nights
in succession before I go to fish it, so as to draw the fish
well on, as in ponds particularly it might take some time
l^fore the fish found the bait. If there is any shelter on
the bank, as a bush or tree, it is as well to take advantage
of it, as the carp is very quick-sighted. If there be nothing
of the kind, it will pay well to stick a hurdle up on end,
supporting it with a couple of sticks fixed in the ground.
You do not need to get behind it ; it is sufficient if you
have it behind you. The carp will soon get used to it ;
but be careful not to stump about or shake the bank at
all, or you will see some long waves going out into the
depths of the pond. In fact, you cannot be too quiet and

64 ANGLING.

unobtrusive with so wary a fish, for though you may at
times catch a few fish, particularly small ones, when dis-
regarding these precautions, in the long run you will find
it well to observe them.

The monks, who particularly cultivated the carp at
many of their monasteries, had regular succession ponds
for breeding and feeding them ; clear pure water, and
plenty of it, running over a sweet gravel bottom being the
last stage they went through before being tabled — bread
and milk and other farinaceous diet being used to fatten
and sweeten them. Carp can be rendered very tame, and
will take their food from the hands of their attendant in
time, being called by a bell, or whistle, or other signal.
They have a species of carp in Germany caUed the Spiegel,
or Mirror carp, which has a singular row of large brilliant
scales running along the side ; also the Leather carp, a fish
with small scales and very like a tench. They are both
said to be better table fish than the ordinary carp. In
this country the Prussian and the Crucian carp are often
found, though they are much inferior both for table and
angling purposes to their superior congeners. The gold
and silver fish are also carps. The carp has been taken
over 201b. in weight in this country, but half that weight
is a large one, and not so very common. Carp live to a
very great age.

THE TENCH {Gyprinns tinea).
The tench is often found in the same ponds and places
as the carp, and they thrive well together. They spawn
about a fortnight or three weeks later than the carp, as a
rule, and do not reach the same size. A tench of 41b. is a
large one, though I have seen plenty of 51b. or 61b., and
thev have been known to reach 81b. or 91b. ; but this is a

THE TENCH. 55

Tery unusual size ; a 21b. or 31b. fish is a very good fish.
They are even more capricious in their biting than the
•carp. August and September being, perhaps, the best
months for them. They prefer worms to any other bait,
though sometimes a bunch of gentles will be found to
tempt them ; a red worm, however, is their favourite bait,
and, with a No. 7 hook and a couple of red worms neatly
strung on, the angler should take tench if they are
inclined to feed at all. I remember formerly to have read
that it was a good plan to dip the red worm in tar, but I
cannot believe it, as tar is usually death to fish of all
kinds, and utterly abhorrent to them ; but the old writers
were fond of strange theories, many of which I have
proved to be utterly false. I once spoilt a capital day's
trouting by keeping my worms in fennel by the advice of
some old writer — perhaps he had our friend Greville in his
mind, and not the herb of that name — which did not
agree with the fish at all ; for they no sooner took it in
their mouths than they spat it out again in apparent
disgust, and I lost scores of good bites, till I had at last
to hunt for others in a pelting rain, when I did better —
bad as the substitute was.

The tackle for tench should be a light float, fineish gut,
and No. 7 hook. The rod and line should be similar to
those noted for carp fishing. Plumb the depth so that the
worm may just touch or rest on the bottom, and ground
bait with chopped worms and gentles, as the tench does
not affect farinaceous food. When the tench bites, like
the carp he nibbles a good deal before he takes, and will
often, after niggling the float up and down for a minute
or two, turn away from it, and even leave it altogether.
When he does this, I have often quickened his
appetite by drawing the worm slowly away from him.

56 ANGLING.

when, thinking he is going to lose it, he will often rush
at it and bolt it at once ; this would probably frighten the
carp, but it frequently has the opposite effect on the
tench ; when the float slowly sinks and streaks away
towards the middle of the pond, you may strike and do
your best. Tench are very fond of weeds, and will often
abound in small ponds which are quite full of them and
impossible to fish. In such cases I have often had good
sport by setting a man to work to rake away a clear space
of some twenty or thirty or more feet square ; bait this
well once or twice, and you may chance to get a good day's
sport in it ; and do not be in a hurry to leave off, for as
long as you can see your float the tench will keep on
biting, particularly on a warm, still evening — and often
better then than in the broad daylight.

Tench are very slimy fish, and wheTi cooked this slime
should be wiped or scraped ofif; but they are a much
better fish for the table in an r dinary way than carp,
being succulent and nourishing food. The old story of
the tench being gifted with medicinal properties is, of
course, pure nonsense, his slime not being an equivalent
for " parmacetti " for any wound " inward " or outward.
Both carp and tench a a remarkable for the long time they
can live out of the water, if only kept a little damp ; and
in cool weather they may be transported almost any
reasonable distance in damp moss. The stories of the
endurance of tench under these circumstances are endless.
I once carried one 160 miles in only a damp cloth, and he
was quite lively at the end of his journey. The golden
tench, or gold schley, a remarkable species of tench of a
bright yellow gold colour, was brought to this country
years ago by Mr. Higford Burr, of Aldermaston, and has
bred and thriven well with him, and may be seen in

THE PERCH. bT

many of our aquariums, where it is a conspicuous object.
Like the carp, tench abound in many of the ponds and
reservoirs round London, capital takes being often made
in the Welsh Harp waters by the frequenters of the place.
The largest I have seen are in Sir John Gibbons' s water,
near Staines, where they are plentiful and very large —
likewise shy.

THE PERCH {Perm fluviatilis).

The perch has been called a bold biting fish, and, as a
rule, I think he is; though there are times when a big
perch is anything but rash in his proceedings. When
full fed, towards the middle or end of summer, and king
of his favourite eddy, he will inspect with perfect caution
and care any bait that may be offered him; and though,
at the same time, if ^ou happen upon a warm comer, you
may haul out a dozeii^or two chubby fellows of three or
four to the pound, your^Siwo-pound perch exercises a nice
discrimination in the selection of his food ; and though
you may even see him chevying the minnows and small
fry about in all directions, yet, if you intrude yours in his
way, his taking it is anything but a certainty. Wait till
the winter, when there have been d6*ods and frosts, when
food has been short, and he, in common with fifty others,
is sharp set ; then truly you may come to terms with hira,.
and his biting will be as bold as you can deSire.

There are various ways of fishing for perch, viz., by the
paternoster, which is the best way ; by float ; by putting
live bait on a ledger, in which way I have taken many while
roaching or gudgeoning ; and by spinning a minnow or
spoon, which last way will be described hereafter more
particularly ; it is sufficient to say here that the bait is
put on to a tackle, and in such a way that it revolves

58 ANGLING.

rapidly when drawn through the water, and many perch
are thus taken by trailing with a long line behind the boat
when rowing slowly over a lake or against stream on a
river. As regards the paternoster, it consists of a plummet
or bullet at the end of about 5ft. or 6ft. of gut; just
above the plummet a hook is fixed on about 5in. or Gin. of
gut ; about lOin. or a foot above this is fixed another, on
6in. or 7in. of gut, and at a like distance above, if neces-
sary, a third. These hooks are about No. 4 or 5 in size
and short in the shank. The gut should be moderate, but
not too fine nor too coarse, but a shade or two finer than
the main line of the paternoster.

The paternosters sold at the shops, with big shots,
gutta-percha cylinders, and hogs' bristles, are simply
rubbish. The best way to make one is to take 2yds. of
gut, loop on your lead, then tie a loop on the gut about
3in. or 4in. above, into which loop your first hook, and
repeat the process as directed with the other hooks, and
the less lashing or whipping, shots or gutta-percha about
the tackle the better, as, though the perch is a bold- biting
fish, he is not quite a fool. Loop this on to the running
line, and hook a minnow, or small gudgeon, or any other
small fry, on to each hook, through the lip, and you are all
ready for action. Some people like a worm on the bottom
hook for a change ; it is not a bad plan, as it affords a
choice. K there are pike about, it is a good plan to sub-
stitute for the top hook a small triangle tied on gimp, and
to use a rather larger bait on it, hooked through the back
fin. In this way you will avoid losing your gut hooks and
often take good pike. When you fish, drop the plummet
into the water and let it find the bottom, and keep a tight
line, so as to feel the slightest bite. If no bite comes in

THE PEECH. 59

half a minute or so, draw the plummet gently to the
right or left about a yard ; fish the water within reach all
round you ; having finished that, swing the plummet a
yard or two further away from you, and fish that line
of water in the same manner, and so keep on casting
further and further until you have fished all the water you
want to, when go on to another spot.

In punting you do just the same — choosing the hkely
spots, of which the eddies are the best just off the edge of
the stream. When these are large, as on the Thames
after floods and frost, many perch will frequently be found
congregated ; the head or first turn or two of the eddy and
close to the stream will always be found the favourite spot,
as it is there that the food is first driven in from the
stream. When you have to make longer casts beyond the
command of the rod, you work the line back a foot at a
time until the plimimet is under the rod point once more,
when cast again — but not twice to the same spot, unless
you have a bite or a fish there, then stick to that spot as
long as the fish bite. It requires a good puntsman, who
is well up to his work, to manage his pimt properly and
manipulate the baits. The best plan is, if two anglers are
engaged, for them to stand side by side in the stern, each
bringing his fish round on his own side to the puntsman,
who lands them, takes them off, and rebaits. In this way,
with a friend, I have often taken a bushel of fine perch in
a day on the Upper Thames, in February. When you feel
a bite do not strike at the first touch, but when it is
repeated strike smartly, and take care you do not scratch
and lose your fish, as, if you do, you will too often find
that the story that a scratched perch frightens the rest is
no fable, and though it does not always hold good, it very

60 ANGLING.

often does ; and if you lose two or three it is pretty nearly
a certainty.

Where the water is not deep and is pretty clear, two
hooks will be enough; but in coloured water of six or
eight feet, I like three. Perch choose a quiet eddy, not a
wild one, and the big ones always rest nearest to the edge
of the stream, as the best feeding place, and a big perch
prefers a fat little gudgeon to a small minnow — he has an
eye for size when hungry. I like the bottom hook pretty
close to the bottom, as the bait always strikes up towards
the surface ; and if the hook is fixed high up, it will not
easily be seen by the perch which happen to be on the
bottom, and which are always the majority. You may
take hold of a few more weeds, but that cannot be helped.
The loss of a perch hook or two is not of much con-
sequence, and is nothing to the loss of a score or two of
perch. When gudgeon fishing, a paternoster laid out
beside the swim is often very effective. The gudgeon con-
gregate to feed on the larva and worms, and the perch
congregate to feed on the gudgeon, and, if you are on the
look-out, you will feed on the perch.

The next best method is to fish with a float and two
hooks, one near the bottom and one a foot higher, the
lower baited with worm, the upper with minnow; and
there are times, in the summer, when the fish are shy, that
they will take float tackle better than paternoster. There
is little to be told of this style : when the float bobs, which
it does usually smartly, give the fish time and you cannot
miss him ; a somewhat smaller hook does for float tackle,
as you give more time. In the summer the streams are
the best place for perch ; with the autumn they get into
the eddies, and near old locks and hatches. In lakes, the
shallow weedy-bottomed bays are the home of the perch.

THE PEECH. 61

Trailing is often the best plan here, but if you can find a
clear bottom the float or paternoster may do.

Perch take the spoon well, but they take the artificial
bait known as the otter better. This is a triangular bit
of metal, silvered on one side, copper on the other, and
revolving on a spindle. There are numbers of artificial
baits and minnows, but none better than this — I think it
even beats the minnow, as it both shows and spins better.
I have taken hundreds of perch in the Irish lakes with
them, and it beats the spoon two to one — at least, that is
my experience. Some people paint it red on one side
instead of copper, and attach a small bunch of gay feathers,
but I do not know that it much improves it. I have no
doubt, also, that Mr. Hearder's plano-convex spinner,
which is contrived on a somewhat similar principle, would
be an excellent perch lure, as it is for all kinds of other
fish that take spinning baits, both in fresh and salt
water.

Perch sometimes take a gentle, but worms and small
fish are their favourite food, and they will often take
an artificial fly, but, save, in one place, where it was often
used, I never knew it to be a recognised way of fishing for
them. Perch often abound so in ponds that they never
grow above half a pound weight, and few, perhaps, reach
that — overcrowding and want of food, no doubt, is the
reason. Perch occasionally reach three and four pounds
weight, and even bigger, but are not so very common of
that size ; a two-pound fish is a very handsome fish, and
not to be despised. There are plenty of that size in the
Thames. They have been known to reach eleven pounds
in this country ; but a five or six pound fish is decidedly
rare. The rod for patemostering should be about ten or
eleven feet long, with upright rings, pretty stiff and strong.

62 ANGLING.

as it often has heavy weights to stand. A friend of mine
on the Kennet once had three perch on his paternoster at
the same time. He estimated them at close on seven
pounds together; one got off, but he landed the other two.
The line, too, should be moderately strong — eight-plait
dressed silk.

THE PIKE. 63

CHAPTER V.

THE PIKE (Esox lucius.)

The pike has a widish range, being found all over Europe,
and having two or three representatives in America. In
this country we have all sorts of stories extant of the
enormous size at which they have been taken ; but some-
where about seventy pounds seems to be the outside that
we may take it has really been captured, and an angler
may count himself fortunate if in the course of his life
he ever get on equal terms with one half th^t size.
Twenty-pounds pike are now sufficiently common — much
more so than they were formerly ; but every pound above
twenty-five adds more and more to their rarity; while
thirty or over are by no means common. The Lillieshall
pike story has many of the elements of fable about it, and
all the elements of gross exaggeration ; while the Manheim
pike reached much of his length by supplementary verte-
brse which never belonged to him. Pike may be caught,
1st, by spinning ; 2ndly, by live bait ; 3rdly, by trolling —
these being the three chief ways of taking him. The
most sportsmanlike, as well as the most attractive and
lively, is undoubtedly by spinning.

The art of spinning consists of placing a fish bait on a
set of hooks in such a manner that when the bait is drawn
through the water it revolves rapidly, and to this end the

M ANGLma.

body is either bent, or the tail crooked, so as to give a son
of Archimedian screw principle to the whole apparatus.
The tackle used is of two parts — the trace or line to
facilitate the spinning, and the flight of hooks on which
the bait is to be hung. The trace consists of two lengths
(each about two feet long) of gimp, twisted gut, or single
>jut, with a swivel at either end, and one between the two
lengths. Just above the second swivel (from the bait) the
lead or sinker should be attached. This is sometimes a
chain of shot, &c., Ac., but there is nothing so good as a
pipe lead threaded on a bit of copper wire, as this can be
put on or taken off the trace at any moment, and heavier
or lighter lead substituted ; and if the lead be made rather
flat on one side, and pot-bellied on the other, as shown in
the lead appended to the tackle in Fig. 6, Plate 1, it will
prevent the tackle from twisting above the second swivel,
and so prevent hanking or snarling of the line, which is
sometimes veiy troublesome to the spinner.

The flight of hooks is a matter which has caused great
consideration. They must allow the bait to spin well, and
they must be placed so as to take the best hold of the
fish ; and they should be as little visible as possible to the
squeamish pike ; for pike often are mighty squeamish,
and will follow a bait for yards without taking it if they
see anything suspicious about it. Now, the old-fashioned
three-triangle tackle with a sliding lip and a reversed tail
hook is that which obtains the most general favour ; at
Plate 1, Pigs. 5 and 7, this may be seen plain and baited.
The tail triangle should be inserted in the middle of the
tail, the tail drawn up into a crook, and the reversed
hook inserted to keep it so. The next triangle should be
inserted somewhere under the end of the dorsal fin, and
the third at the shoulder ; two or three turns of the tackle

THE PIKE. 65

are taken round the shank of the sliding lip hook, so as
to bring it to the right place and prevent the hook from
slipping, and it is then hooked through the lips of the
bait (through the lower lip first), and the bait is armed.
The great object is to let all the hooks lie evenly, easily,
and in a line, for if the line in which they lie be crooked,
or the space between each hook and triangle be not justly
apportioned, the bait will not spin properly, and the hooks
must be re-adjusted till it does. If the young fisherman
can get half-an-hour's counsel from an old Thames punts-
man, he will learn more from seeing it done than he will
by reading about it to any extent.

At Plate 2, Figs. 1 and 2, will be seen plans of two other
tackles. No. 1 is Mr. Pennel's, and No. 2 is mine. The
method of baiting the last is shown at Fig. 3. I give the
preference by far to my own plan, as it spins a bait
admirably, particularly with small and moderate sized
baits ; and when once the bait does spin well it prevents
it from ever getting out of spinning, and it preserves the
bait for double or treble as long as any other tackle does,
and when baits are scarce that is no slight consideration.
I have fished a whole day for large Thames trout with two
baits, and they never got out of gear till they got a tug
from a fish. The tackle has this further advantage, that
it shows less than any other, and the chief triangle stands
out so well that it cannot easily miss the fish. For large
trout or moderate sized pike baits, to my mind, it is better
than any other. I once killed ten pike at Lord Craven's
with it, which averaged 131b. each, and I did not lose a
fish. When I need to use larger baits, I prefer Mr. Wood's
adaptation of the Chapman spinner, as more satisfactory
in every way. I shall refer to this presently. However,
everybody does not hold my opinion, so I have given plans

F

66 ANGLTNO.

of the other tackles. There are many other arrangements
of hooks, but these are much the best.*

The directions given for putting a bait on refer to fish
such as the dace, gudgeon, or any small fish of such like
rounded shape ; with a bleak or roach the method slightly
differs. The body of the fish must be set on the hooks,
not straight, with a mere crook to the tail, but in some-
thing of a bow like the outline of the bowl of a spoon.
(See Plate 2, Fig. 3.) The Nottingham spinners get a very
good spin out of a roach by means of only two good-sized
triangles and a lip hook. They hook the lowest into the
back, behind the dorsal fin, give the body a slight bend,
then hook the second into the shoulder of the bait, pass
the thread of gimp through the gills, and out of the
mouth, fix the lip hook, and the bait spins well.

Of all the artificial aids to spinning there is only one
which I think worth notice, and that is the Chapman
spinner; and until Mr. Wood devised his method of
arming it, which overcomes the objections to it, I had but
a small opinion of that. The Chapman spinner is a piece
of brass wire with a lead cast on to it, and a pair of
Archimedian fans at the head, and two sets of triangle
hooks hanging from either side, but in the original
Chapman these were fixed, as was the gimp with which it
was attached, to the trace. The wire and lead were thrust
down the throat and into the belly of the bait, the upper
hooked in either side. The result was that after some
little use the hooks worked loose, and the mouth of the
bait — originally close up to the fan of the apparatus —

* Mr. Wood has also brought out a new arrangement of
hooks, which he sets great store by as losing very few fish. It
is rather complicated, so I do not attempt to give a cut of it
here. It is an excellent tackle, however.

THE PIKE. 67

dropped away from it, and there was a gap between the
head of the bait and the f an ; and as the lead and wire
got play, the whole thing worked more and more loose,
and the spinning became affected, besides the fan being
half an inch or more apart from the head. Mr. Wood's
improvement was to make a loop of the gimp on which
the two sets of hooks were fastened, which slid through
the eye of the wire, as shown in Plate 2, Fig. 4 ; thus when
the spinner was baited, the loop sliding always kept the
mouth of the bait close to the fan. This is now a capital
method, as it preserves the baits wonderfully well, so that
you may often catch two or three fish with one bait. All
you have to do is to graduate your fans to the size of your
bait, increasing the size of them as you use a larger bait.
T also flatten the lead and widen it as much as as I can to
prevent any turning round in the belly of the bait.

Having now described the tackle and the method of
baiting it, I proceed to the rod and line, and then to the
modtis operandi. The rod used by the London fishers,
who are perhaps the best pike fishers in the world, is a rod
about 12ft. or 13ft. long (though of late years they have
taken to using a shorter one than that), pretty stout but
springy, being capable of standing plenty of wear and
tear, and a good pull, with upright rings to let the line
pass easily and tops of two stiffnesses and lengths, one to
take heavier baits and larger fish, and, therefore, shorter
and stiffer than the other, which is for ordinary work.
Many anglers like these rods to be made of strong bamboo,
as being somewhat lighter in a long day's work ; I, how-
ever, much prefer solid wood, either of hickory or green-
heart, as the weight, not falling on any one set of muscles,
and being a good deal thrown on the thigh or hip while
spinning, is of no consequence : while, I think, solid wood

P 2

68 ANGLING.

stands long and heavy work better than bamboo, and if
you chance upon a heavy fish of from 121b. to 201b., or
even more (as one may sometimes), you feel more at home
and more safe with him. I think, too, that a solid rod, if
properly made, has a better spring and casts a better bait
than cane. The rod should have a large button on the
end of the butt to rest against the hip comfortably ; those
of rubber are best, as they do not slip. The line should be
of eight-plait dressed silk, not too coarse or thick, as it
does not run so freely through the rings, and not too fine,
or it will not stand the work, and is apt pot only to wear
out speedily but to tangle and kink when it gets wet.
This kinking in pike spinning is sometimes a great
nuisance. It comes from the swivels not working properly,
and the spinning being continued up the running line;
and the best way to prevent it is to have most of your
swivels helow the lead, and to use a Field lead, the balance
of which, being all on one side, prevents all the line above
it from turning round or spinning. Always after using
your lines — and this applies to all lines — before putting
them away, unreel them and wind them round the back
of a chair to dry thoroughly, or they will very soon rot.
In choosing a line pick out one that is not too hard in the
dressing, or you may find the dressing crack at intervals
in using, and your line become a sort of chain, in links as
it were, with soft places every foot or two. Neither should
it be damp or sticky, or in a very short time you will find
the dressing wear off. Choose one that feels dry and firm
in the grasp, but not wiry, and always give it a trial by a
strongish tug before purchasing, as these dressed lines,
owing to some bad material either in the substance or the
dressing, are not unfrequently rendered utterly rotten by
the dressing. Some people when they have worn off the

THE PIKE. 69

dressing have their lines re-dressed, but they are very
seldom worth it. Choose a line about 50yds. or 60yds.
long, so that when one end begins to wear you can turn
it end for end and use the other. When both are worn,
if the line has been a good one and has been fairly treated,
it does not owe you much, and you had better, for your
own comfort and satisfaction, buy another ; a winch with
a light check action is the best. Many people nowadays
prefer to cast from the reel in the Nottingham style. To
those who do I have nothing to say. It has some
advantages, but I do not think you can cast as long a line
with it, as of course there must be more friction.

We now come to the modus operandi. Having run your
line through the rings, fastened on the trace and hooks
and baited the latter, raise the rod with the butt resting
against your thigh or hip, the bait hanging down to about
half the length of the rod. Di*aw off the reel as much
line as you think you can cast, and let it lie at your feet
(usually on the left side) in loose coils, but so that there
may be no catch or tangle. Then holding the line to the
rod, with the right hand above the reel and grasping the
rod with the left below the reel, wave the rod backwards
to give the bait a swing, and having done so reverse the
motion and wave it forwards more smartly, giving it a
heave at the same time towards the point you want your
bait to reach, and release the line held tight to the rod by
the right hand at the same moment. The bait will fly
towards the spot you aim at, carrying the line which was
on the ground beside you out through the rings to its
fullest extent, and, if you have managed it properly, will
fall into the water with a slight splash twenty, thirty, or
forty yards away ; then giving the bait a moment or two
to sink, according to the depth of the water you are fishing,

70 ANGLING.

lower the point of the rod till it is about parallel with the
surface of the water. The butt of the rod should be rested
on the hip or thigh, and then with the left hand draw the
line home through the rings about a yard at a time, and
let it fall at your side, raising and plying the rod at every
pull to make the bait shoot and dart in the water ; and if
this be done properly it should come spinning and darting
along in a way very attractive to the pike, who, if inclined
to feed, will often dash at it and single it out among a
crowd of baits. When the pike seizes it, you will feel a
check or a drag, more or less pronounced, at the rod top.
Strike directly and smartly, and then hold him hard for a
minute or two if you can, so as to be sure the hooks work
home over the barbs ; for a pike's mouth is very hard and
gristly, and if two or three hooks chance to stick in, it
requires much force to make them penetrate over the
barbs ; and if they do not so penetrate, the first time the
pike opens his mouth and shakes his head, away come the
hooks and you lose your fish. When this happens cast
again directly without losing a second if your bait is still
on, no matter whether it spins or no, and it is not more
than about three to one that he will not seize it again
directly. K, however, you give him time while you are
adjusting the bait, Ac, reflection will probably make
him wary.

There are all sorts of theories as regards striking, but
none of them are infallible, and none can always be carried
out so as to have the desired effect. The alteration in the
position of the fish makes all the difference, and, as there
are about fifteen or twenty various points of the compass
whence a fish may come at the bait, and every one alters
the position, and consequently the result of the strike,
perhaps one way is as good as another; so strike as is

THE PIKE. 71

most convenient to yourself, strike hard, and hold on, and
with all that and every improvement in tackle, nothing
will prevent you losing fish at times. If fish are taking
well, the hooks are large, and the tackle sound, and you
hit 'em hard, you will lose very few ; if the reverse obtains
you may lose a good many.

As to how to play him, do your best, hang on to
him, and give no line unless you can't help it ; a slack
line is the abomination of desolation, and usually pro-
duces desolation. Beyond all, if you can, keep your
fish deep in the water, and as far as you are able —
and that is not very far — don't have any of that ill-
judged tumbling or shaking on the top of the water.
When a pike grins and flies and barks at you, like Mr.
Briggs's, on the surface, it is dangerous ; drop the rod
point and drown the line as much as you can, and don't,
whatever you do, pull at him ; let him have his head free,
or it is about ten to one you pull the hooks out with his
assistance. The shakers are the worst sect among pike, and
the jumpers are next ; particularly big ones will often go
to weed. They rush head first into a bank as big as a
horse or perhaps an elephant, and grip fast hold of a big
bunch with their teeth, and leave you to pull at the weed.
It is about a hundred to one here that they do you. All
the best pike I ever hooked, say a dozen perhaps, got off
in that way.* I imagine that with the help of the weed
they chew the hooks into it, and out of thenif for you
always find weed on the hooks after one of these feats,

* Except one, and that was a thirty-pounder, lost by the
blundering and fright combined of the boatman, after he was
dead beat and lying along the side of the boat, perfectly supine.
Ay di me ! That was a moment when my language was ornate
and varied, I fear.

72 ANGLING.

showing that they have had it in their mouths. " What
are tou to do in such a case ? " Well, as I couldn't tell
then, I can't tell now ; if a twenty-five or thirty pound pike
wiU go into weed you may break your rod over him, or your
line, or both ; but you won't prevent him. In fact, there
is no *' statute in that case made or provided," and as the
Yankees say, " you must just do your darndest, I
calc'late ; " whatever that may be.

Be careful in landing your fish; get him in the net
as soon as you can, but do it carefully and cleanly,
no bungling or dashing, but a big steady scoop and
a lift up, and take care he does not jump out or tumble
out and leave the hooks in the net. I had that happen
once to an eight-pound fish, and my poor old friend
Frank Matthews, the actor, caught the same fish a
quarter of an hour after, and his head is grinning at me
now from the opposite wall in tnemoriam, and that was
thirty -two years ago. Dear me! My phiz has altered more
than yours, I expect, old acquaintance, for I can't get
Coopered* like you were.

When you land your fish, unless you want to put
him in the well or keep him alive, knock him on the
head at once before he tangles your tackle into twenty
heaps in the net, or breaks it in his floimces. Then ex-
tract the hooks carefully, and mind your fingers. A pair
of stout tweezers and Rolfe's pike gag are useful here ; in
default of the latter, stick a bung in his mouth to keep it
safely open during the extraction. A disgorger (see
Plate 2, Fig. 5) to push out the hooks is also useful. Look
the tackle over very carefully to see that there are no breaks

* AUnding to my old acquaintance, Mr. Cooper, the fish
stnfFer, who " set him up " — now, alas ! gone from amongst us,
but eucceeded worthily by his son. — ^F. F.

THE PIKE. 73

or injury, and then re-bait, and at it again. Take 'em while
they're in the humour, as that doesn't happen all day
long with pike, but often only for an hour or so, when all
your work must be done. In the chief season for pike
fishing, viz., from November to February, inclusive, the
best time runs from eleven to three in the day. You may,
of course, catch fish before and after that, but that is when
the cream rises, so mind you skim it carefully. In spinning,
fish the water nearest to you first, and then lengthen the
casts, and having fished over all the water within reach,
move on.

The rate at which you spin will be a good deal
determined by the depth of the water. In deeper water
you must spin more slowly than in shallow, so as to give
the fish more time both to see and to secure the bait ; and
the lead, of course, must be suited to the depth of the
water. It will often happen that you have water to fish
over where the weeds often approach very near the surface,
and when, consequently, you need to spin as near it as
possible over the top of the weeds. In this event, of course,
you use no lead at all, the weight of the bait and line
being quite enough : and you must also get the draw on
the line as soon as possible, before even the bait makes to
the weeds, or you will certainly have to make a fresh cast.
Pike — big pike, especially — only feed at intervals of a day
or two, or even longer, when they take a big meal, and then,
like boa-constrictors, take time to digest it ; the angler
should remember this ; it may sometimes save him from
disappointment when going for some special " big *un."

All sorts of artificial spinning baits are used for pike.
Spoons, otters, phantoms, gutta-percha fish of all sorts,
glass baits, plano-convexes, and kill-devils: their name
is legion. A good-sized spoon is often as good as any.

74 ANGLING.

All or any of them may be had at most of the fishing-
tackle makers, and the angler can take his choice. After
spinning, the next method of taking pike is that called
trolling, with a dead gorge bait. The dead gorge hook is
composed of a piece of twisted brass wire, with an eye at
one end and a pair of hooks at the other ; and from the
hooks to some distance up the wire there is cast on to the
apparatus a long plummet of lead (see Plate 2, Fig. 7). To
the eye of the wire is fastened ten inches or so of gimp.
When this hook is to be baited, a baiting needle is used
(Fig. 6), the loop of the gimp l)eing slipped into the eye
of the needle, as shown in the cut. A gudgeon, dace, or
other small fish, suitable to the size of the hook, is then
selected, the point of the needle inserted into the mouth of
the bait, passed down along the backbone of the fish, and
out at the tail. The gimp is then pulled through, the
apparatus following it until the lead is buried in the body
of the bait, the hooks remaining outside on either side of
the mouth. The tail is then lashed round with a piece of
thread so as to secure it from slipping down (Plate 2,
Fig. 8), the needle is then disengaged, and the bait looped
on to the trace, which is usually about a yard of gimp,
with one biggish swivel attached. The trace having been
previously knotted to the reel or running line, all is now
ready for action, the same rod and line as is used for
spiuning sufficing.

This tackle is more often used in weedy places than not,
as it does not catch in the weeds like a spinning tackle.
Drop the bait into the water to the full extent of the rod,
letting it go almost to the bottom, which it will do with a
shoot, then pull it up with short irregular jerks to the
surface, making it rise and fall, and shoot hither and
thither, which it will do ; and having fished all the water

THE PIKE. 75

within reach, pitch it a yard or two further out, and so on
till you have tested thoroughly all the water within your
reach. When you get a bite — you will feel a sudden
snatch — drop the line and the point of the rod instantly^
and let the fish do what he pleases and go where he likes
with the bait, giving out line freely to him, for if you
check him he will probably spit out the bait and you will
lose your run. When the fish has taken the bait he will
require from seven to eight minutes to swallow or pouch
it, and you must let him have that space of time accord-
ingly as you think him large or small, as the large one
will probably get your bait down sooner than a small one,
but you must beware of striking too soon ; one thing is
sure, that if you do not at first you will soon learn to by
losing your fish. When the time is up raise your rod
point' smartly and hold on as well as you can, as being
probably in the midst of a lot of weeds the less line you
give the better.

Sometimes when a fish takes he will not go two yards
from the spot, but will lie still and pouch at his ease ;
sometimes, however, he will go away twenty yards or
more, and in the midst of pouching even will move off
again, hauling your line through masses of weeds, which
is not pleasant, but has to be endured. Then you must
do your best not to check him, nor if you can help it to
get entangled in the weeds. No advice can be given on
this head. You must just do the best you can, and be
guided by circumstances. If after the fish has been only
five or six minutes pouching he begins to move off, he has
probably already swallowed the bait and you may chance
striking him if you like to risk it, and often will land your
fish ; but now and then you will lose him, which, when he
moves like that, you may aiblins do whether you strike or

76 ANGLING.

no. The most aggravating part of the process is when
you have waited patiently for the regulation ten minutes
— «very minute seeming ten at least — to strike and find
that your fish has left you probably some eight minutes
and a half or so. Indeed the waiting is a great trial, and
it ia not a method of pike fishing I hanker after, though
in very weedy places it is not only the best but often the
only method possible. The worst of it is that you must
kill all the fish you hook whether they are big or little ;
and you often thus are obliged to kill small undersized fish,
which is very objectionable.

The last method of pike fishing, and perhaps the most
killing of all, is angling with the live bait. This may be
done with the paternoster, as already described. For this
one or at most two hooks are held to be sufficient. The
lowest hook should be about a foot above the plummet,
and the upper according to the depth of the water, from
one foot to eighteen inches above it. Some persons use a
stoutish single hook for this purpose, a size or so larger
than that used for perch, and of course tied on gimp, the
trace or tackle to which the hooks are fastened being of
three-ply twisted gut or gimp. I like the former, as being
less visible. As regards the hooks, however, instead of
single hooks I prefer moderate-sized triangles, as, the
pike's mouth being rough and gristly, one hook is apt to
give out where two hold firmly.

One of the best double triangle tackles for live baiting,
whether with paternoster or float, is that invented by
Mr. Alfred Jardine, one of our most successful pike
fishers. He uses two triangles, one to fix on the lip,
and the other in the dorsal fin. These triangles are
composed of two large hooks, and one small one, the
small one projecting about half way down the shanks

THE PIKE. 17

of tLe others. The small ones are used for hooking'
the bait on, and Mr. Jardine says that they interfere
less with the motions of the bait, and keep him alive
longer than any other. In float fishing he puts the upper
triangle in at the lip, and the lower or end one in at the
dorsal fin. In paternostering he reverses them, and puts
the upper triangle through the root of the dorsal fin,
and the end one through the root of the pectoral fin.
There is a space of nearly two inches of gimp bare between
the triangles. This does for moderate-sized baits. The
bait should be either a small gudgeon, roach, or dace.
They must not be too large, as the object is to get the pike
to take as much of the bait into his mouth at a gulp a&
possible. In small baits with single hooks or triangles it
is best to hook them on through the lip, as they live longer
and are more lively so ; but in baits a size or do larger
you should hook them on through the root of the back fin.

The method of using a paternoster for pike is just the
same as that used in perch fishing, only it is best
when you get a bite to give the pike a little more time
before striking if possible ; and when you do strike him
take care never to slacken line more than you can help.
When pike come into your swim while barbel or roach fish-
ing, you may often put a bait on the ledger hook with
effect; but it is as well to put a gimp hook on before
doing so.

The most common method of fishing with the live
bait, however, is to use a float and a single bait. This
float should be a big-bellied one, made of cork, and
shaped like an q^'^. They are made from the size of a
bantam's egg for small baits up to a common hen's egg
for large ones, and the tackle must be leaded sufficiently
to keep the bait down into the water ; and, to prevent its.

78 ANGLING.

coming up to the top, a small pistol bullet generally
suffices for this purpose, or an ordinary spinning lead,
equal to the work, is better still, as less liable to catch in
weeds ; this being threaded on the tackle about a foot
above the bait, is either plugged or compressed at the
ends, 80 as to secure it on the line, and keep it in its place.
If painted green it is less remarkable in clear water. The
tackle used is either that known as live snap tackle or live
gorge tackle. The first is arranged so that the hooks may
hang beside and about the middle of the belly of the bait,
so that when the pike seizes the bait — which he usually
does crosswise — the head and tail of the bait lying to
either aide of his jaws, the belly and the attendant hooks
are inside his mouth, and you can then strike at once as
Boon as your float goes well down without further delay,
and about seyen times in ten you will hook your fish.
In the other three it will mostly happen that the hooks
are outside his mouth, or that in seizing them he has so
disarranged them that they do not take a fair hold.

There are various snap tackles. The best of them is
Mr. Jardine's, already described. The best single triangle
snap tackle is shown in Figs. I and 2, Plate 3, the tackle
is shown unbaited and baited. In this one the single hook
is fixed, but some persons prefer a single hook that slides
on a single eye like the lip hook in spinning tackle. The
distance, then, being judged, two or three turns of the
gimp are made round the shank to fix it. The hook is put
through the lips of the bait, and the triangle is hitched up
with a slight hold behind the dorsal fin. This method is
thought to keep the bait alive longer. Those who prefer
it can adopt it ; but if the fish wiU take the snap tackle at
aill I find the other quite effective enough. All that you
want to bear in mind is not to use any more roughness, nor

THE PIKE. 79

to make longer throws, than is necessary, so that the bait
may not be knocked about too much.

In the Thames, and other waters like it, where the fish
are much fished for, they get oftentimes veiT shy, and the
appearance of so many large hooks about the bait will
often deter pike from taking it — in this case the method of
fishing with live gorge tackle is employed. I give illustra-
tions at Fig. 3, Plate 3, of this tackle, baited and unbaited.
To bait it you take a baiting needle, and slipping the loop
of the gimp into the eye, insert the point of the needle
into the skin at the shoulder, and, pushing the needle
along under the skin, bring it out near the tail ; and then
drawing the gimp down until the pair of hooks are
arrested by the skin, take off the needle and loop the gimp
on to the trace. With this tackle you can make longer
throws without losing your bait than you can with the snap
hooks. When your float goes down you must give the
pike time to pouch ; and wherever he goes you must let
off line so as not to check him in his run in the least, or
he will leave the bait. Indeed he will often do so whether
checked or no, and not unfrequently with snap tackle will
cut the bait off, and leave your hook or line fast in a weed,
which is trying to the feelings. When he has pouched,
which will be in from five to eight or ten minutes, strike,
and get out your fish as well as you can.

I confess that I am not much enamoured of this style of
fishing and seldom adopt it, as the hooks are always down
the fish's throat when you hook him, and you must kill
every fish you hook, and many pound and pound and a half
fish fall victims to it, which caught on snap tackle you
would return to the water. Still it is a method largely
adopted, particularly on the Thames, and I am compelled
to notice it.

80 ANGLING.

The trace for live baitiDg should be either of gimp or
treble gut, and should have a swivel at each end of the
tackle. The lower one, to which the hook link is
appended, should be a hook swivel, so that the loop may
easily be taken off or put on. On therunning or reel line,
about a yard or so above the float should be fastened a bit
of cork to prevent the line from sinking and entangling
with the tackle or bait. The float should be set so that
the bait may be a foot or two from the bottom. Of course
the presence or absence of weeds will in some measure
regulate this matter. In live baiting it is very desirable
that your bait should be lively and work well ; when it
gets dull and dead in its motions take it off and put on
another. If it be a dace or gudgeon kill it, and lay it
aside for spinning, for which it will do as well as the best.

When fish cannot be got for bait, frogs and other things
are sometimes used. To bait a frog you want a largeish
long-shanked hook, and, putting the hook through the
under lip, draw it down till the bend reaches the hind leg,
when tie the bend on to the frog's thigh with a bit of silk.

Artificial frogs, mice, rats, &c., are sometimes used in
default of better baits. The head and tail of an eel, too,
is used in some places for a rough method of spinning,
but no one would use these means who could procure fish ;
even the artificial fly is sometimes employed for pike,
though perhaps an artificial bird would be the proper
name — a huge two hooked thing, with the eyes of a pair
of peacock feathers for wings, and a big fur body well
tinselled, is the proper lure ; and when the fish will take
it fairly it is by no means an unpleasant method of fishing.
Cast it and work it like a salmon fly, of which more
anon.

TEOUT FISHINa WITH BAIT. 81

CHAPTEE VI.

TROUT FISHING WITH BAIT.

THE TEOUT (Salmo fario).

The trout is very widely distributed, Africa being the only
quarter of the globe where it is not found, and as a fish
for table or for sporting purposes it is second only to the
salmon. Indeed, it is a question whether on the whole,
taking into consideration the means employed, the trout
does not furnish as much or more sport than the salmon ;
if nicety and skill are any measure of sport it certainly
furnishes far more.

Every means yet named of fishing for other fish can be
employed against the trout — bottom fishing with bait of
all kinds; middle fishing, both with spinning and live
bait ; and surface fishing, both with natural and artificial
fly. In bait fishing, the worm, of course, takes the chief
place, and there are two ways of worm fishing, one by
dropping the worm into the stream, and letting it travel
along the bottom while you follow it ; the other by casting
up and letting the bait come down towards you. The first
method is more generally adopted in thick water after
rain. The tackle used is generally a yard or so of gut —
a No. 4, 5, or 6 round bend hook, with a No. 2 shot, about
a foot above the hook, to be increased to two if the stream
requires it. The worm used in this fishing is usually a
small lob or dew worm — being nice and tough it stands

G

82 ANGLING.

some knocking about, and, having to travel along the
bottom and meet all sorts of obstruction, it requires that
the worm should be big enough to thoroughly cover all
the hook, and to leave a bit of the tail beyond the point.
The angler, in a large stream, has nothing to do after
baiting his tackle but to drop it into the stream he has
selected, to let it find the bottom, and travel along by the
weight of the stream unchecked. If the line stops
suddenly, or he feels a slight pluck at the line, he probably
has a bite. He must not strike directly, or the trout,
having only just seized the worm, will not have the point
of the hook within his mouth, and the strike would be
abortive ; but give him a little line, and let him have a
gulp or two, and you can then strike smartly. If at the
bite you feel a smart " tug, tug," at the rod point, in all
probability the fish will feel it too, and will drop the worm,
and will not come again.

If the fish are capricious, you will probably lose a good
many bites in a day ; for this kind of fishing is by no
means the certainty that some people who know nothing
about it consider it to be, and you lose as many or more
fish in bites at the worm than you do in rises at the fly.
When you have had a bite and missed your fish, you will
probably have to put on a fresh worm, as the bait will be
more or less torn, which trout do not much like, a fresh
lively bait always having the call over a stale one. Some-
times when the line stops it has taken hold of a twig or
root ; in that case, if you strike, you will probably get so
fast hold that a breakage will be needed. The slightest
tightness of the line will tell you at once whether it is a
fish or no, but this "feeling" a fish is a very delicate
ticklish operation, and the fish is very apt to reject the
bait when he feels there is something attached to it.

TROUT FISHHSra with bait. 83

This style of fishing is much practised in small brooks,
and you may often pull out lots of little speckled fellows
from brooks not a yard wide in places ; the small pools
caused by falls and rapids being certain finds, and it
requires a good deal of skill to guide the line under
banks, and past stones, and close by every sheltering
tussock, bush, or fern, where a trout may make his home ;
and to my mind it is a very pretty amusement, which does
not require much preparation or tackle — and a scramble up
a mountain beck after a day's rain is frequently a most
delightful expedition. The most deadly way perhaps of
worm fishing is that pursued with the Stewart tackle — so
called because it was first written about by my late
lamented friend the author of " The Practical Angler,"
who was in his day one of the best all-round trout fishers
in Scotland. Instead of one hook of a larger size, you use
three small ones, tied on at short intervals above one
another. I append a 'sketch of the tackle. Fig. 4, Plate 3 ;
the sketch will relieve me of any necessity for explaining
the method of baiting, the head of the worm is stuck on
the top hook, and a turn being taken round each hook,
the tail comes on to the lowest ; the size of the worm
must be suited to the hooks. In fine work, a good sized
brandling suffices. The advantage of this tackle is that
you can strike the instant the fish seizes the bait, and you
rarely miss your fish.

In fishing up stream with worm, which is by far the
most skilful and killing method, you more often than not
are obliged to wade. The tackle used in clear water is of
the finest ; a long light rod, a very little stiff er than a
two-handed fly rod for trout, is useful. The hooks may
either be Stewart's tackle, or a moderate sized single round
bend. The brandling is the worm more generally used.

o 2

84 ANGLING.

Ton enter the stream, making as little disturbance as
possible, and, letting out as much line as you can con-
veniently cast, throw the bait as you would a fly, straight
up stream, and let it travel down towards you, raising the
point of the rod so as to feel the line as it comes home.
When the bait has come within reasonable distance, pull
it out with a smart, steady drag (no jerking) over your
shoulder, as you would a fly, only make the sweep behind
less direct and more circular, so as to avoid damaging the
worm by flicking or sudden checking of it. A good worm
fisher can thus cast about twice the length of his rod, and
his worm usually touches the surface of the water behind
him at nearly every cast. It is not easy to get well into
this cast so as to avoid damage to the bait; when once it
is learnt, however, it is simple enough ; but, whenever you
see the line stop in its downward course towards you, you
must strike, as the bait is often taken in this kind of
fishing while still in mid water. If you have to wade,
make as little splash or wave as possible, taking a step at
every cast, and pitching the bait up into every run and
channel that seems likely to hold a trout. Very large
bags are often made in this way of fishing. As to whether
worm fishing, or for the matter of that any other kind of
fishing, is sportsmanlike or not, I don't enter upon it,^as
these things are governed chiefly by feeling, and the
custom of the country, and there is a time-honoured old
motto, which says, " What is one man's meat is another
man's poison." So much for worm fishing.

Beetlb, cbab, or cbeepeb fishino is conducted in
precisely the same way as this last. The crab or creeper
is the larva of the stone fly, and is found in many sandy,
gravelly rivers, up to about the middle of May. Having
collected a sufficient stock of them for your fishing, put

TEOUT FISHING WITH BAIT. 85

them in a tin box with wet weeds to keep them moist. I
generally use a fragment of bristle on the shank of the
hook, leaving a quarter of an inch or so pointing upwards
and outwards a little, so that when the creeper (which is
very soft and easily damaged) is drawn up on to the
shank of the hook, it prevents it from slipping down on to
the bend, and keeps it in its place. Use a 7 or 8 hook
on fine gut, put the point in at the thorax, and bring it
out at the tail, draw the creeper upon the shank, which
should be just long enough down to the bend to hold it.
Use one or two shot on the line as the streams may require,
and cast and work it just as you would a worm casting up
stream. It is a troublesome bait to fish, it being so often
necessary to renew it, owing to its softness, but it is very
deadly at times. Always strike when the line stops, no
matter what causes it, your bait will be spoilt, so you may
as well take the benefit of the doubt. The moderate
streams are best for the creeper, and even pools ought not
to be neglected. In every other respect what has been
said of worm fishing applies here.

DiBBiNG or DAPiNG (called also shade pishing) for
trout resembles the same operation for chub, only you run
more on flies than you do on insects, beetles, &c., for bait.
A big fat greendrake or a couple of big alders, or even
bluebottles being selected in preference — the hook being
smaller. The method is precisely the same as is given for
chub. It is a very deadly way of fishing when pursued
skilfully, many big fish which cannot be got at in any
other way being captured by it. It is needless to say that
the angler must approach the bank with every possible
caution, and when he hooks his fish he will often have to
hang on to him, as his whereabouts will probably be rooty.
Often, too, he will not be able to see the rise at his flies,

86 ANGLING.

but will have to trust to his ear or to the sight of some
slight dimple on the water caused by the rise or the
slightest motion of the line — for it need hardly be
remarked that if the angler can see the rise of the trout
the trout can see him.

Eddt fishing, with a small quill float and a wasp
grub, or a couple of gentles, caddis, or meal worm, or any
other grub, is often practised with great success when the
water is thick, a few fragments of bait being now and then
cast in to attract the fish.

SiNKiNQ AND DRAWING, by tying a pair of wings on the
head of a hook, baiting the hook with a gentle or a caddis
or two or some other grub, biting a shot on the line, and then
casting it like a fly up stream, and raising and falling the
point of the rod as the bait comes down, so as to make it
rise and fall in the water, is another deadly method of
fishing. I never practice any of these methods myself,
for I think the trout deserves fairer treatment, but as
others do, and think no scorn of it, I am bound at the
least to mention them, though I do not enter at length on
them. Lastly comes

Spinning fob teout. — Pursued in large rivers like the
Thames the method followed differs very little from that
practised in pike fishing, save that you use a smaller and
lighter tackle, employ gut instead of gimp, and fish the
sharp turbulent streams instead of the dead reaches or
quiet eddies. In the days when trout fishing was worth
following in the Thames, it was a pretty sight to see an
adept spin a weir — how, standing on the weir beam, with
a fierce stream, ready to swallow him up at the least false
step, at his feet, with scarcely an effort he pitched his bait
hither and thither, and worked it by some twist of the
wrist and knowledge of the eddies into and out of every

TEOUT FISHING WITH BAIT. 87

hole and comer likely to hold a trout, gathering up the
line like a weaver working his shuttle with one hand, and
working the rod with the other ; it was almost as masterly
a performance, when contrasted with the splashings and
dashings of the ordinary bungler, as one could well see in
all the range of angling. But though the Thames will
always be the head school for learning the art of spinning,
I doubt if the present generation come up in point of
neatness and skill to the old masters — The Tags, the
Wisdoms, the Purdeys, and Eosewells, now, alas! have
passed away.

The greatest requisite for success in Thames trout
fishing is everlasting and unswerving patience, combined
with a smartish turn of luck — and, unfortunately, the
latter will often beat the former out of the field. How
often have I seen a Thames trout of which I knew every
spot and scale, with whom I had the most intimate
acquaintance, and whose society I had cultivated for
months with the nicest and most insidious art, go and
throw himself away on some coarse jack fisher with a
gimp hook and a 6in. gudgeon. Some chance barbeller
coming in for a rechauffe of someone else's sport ; or some
poaching brat with a foul unscoured worm, a whipcord
line, and a float like a peg top, who never saw him before
in their lives. No ; I cannot say that I am now at all
given to Thames trout fishing. I worked at it hard for
years ; few professionals could do the trick more neatly,
yet my fortune was filthy. I got worn out upon it. Now
I never go out for Thames trout. The game is not worth
the candle. Perseverance, and patience, and luck, then,
are the best ingredients, but it is also good to have the
first go over them in the morning before the boats and
punts are on the move, and many a good trout has been

88 ANGLING.

taken when the sun begins to air the water. If you hook
a trout keep a hold on him, but don't be too rough;
remember that the stream is sharp, the fish heavy, and the
hooks (mostly) small ; and beware of pulling at him when
he is head to you down stream, as that is how six trout
in ten are lost. If you are fishing in open water keep
below him if you can. If you are fishing a weir, always,
if possible, have your boat below it, and having hooked the
fish drop into your boat and hand your rod down, and, if
yea can, get your fish out of the rough water. One never
knows what there may be in the eddies of a weir, but
weirs under the new management are not so much in
favour with trout as of old. The old weirs always had a
plank apron at the foot, under which the fish rooted and
burrowed for often yards in extent. They were splendid
trout lodgings. These are all done away with, and
concrete and stone, which would not give a hiding place to
a minnow, stand in place of them. This, with the filling
of deep holes, the pulling out of old stumps, the abolition
of old campshots, and the destruction of spawning beds by
dredging, has much injured the Thames generally as a
big-trout river. The houses and homes and the nurseries
are gone, and the fish with them. You may keep on
breeding trout by the thousand, but you will have no more
good trout in your water than you have homes for.

My tackle, sho¥m at Fig. 2, Plate 2, is, I consider, the
very best invention for Thames trout, as it spins a small
dace beautifully, keeps him in condition for a long time,
and is very unobtrusive to the view ; and if the big tail
hook does chance to get on, good bye to Trouty ; unless
there is a flaw in the gut he will have to come ashore. As
I have already said, the directions I have given for pike
spinning answer here.

TEOUT FISHING WITH BAIT. 89

In spinning for small trout with a minnow a different
"kind of tackle is used. The rod is lighter, and capable of
being swung and used with one hand. The spring should
be something between that of a bait rod and a fly rod.
The rings upright, of course, as is the case with all
spinning rods ; the line the finest dressed silk ; the trace
of moderate trout gut, and two or three swivels, and the
tackle suited to the size of the minnows you are likely to use.
This does not vary much, and a very little manipulation
is required to accommodate the bait to the tackle. Some
people like one kind of tackle, and some another — some
like small hooks and some large. The old three triangle
pattern is not unfrequently used ; but this again is often
modified by using pairs instead of triangles, leaving only
a single hook projecting. I do not care about these tackles,
but incline to the larger hooked species. The earliest
of these was one large round bend long shanked hook,
which was passed in at the mouth of the minnow, and so
on down along the spine till it was brought out at the tail,
the tail being crooked on the bend of the hook; but above
the shank of the hook there was a small hook, used as the
lip hook, to hold the minnow up on the big hook, and this
being passed through the lips of the minnow, the tackle
was baited; but I found that this arrangement often
allowed fish to run and take hold of the bait lightly
between these two hooks, and to escape being hooked at
the strike, and so a large percentage of runs were lost
unless the fish were very hungry. I therefore added a
small triangle on a thread of gut, to be inserted midway
(as shown in Fig. 5, Plate 3).

For many years I used this tackle and no other, and
found it in streams all I could wish ; but when I came to
fish on the Scotch lakes I often found that my minnow

90 ANGLING.

would get out of spinning, and that I either had to be con-
stantly hauling in some forty or fifty yards of line to see
how it worked, or I had to chance its wobbling, when per-
haps for half an hour no fish would look at it, until it wns
corrected. Thereupon I set my wits to work. I had by
me a fan made of German silver, which was sent to me by
some tackle maker, and which worked on the gut, and slid
up and down so as to jam tightly when pressed down on
the head of the hook. I made me a tackle somewhat like
the one last depicted, only the big hook was a bit smaller
and shorter in the shank. The hooks being baited, the tail
is not crooked, but the big hook comes out about two-
thirds down, as shown in Plate 3, Fig. 6, and then the fan
is pushed on down to the shank of the lip hook, and
jammed tight there. This form of tackle not only spins
beautifully, but it always spins and never gets out of
order. For trailing, in lake fishing, no tackle can beat
this.

Now suppose that your rod is ready, and your tackle
baited, the ordinary plan in a largish stream is to wade, if
you cannot command the stream without, and to cast down
stream towards either bank of the river, drawing across
stream, in a bend round towards the opposite side, and
then repeating the cast in the opposite direction ; look at
Fig. 7, Plate 3, thus a man standing at " a " casts first
towards " b," and draws round the dotted line to about
" d,'* then he casts towards " e," and draws round towards
" f." Some persons, particularly if fishing with an arti-
ficial minnow, which cannot be deranged, cast over head,
fly-fashion, as they can cast more line that way ; but with
the natural bait this is apt to derange it, and spoil its
spinning. The casts, therefore, are chiefly made under-
hand. These, from the nature of things, in the ordinary

TEOUT FISHING WITH BAIT. 91

way cannot fail to be rather short. You cannot, when
walking on rough banks, or wading, have loose line hang-
ing about ; but you may get a much increased length
of cast by employing the Nottingham mode of casting
a light dace float, already explained and depicted at Fig. 4,
Plate 1. By this means any reasonable length likely to be
needed can be commanded. Some anglers prefer to spin
upstream and draw down; but the bait must spin very
well to do much execution at it ; still, I have seen
fish killed in very clear water thus, which would hardly
have come to bag fishing down. The method of casting,
&c., is precisely the same as that for down fishing, the draw
being, of course, somewhat more rapid.

The necks of the sharp streams in rough, rapid, or even
white water are the best spots to spin for trout. In open
and moderate water the trout soon learn to grow shy of
the minnow, and constantly come provokingly short at it.
When you see a trout come at the minnow, and follow it,
don't be flurried, but spin steadily on, or any sudden stop
or change will probably frighten the fish altogether :
whereas, just as the bait enters the bend, and as it rises
towards the surface at the end of a draw, he is very likely
to make a dash at it — or if he declines that cast he
may take it the next ; strike smartly but not too heavily,
when you feel a touchy and not before — indeed feeling
should supersede seeing in this matter, and the less you
see the better. I once saw a seven pound trout come at
my bait at Sunbury ; I saw his great white mouth open,
and the bait disappear, and I struck. I felt nothing at
all, the bait uninjured came one way, and the trout of
course went another. If I had not seen that fish, I most
likely would have waited till I felt him, when I should
have hooked him. But to this day I never can make out

ti ANGLING.

how it was I did not hook, or even touch him, when I saw
a bait with ten or eleven hooks on it disappear apparently
into his cavernous mouth. When you have hooked your
fish, take care that you do not let him have any slack line ;
this advice, though good for all kinds of fishing, is extra
good in spinning.

YHien the water is rising after rain is always the best
chance for the spinner for small trout. The fish are all
then on the look out for stray food, and will snap at the
minnow freely. Minnows are often diflScult to get fresh at
the time they are wanted, and if you have no tank or
corfe to keep them in, the only way left is to preserve
them. Some persons salt them ; but, though I hold the
opinion that fish like the taste of salt, it destroys the
colour of the bait, and makes it so soft that it will hardly
stay on the hooks at times. The best way is to get a
pickle bottle, fill it with minnows, and then pour in spirit
up to the bung. It will not require very much, and the
very best spirit you can employ is pure spirits of wine.
It keeps the bait bright and well coloured, toughens it,
and has comparatively little smell to it, which is not
always the case with some spirits. I have seen them kept
in good spirits of wine in fine order for a twelvemonth and
more. Be sure you do get pure spirits of wine, for if you
get methylated the smell is most objectionable to the fish.
I have heard that a bottle of glycerine does equally well,
but I have never tried it. If it does as well it would do
much better. To carry a few minnows out with you alive,
a soda wat^r bottle with a quill through the cork is a very
good plan, you may easily accommodate and keep a score
or more thus, now and then changing the water. Always
kill your minnow and see that it is quite dead before
putting it on the hooks ; take care of this, not only to

TKOUT FISHINa WITH BAIT. 9a

avoid needless cruelty, but as long as there is any life in
the bait it wiU probably interfere with its spinning. If
you throw the minnow smartly on the hard ground death
is instantaneous.

Some one of the various methods of using a live bait
for pike and perch may be applied to a trout. A pater-
noster or a float — which latter should be a fragment of
cork sufficient to carry the bait. Not more than one hook
should be used, and this set a little below midwater (a
small triangle perhaps is better than a single hook). Hook
the bait through the lip, as it lives longer and is more
lively thus. Minnows, smaU gudgeons, or dace are the
best live baits.

94 ANGLING.

CHAPTER VII.
FLY FISHING FOR TROUT.

Ply Fishing. — I now come to not only the most
sportsmanlike, but the most delightful method of trout
fishing. One not only endeared by a thousand delightful
memories, but by the devotion of many of our wisest and
best men for ages past ; and, next to my thanks for
existence, health, and daily bread, I thank God for the
good gift of fly fishing. If the fishes are to be killed for
our use, there is no way in which they are put to so little
pain as in fly fishing. No minnow is dashed on the
ground, no worm impaled upon a hook. The fish rises,
takes your fly as though it were his ordinary food ; the
hook fixes in the hard gristly jaw, where there is little or
no sensation. After a few struggles he is hauled on
shore, and a tap on the head terminates his life ; and so
slight is the pain or alarm that he feels from the hook, that
I have over and over again caught a trout with the fly still
in his mouth which he has broken off in his struggles an
an hour or even half-an-hour previously. I have seen
fish that have thus broken off swim away with my fly in
their mouths and begins to rise at the natural fly again
almost directly.* What becomes of the " agonies and

♦ Strangelv enoaeh, since this was in the printer's hands, I
have twice taken a fish which broke away with my fly not five
minntes before, and canght the same fish with the same fly in
his month, and on both occasions retrieved mv lost fly. The fish
were l^lb. fish, and were both caught in the Test, at Stock-
bridge, in the third week of April. The one took two olive dans,
the other two grannoms. There is no doubt at all that if there
is any question of pain, the fish really suffer more in a net.

FLY.FISHINa FOR TEOUT. 95

pangs," &c., &c., which humanitarians are so fond of in-
venting ; and in all reverence I would ask, if the hook
were so cruel in its application, would Our Lord have
ordered Peter to cast a hook into the sea in order to catch
a fish, and take the tribute money therefrom. It would
have been as easy for Him to tell the fish to come to the
bank and deliver up the coin. I have put this point to
many soft-hearted persons, and I have never known one
who could answer it yet. Then I am told I do it for
sport solely, and not for any necessity. This is not
altogether true. I like trout myself, and so do many of
my friends.' The trout are meant to be eaten. The sport
appears to me harmless, cheerful, healthy; and why
should I not catch my own or my friend's breakfast or
dinner if it suits me to do so, and I find a great advan-
tage (as I do) by doing so ? Not that fly fishing requires
any support or extenuation from me.

Fly fishing for trout is carried on either with a single or
double-handed rod, by far the larger number of its
votaries using the former. The single-handed rod is
usually a rod of from nine to twelve feet in length ; it
may even be a few inches longer or shorter in exceptional
cases, a good medium rod being from ten to eleven feet.
They are made of various woods, hickory, greenheart, and
split bamboo being the chief.

The lighter a rod is, combined with' sufficient power for
its need, and the better balanced it is in the hand, the less
it tires the arm that wields it, and though a rod will only
weigh from eight to fourteen ounces, yet even that weight,
with the leverage exercised by the line in a long day's
fishing, makes the muscles of the hand and arm very glad
of a rest or change. Q-reenheart, as the heaviest wood,
might be supposed to give the heaviest rod, but the wood

96 ANGLING.

is 60 close in the grain, and so hard, that it requires less
bulk to produce the same result. Perhaps the lightest
rods of all are the split bamboo, which are made of lengths
of bamboo glued together, and bound every two inches.
But though light to the hand they are heavy to the pocket,
and when anglers can get a fairly good rod which auswers all
their needs for 25«., few of them will give 61. or 8^ for one,
however superior the workmanship. There is a new wood,
called washaba, which has come up lately : it is a very good
wood, and almost equal or a little inferior to hickory.

When buying a rod, the intending purchaser should
always put the reel on, as it greatly alters the balance of
the rod, and if he could thread the line and try a cast or
two he would do better stili

Having selected a rod, the next thing is to choose a line.
Some people like dressed silk ; I, however, prefer plaited
or twisted horsehair and hemp, nicely tapered, and not
too long in the taper; as half the lines are. But the
great thing in choosing the line is to choose one which the
rod will carry to the best advantage without straining.
Too light a line is a perfect nuisance in windy weather,
you cannot get it through the wind a bit, and even without
wind it does not cast properly ; while if it is too heavy it
falls with a splash, and strains every splice and joint in
the rod. It requires some knowledge and familiarity with
a variety of fly rods to be able to pick out a suitable line
for one ; and if the angler is not equal to it, he had better
go to a respectable tackle maker and let him choose it.
The winch should be a plain check winch, just strong
enough in the check to prevent the line over-iTinning, but
not so strong as to make it hard to run out when a fish
happens to pull on it — one capable of holding thirty or
forty yards of line is large enough.

FLY FISHING FOE TROUT. 97

Having suited himself with rod, line, and winch, and
passed the line through the rings, the angler must tie or
loop on to the reel or running line, a collar of single gut,
moderately stout at the upper end, and fining down to the
end to which the artificial fly is to be fixed. Some people
have a loop in the line here, and, having another on the
fly link, loop the fly on, but this makes a thick place with
double lashings or knots some two inches long about eight
or nine inches above the fly, and in fime water becomes
very visible. I always knot the fly link on to the collar,
or casting line, as it is usually called, just as though it
were a part of the line itself.

Sometimes the angler uses a dropper, or even two or
three. These are flies tied on to the casting line at
intervals of eighteen inches or two feet. I seldom use
more than one dropper under any 'circumstances, as I find
I can kill quite as many fish with two as I can with three
or four flies, and more than two are apt to tangle or catch
in weeds or twigs. When I use a dropper I pick out a
good sound knot about two feet or two and a half above
the tail fly or stretcher, and having reduced the gut on the
dropper fly to about five inches in length, and tied a knot
firmly at the extreme end, so that the gut shall not slip, I
tie or knot the fly on just above the knot in the casting
line — one tie is usually enough, but two make it very
secure — and, drawing the tie home above the knot, the
tackle will usually stand any fair strain that is put on the
dropper.

Now, having suited himself with tackle and flies, the
angler should draw ojff rather more running line than the
length of the rod, and, waving the rod back smartly over
his right shoulder, having given the line time to extend
itself to the fullest in the air behind him, he should wave

H

98 ANGLma.

the rod forward somewhat more smartly, with a cutting or
flogging action, towards the spot where he wishes his fly
to fall, and, if he has followed my counsel accurately, the
line will fall straightly upon the water in the direction
desired. When he has brought the rod forwards so that
it stands at about an angle of forty-five degrees, he should
check it-, and as the line falls, lower it gently another
twenty or thirty degrees, so as to allow the fly to fall
softly on the surface, and to travel lightly and unchecked
down the stream. In making the forward impulse of the
rod, after having sent the line back behind him, the angler
should be careful to give the line time to fully extend
itself. If he does not he will probably hear a crack like
the faint flick of a whip, only sharper, and if he then
looks at his gut he will find that he has cracked his fly off.
In order to avoid this as much as possible, it is desirable
not to throw the line straight back, and then straight
forward, but, when the line has extended, to make a
slight sweep or curve with the rod point so that the fly
may also travel in a curve instead of a sharp angle.
Some anglers make this curve away from the face or
shoulder, others towards it, I prefer making it away from
the face, as the more upright the rod is when you with-
draw the line from the water the better and quicker it
comes off it.

Windy weather, particularly if the wind is in your
favour, greatly facilitates the flicking off of flies, as it
prevents the line from thoroughly extending itself behind
before the cast is made. In such a wind special care
should be taken if the angler does not want to lose his fly.
The outline of a long jargonelle pear starting from the
stem round over the eye and so back to the stem again,
will give some notion of the sort of curve the rod point

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 99

should travel over, particularly in windy weather with a
wind in your favour.

Some people in fly-fishing like a ripple, and the wind
this or that way. This may be very well in a lake, or in
a mill head, or any similar still, quiet water, but on
streamy water, if the day is cloudy, I can do very well
without any wind at all — my experience of fly-fishing
being that nineteen-twentieths of your successes depend
upon how you put your fly to the fish, and you cannot
have full command over your fly, and put it where you
please, if you have much wind in any direction. I do not
at all object to a good rough upstream wind in a still mill
head, but in such cases you do not fish the rises or the
fish, you fish the water, probably, with a wet fly, and
chance what may come of it, and sometimes a good deal
comes of it, but that is a very different thing from putting
your fly neatly over a rising fish and inducing him to
mistake it for the brother of the one he has just swallowed.
That is the acme of fly fishing. But I am teaching my
pupils to run before they can walk, and I must return on
my steps.

Having thoroughly mastered the length of line he first
put out, so as to be able to throw it in any direction he
desires stmightly and truly, the angler may let out more
and more line until he reaches the outside of his capability,
which, with a ten foot or eleven foot rod, will be something
more or less under twenty yards. Say fifty feet, and that
is from four and a half to five times the length of the rod,
which will perhaps be as much as he ever will master.
But throwing a line is one thing, and having full command
of it after you have thrown it, is quite another. How
often, when I have hurled out a tremendous line, have I
seen my fish come up fairly, only to be scratched or

H 2

100 ANGLINa.

boggled! — moral, the angler should only cast so much
line as he has perfect command over — not a foot more.
Such line as he can raise off the water cleanly, smartly,
and without drag or effort, he will probably be able to
command a fish well with in the water ; but when it comes
to tearing the line out of the water by the roots, as it
were, the length of line out is unmanageable and bad.
When a fish rises, much depends upon the position the
angler occupies with respect to the fish, as to how he must
strike. If the fish be below him, down stream, the line
will probably be fully extended, and will weigh on the
rod top. At such a time a very slight twitch indeed of
the rod top is enough to fasten the fly. A heavy tug will
probably result in a break, and the fish will go off with
the fly in his mouth. When the fish is upstream, and the
line coming home, it is sure to be more or less in a bag,
and the angler must strike more or less smartly to over-
come the slack line. Experience and practice alone can
tell him how hard he ought to strike, and often when he
knows this full well his hand will not second his desire ;
but on a sudden and unexpected rise he will hit too hard
— the more particularly so if he is addicted to salmon
fishing, and the various methods used for coarse fish, when
the tackle is much less fine, and the striking usually much
harder.

To be a perfect trout fisher, to my mind, a man should
follow no other branch of fishing. It spoils his hand if
he does. I myself, from the practice of striking so hard
in both salmon, pike, and other fishing, used to lose
numbers of fish and flies in the course of the season ; and
what made it the more vexing was that they were nearly
always the best and heaviest fish. At Winchester they
used to have a sort of proverb about me. "Why, he

FLY FISHma FOR TEOUT. 101

loses more fish than any man in Winchester, John," said
a severe critic one day to old John Hammond, that most
artful old provider of fishing requisites. " What did you
say, sir?" said John, putting his hand up to his ear —
for he very often couldn't hear anything he did not want
to. The criticism was repeated. " Ah," said the sly old
being, with a couple of nods of the head, and two taps on
the lid of his snuff-box, " but then he hooks more ! "
After which a very bad fit of deafness came over him
for a minute or two, till a little boy came in for a " 'apeny
hook and a withy," and turned the conversation. Since
that time, however, I have done less coarse fishing,
devoting my attention to the grayling when the time for
coarse fish comes on, and the result has been most striking
— I now lose less fish than many of the single- hand rod
men. When you are given to too heavy striking, the best
provision you can adopt is to lighten your rod and tackle ;
have a lighter or more flexible rod, and a lighter line.

Between the extremes up and down stream there are all
sorts of graduations. When the line is extended straight
across the stream, and the fish takes it broadside on, it is
nearly as bad as when he is straight down, and requires
quite as light a touch. When the fish are small, as in
some lochs and burns, you require much sharper and
quicker striking than is the rule in our heavier southern
rivers ; but experience must teach the angler all this, and
will do so better than all the precepts in existence.

Having struck your fish, keep his head as tight as you
can without being too rough, and don't let him get into
weeds if ymi can help itt for there are times when neither
you nor any one else can help it. For any fish from three
pounds weight up for the first five minutes or so will take
you just where he pleases, let you be ever so clever ; for

102 ANGLING.

jou won't hook him without pretty fine tackle, and you can't
pitch him over your head with that. Still, you will often
be able to get a fish out of a dangerous locality by prompt
measures, which you would lose without ; for I generally
regard a fish hung up on weeds as about two-thirds gone,
for you don't save one in three. I don't know how it is,
but I believe they hang on to the weed with their mouths,
and let you pull against the weed if you do pull, and if
you don't in time the weed gets round the line, and there
you are ! Polling out or cutting out is very risky work.
Yet ^ue vouUz vous? K the fish are much given to
" weeding " a long light fir pole with a hook knife on it,
kept somewhere within 50 or 100 yards off you, would no
doubt enable you to cut the weed off close to the roots, for
less than that is dangerous, as you might cut the line.
The only thing to do with the rod is to go down
stream, put a steady but not heavy strain on iii the
same direction the weed lies. The fish may (if he does
not get free) get tired and let go, or the weed clear
itself. The chance is not much of a one, still it is the
only one.

When a fish is first hooked, if he be in a weedy place,
get a strong pull at him at once before he knows where he
is or what you are about, and lug him out of it. If you
leave him there, he will be sure to go into the weeds
sooner or later, so you may as well try conclusions with
him at once. I have often lugged a pound fish over a bed
of weeds a yard wide, and, more, by taking the initiative.
Where a fish bores determinedly in a weed, root or hole,
you must try and slant his head another way, and if that
does not do just hold on and let him do his worst. You
may as well lose him at first as at last after half an hour's
roking and poking, loss of time, and aggravation.

FLY FISHING FOE TEOUT. 103

Don't puU hard at a trout when he is down stream,
more particularly if he lies head up towards you. It is a
dangerous thing to do. If you can, always keep below your
j&sh, and coax him down. In the first place he won't dis-
turb the water so much, and in the next it is the safest way
to deal with a fish, and the quickest method of tiring him.

When you are going to land your fish, don't be in
a hurry nor in a flurry ; bring the fish steadily round
within reach, let the netsman stand with the net under
water, so that the fish may, almost, as it were, be led into
it and until the fish is almost within the ring the less
obtrusive or active the netsman is the better. When he
sees the fish within his power a steady upward sweep will
do the business. More fish are lost by dashing at them,
and more aggravation also caused thus than by almost
any other means. The Irishman who having dashed at a
salmon with the gaff, and scratched him, after his master
had with incalculable patience and skill humoured the fish
in out of most dangerous ground, and when another
minute's patience would have safely secured the fish, and
who stood exclaiming with pride and delight, "Begorra, I
hot him that toime ! " may or may not be a satisfactory
picture, but the feelings of the master who sees his fish go
clean the other side of that particular rock, which the less
said about the better — is a picture also, which likewise
perhaps the less is said about the better. If you have a man
who is a bungler, take the net and land your fish yourself,
and when you get him home at night, you may call him
"Cassio" if you please, and you may even "love him
well," but be sure that " he never more be officer of
thine." Having got your fish on shore, your operation is
complete, knock the fish on the head, and put him in the
basket, never let the poor wretch die of slow suffocation —

104 ANGLING.

even as a matter of economy — for it spoils the fish, and he
won't keep nearly as long.

If I have advised the angler to be as unobtrusive as pos-
sible when fishing for other fish, this caution is needed ten
times more in fishing for so wary a creature as a trout —
even small trout soon get to know their way about when
they have tasted steel ; but a good fish, and particularly a
veteran, is I do believe, next to a red deer, one of the
wariest, downiest, artfuUest things within civilised crea-
tion. Where they are very little fished for of course they
are unsuspicious, but they very soon learn to know when
they are fished for. They soon get accustomed to the sight
of people walking along the banks if there be a footpath
near, but they know a fly or the wave of a rod with very
little practice. When fish are as wary as they are in some
of the Hampshire waters, you can't be too circumspect ;
and at times it is almost desirable, if you want to catch
fish, to swarm along on your stomach as you do in deer
stalking ; when the water is at all open, you must go down
on your knee, or get the stump of a tree or a bank at your
back, which will often serve you well with the wariest
tr6at.

There is an old controversial matter among fly-fishers,
whether you should fish up or down stream, and, like
everythmg else in fishing, it depends on circumstances.
For example, at night you would almost always fish down,
because, having to trust very much to feeling, you want a
tight line ; again, if you are fishing with the dry fly, and
the wind is dead down stream, you can't fish up, particu-
larly if you are fishing the floating drake or dry May fly ;
but even when you are obliged under these circumstances
to cast down stream, you don't drag your fly up against it
— only when fishing at night, or in very small streams

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 105

where the trout are small and unsophisticated, would you
do this. No! though you cast down you let your fly
travel down with the stream as far as you can, just as you
do when fishing or casting up stream ; you merely cast
rather short, and, letting the fly fall in the water, with the
rod pretty upright, so as to have a good supply of line in
hand, lower the rod slowly until you can let no more, and
under these circumstances this very often (if you can keep
well out of sight) answers as well or better than fishing up
to fish, because the fly, and not the line, comes over his
nose first. This is called drifting, and by the practice of
it I have caught many good trout on bright days and
stillish water, but it requires much care and caution, not
to say usage, to do it well ; but the great bulk of the
casting is made rather across, than either up or down.
You see a fish rise, and you cast across and above him,
and let the fly travel down so as to come over his nose, but
to let as little of the Une do so as possible. The first and
last object of the fly fisher is to show as much of his fly to
the fish as possible, and as little of anything else. Let
that be his constant and unvarying study if he desires to
catch fish, for it is the backbone of fly fishing. In fishing
with the wet fly in the early months, you fish down stream
if the wind is adverse, but you cast across and let the fly
sweep round ; at such times, however, you do not wait to
see rises but fish the water on the chance of one.

Always pay particular attention to the fish which you
see rising under the banks ; and don't be deluded into the
notion that because you see a fish make no more break on
the water than a minnow would, that he is a minnow, for
he is quite as likely to be a three pounder. It is strange
how quietly a big fish will often take fly after fly, close to
a bank, with only just his upper lip put to the surface to

106 ANGLING.

suck in the victim; you think him " trash," and make a care-
less bungling cast, and — " whoosh ! " Who would have
thought it ? Off he goes, with a furrow like a four-oar.

Fish taking under banks, whether in your own side or
opposite, always take much better than fish rising in the
open stream ; they are close at home, and have shelter at
hand, and have more confidence. It requires great nicety
of casting often times to get fish out from under your own
or an opposite bank ; they lay there almost touching, and
rising within an inch of the bank, and you must cast
within an inch of the bank too. It is of no use to cast
six or eight inches or more this or that side of it— dozens
of flies pass along out there which the trout never notices
— for he knows that enough will pass within an inch above
his nose to afford him a good full meal without any need
of his swimming a foot for it ; and, if you want to rise
him, vour fly must come over him too. In a fish of this
kind, too, it is not safe to drop your fly within much less
than a yard of him, about four feet above him is perhaps
the proper thing ; and if it comes fairly to him, and no
twig or spine of grass, or bunch of weed outside, catches
the line and causes the fly to do queer things, and the fly
happens to appear to be of the same sort that his worship
is devouring, or there is nothing objectionable about it,
you will see that magic dimple as your line is passing the
spot, and find that you have an interest in that perform-
ance if you tighten the line.

I need not say to the angler cast lightly and don't
splash, for if he does, he will very soon fiind out the im-
portance of these instructions for himself; nor need I
further add that it will be conducive to sport to present
your fly to the trout as like a fly as possible, either alive
or dead — it matters very little, perhaps, which.

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT. 107

I won't enter on the argument* as to why one should
imitate nature in his flies as closely as possible. If any
one wishes to learn why this should be done, they can find
it set out at length in my " Book on Angling ;" but I
have no space for that, or many other matters here. I
recommend the angler to imitate nature, myself. If the
angler is content to take his advice and instruction from
me, well and good, if not, let him go elsewhere. Acci-
dental flies and general flies, no doubt, catch fish, and
often abundantly at times, but there are dozens of times,
when the fish are feeding on some particular fly, and when,
if you happen to have a good imitation of that fly, you
can fill your basket ; and, if you have not, a bare fish or
two will be all your take, and often you will not catch even
that. Only last season I fished down about three-quarters
of a mile of water, trying two or three duns — I got four
or five rises, and caught one fish. I came back to the top
(the fish were rising incessantly all the time I fished), I
changed the fly for an exact imitation of the one on the
water, and, going over the same water a second time, I got
over thirty good rises, and hooked seven or eight brace of
fish. Of course the first time you go over a water in the
day is by far the most favourable time, if the fish are rising.

Now, there are two ways of fishing your fly, the one,
and the most common one, is with the wet fly ; the other, and
the more scientific, is with the dry. The wet fly is cast
upon the water time after time, and usually sinks, more or
less, beneath the surface, and it can only be taken for a
drowned fly or some other water insect. In this case you
will often not see the rise of the fish, and you must have
one eye on the line, and when you see it check or stop,
strike instantly. There are waters in many parts of the
country, however, where, after about the middle of May,

108 ANGLING.

unless you happen on a very rough and wet day, the fish
will not take a wet fly. They get suspicious and well edu-
cated. The weather is fine and moderate, and they really
see very few drowned flies about, and, consequently, they
look pretty closely at one when it comes along, and their
quick sight soon detects the peculiar blue curly barbed
tail which the drowned fly possesses. At such times they
feed freely on the live insect sitting up and floating on the
8ar6u» of the water, and you have, therefore, to imitate
that as closely as possible, and by whipping the fly back-
ward and forward four or five times (or more if needed)
between each cast, all the wet is shaken out, and the line
and fly are so far dried that they float on the surface for
some distance, until the draft of the stream submerges
and wets them again.

In casting the dry fly, send the line as straight as
possible and without any waves or curls on the water, and
allow it to float down over the head of the fish as like the
natural fly as possible, and without any pull or guidance.

If you pull it at all, the line will make a streak on the
surface, and will certainly frighten the /ish. In fishing
the wet fly, it is often a good plan, in deep waters or holes,
to let the fly sink as deep as you can ; you may even
facilitate its sinking by biting a shot on the line at the
head of the fly ; and by jerking it through the water with
short jerks it will often tempt the fish which are not
feeding on the top, as they will mistake it for some larva.
Therefore, the code of regulations as regards wet, dry,
and sunk flies, comes pretty much to this : in the early
part of the season, or on rough and rainy days, you may
fish with the wet fly ; but in the latter portion, and fine
weather, use the dry. In hatch holes, deep mill heads or
tails, or such places, where the fish are big, and feed

FLY FISHma FOR TEOUT. 109

more on minnows, shrimp, and larva than flies, sink your fly.
As general directions, these will be found pretty reliable.
Though I do not like night ^shing, and indeed would
never allow it on any good water, yet you go at times to
places where it is practised, and where your only chance
of catching a good fish is at night. Fish by sight if you
can, that is, if the light shines enough on the water to
detect the circles made by the rise ; but if you cannot see,
then you must fish down, and, keeping a tight line, fish by
feeling the rise, and you cannot be too quick in your
strike when you do feel a touch, as the trout reject the
fly as quickly as they take it ; but it is pokey work at the
best. You fish with a short line and a stout ; you cannot
see where your fish is going, and you hang on and get him
out anyhow. There is no nicety in throwing, and if you
happen to be wading, and you do not make any disturb-
ance, the fish will rise within a yard of you.

110 ANGUNG.

CHAPTER VIII.
TROUT FLIES.

And now we must say a word or two as to that important
subject, flies. The best flies to use are imitations of those
which are bom in the water ; for, though trout will often
take land flies, and indeed almost any insect you can
throw on the water, yet it is on the water-flies which he
chiefly depends for his sustenance, and these are the flies
which, for the most part, fill the following list :

LIST OF FLIES FOR EACH MONTH.

March. — The blue dun, hare's ear, the March brown,
the coch-y-bonddhu,* and sometimes the olive dun. You
rarely want more than these flies, though in some rivers a
little creeper is found.

April. — All the last month's flies, with the olive dun,
red spinner, and on bright days the yellow dun.

May. — Many of the old flies are good still, though the
March brown begins to give place to the alder ; and the
blue dun only shows now and then in cold days. The
black gnat often shows up strong. The duns now vary
from yellow or almost green to the palest lemon, and where

* Dress this lar^e, about March brown size, and rib with
gold tinsel, and it is a capital rongh water fly, to use wet all the
season nearly.

TEOUT FLIES. Ill

it is found the little iron blue dun or watchet, as it is
called in the north, does well.

June. — Most of the old flies will still come in at times,
and you may add the sedge, very slight variations of which
wiU also include the sand fly, the cinnamon, and the
mushroom. It is a capital fly on very many waters.
Early in June, the celebrated green and grey drakes
appear, and the fish have their great gorge of the season.
The quill gnats are excellent flies now.

July is a bad month as a rule, and few new flies come
in. The duns and quill gnats will be found the best day
flies, with sedges, alders, &c., for the evening.

August. — The old flies still prevail. A fly which we call
the dark-winged olive comes on in the evening on many
rivers, and is good now to the end of September.

September. — Add to all the old flies the whirling blue
dun, and the willow flies, and that is all that is new in
September.

General Flies. — To these ordinary natural flies there
are certain flies called general flies, which, bearing a
general or fancied resemblance to various flies, are taken
by the fish. These are The Francis, the Governor,
Hammond's Adopted, Hoffland's Fancy, the Coachman, the
Wichham, the Partridge and Grouse Hackles, and the
Caperer.

With the above collection of flies, which is pared down
as close as it may well be for general work, the angler
ought to be able to do good service on any stream, regard
being had to the size of the flies, which must be a good
deal smaller on some streams than on others. There are
special flies suited to special streams, or flies that are only
partial, as, for example, the grannom, the spider fly, &c. —
very useful for particular rivers here and there, but I do

112 ANGLING.

not deal with particular rivers here ; and for any extension
in that direction the angler must again consult the " Book
on Angling.** As to the dressing of the various flies named,
the duns come first, and here hooks from 11 or 12 up to
8 or 9 will be used. I need hardly counsel the use of fine
gut for the smaller flies, as if the angler does not use it
he will have few fish to show. On some rivers they use
not only flies but collars or casting lines of single horse-
hair ; and they are all very well in moderate weather, but
do not do in a wind, nor where the fish run over half a
pound or so. The dims are the grand stand-by of the
fisherman. These are of all colours, from a dark slatey
blue to the palest possible ash, and from a deep yellow to
the faintest lemon almost white, apple green, olive, and
dark iron blue.

, The blue dun should have a slate blue quill body,
legs of a dun freckled cock*s hackle; some use a dark
honey dun hackle with yellowish tips and a smoky blue
centre, with two strands of the same for the tail —
wings from the starling's wing, more or less dark. By
lightening the shades of all these feathers and the body
you may carry the fly on to the representation of other
duns which come in later on in the season.

The yellow dun. — The same process is followed here.
Taking a yellow sUk body and medium honey dun hackle
with moderate starling wing, you get them lighter and
lighter till you get the body the faintest lemon or straw
colour, the hackle the lightest honey dun, and the wings
of the pale blue feather of the sea-swallow or roseate tern,
which is Mr. Aldam*s dressing for one of the best summer
flies you can put on, and hitherto almost impossible to
imitate. The above two series will give some seven or
eight different shades of duns which come on daring the

TEOUT FLIES. 113

season under different names, and which are invaluable to
the angler.

The olive dun is another very useful fly used a good
deal through the season. The body should be dressed of
a dark olive silk, or quill more or less stained olive yellow,
with a turn of gold tinsel at the tail end — some rib it
with yellow silk, or even fine gold wire — the hackle olive,
with two strands of the same for the tail ; the wings
of starling, darker or lighter. This fly varies considerably.
Some years you may stain the wings lightly with onion
dye, and both legs and body are more or less yellow.
Hooks 9, 10, and 11.

The hare's ear, one of the earliest and best flies used.
It comes on in March, and may be used at intervals
throughout the season. The body and legs are of hare's
ear fur, darker or lighter, with starling wing, also darker
or lighter. Some rib it with fine gold tinsel.

The Hue dun is best dressed as the blue quill described
at page 118.

The yellow dun runs so closely into the yellower kinds of
olive that there is little or no difference. It should have
a yellow silk body, not too dark, pale yellow oHve hackle
and light starling wing.

Little iron blue — a dark slate quill body, a dark blue
feather from the cormorant's wing, the tomtit's tail, or the
moorhen's breast, for a wing, hackle a shade or two lighter
than the body, or light grey even to straw colour, for it
varies a good deal, with a couple of short strands for the
tail. Later editions of this fly come out as the season goes
on, but they are mostly lighter in colour, and with a fine
yellow silk ribbing. It changes to the

Jenny Spinner, a fly which fish take voraciously at
times, but which is hard to imitate ; a watery whitish floss

I

114 ANGLING.

silk body, with a turn of brown at the head and tail, and
a pale silvery blue hackle for legs and wings, is as good
as anything.

The red and hroum apinners are the changes undergone
by the blue and yellow duns. The red spinner should be
dressed with a deep brownish red, a sort of burnt sienna
floss silk for the body, ribbed with fine gold tinsel ; a red
hackle for legs, and two strands of the same for the tail, a
very light bit from a young starling's wing for the wings.
I have used pale blue hackle points for these, and very
successfully. The brown spinner is a somewhat similar
fly, dressed two or three shades paler. Some call it " the
sherry spinner," from its colour. There are two or three
shades of this fly, some with bluish or greenish olive bodies
of quill. It is best dressed hacklewise, with a hackle pale
straw colour or silvery dun, or even whiteish, with dark
streak down the centre.

The March bronm kills more fish than any other fly
where it is found. It comes thickly out on many rivers,
and at a period when the fish are himgry. The body is
made either of brown crewel or hare's fur, lighter or
darker, according as you wish to vary the fly from male
to female, ribbed with straw coloured silk or gold tinsel ;
legs, a partridge's back feather ; wing, the mottled feather
from a hen pheasant's wing, woodcock, or the wings of a
game hen ; tail, two strands from the same ; hooks, from
7 or 8 to 10 or 11.

The alder, another very useful fly, comes in as the
March brown dies out. It is dressed with a mixture of
peacock harl, and black ostrich harl, for the body, with a
tnm of mulberry silk at the tail ; a rusty black or dusty
iron blue hackle ; wing from peacock's back feather or a
brown hen's rump ; hook 8 to 10.

TEOUT FLIES. 115

The sedge, a famous fly tlirough Hampshire and the
midland districts ; body stoutish and of buff or brown
crewel ; sandy red hackle from head to tail, ribbed over
the reverse way with fine gold tinsel ; under wing, a
little starling; upper wing, landrail or hen pheasant.
Make the body slender, and of a browner hue, and do
away with the tinsel and the imder wing, and you get the
sandfly. Make this again more creamy in the body, and
you obtain the cinnamon.

The quill gnat. — This is a very useful fly, and is found
on the water previous to and throughout the Mayfly
season and even later. The body is made of a strip of
the bluish quill of the starling, which forms a natural
ribbing ; legs, a red hackle ; wing, lightish starling ; the
tail being two whisks of silver dun hackle. Another
kind of quill gnat is dressed with a medium blue dun
hackle, and a slightly darker wing and tail. Hooks
10 to 12.

The hlacJc gnat. — The smallest possible hook, lapped
round with a few turns of short black ostrich harl for
body, two turns of small black hackle for legs, and a little
slip of light or very dark starling, for it varies, for wing,
form the best representation of it. There are two or three
black gnats, and unless you have the right one you will
not kill.

The willow fly. — This is a curious fly which may be
found on the water of different sizes at different times of
the year late and early. It is a flat winged fly, the wings
— of which it has two pairs — lying one over the other flat
down the back. The body may be made of starling quill ;
the hackle, freckled dun. The wings are exactly the
colour of an alder's, and the rump of a red hen, or a bit of
clear speckled hen pheasant might do. Hooks Nos. 10

I 2

116 ANGLING.

aod 11. The little needle brown may be dressed on the
same lines, but smaller.

The whirling <7m», a useful late August and September
fly. Body, a couple of strands of blue heron hackle, or
back feather warped like harl ; buff silk ribbing, brown
red hackle, darkish starling wing. Hooks Nos. 10 and 11.

TJie green drake. — This very noted fly is dressed in many
different ways. It varies in shade and colour a good deal
on various rivers; on some the wings are the palest
yellowish green, or greenish yellow, and they vary from
this down to a dark bluish olive, the legs, bodies, and tails,
even, varying equally. It is difficult, therefore, to give
any particular dressing that will suit more than a few
rivers of a certainty. I shall give the fly which I use the
most of, and I shall leave the angler or dresser to vary it
as much as he chooses. First whip on the tail three
strands of a cock pheasant's tail feather, and then tie in
by the tip on the back of the fly an olive or a sandy red
hackle, half way down the hook, and leave it hanging.
The colour of the green drake's body is in nothing so well
represented as in a slip of straw or a bit of maize leaf,
such as is used by Spaniards for cigarettes. I therefore
make most of my May fly bodies of this, by cutting off a
slip just big enough to roll on the hook for the body ; as
the tail end is pointed, a wedge or two should be cut out
of the lower end to enable it to be drawn to a point, which
is done by two or three laps of burnt sienna-coloured silk,
which is then touched with varnish to secure it, and give
it the colour which is seen at the tail of the natural fly in
a splotcK of brown. The straw, being secured at the tail
end, and the edges brought neatly together up the back,
should then be bound on firmly by ribs of the brown silk,
carefidly avoiding the olive hackle which is left hanging ;

TEOUT FLIES. 117

and having secured the straw body, wind on the olive
hackle, and fasten it off just above the straw, and tie on
the point of a bustard, florican, grey partridge, or breast
of grey hen, or a bittern hackle ; I like the bustard best,
as being more like the Mayfly legs ; in winding this on,
the last turn is given so that one side of the hackle points
turn upwards, representing the fore legs of the May fly,
which always point in that direction. This is not a sine
qua norij but it is an additional similarity and is easy to
do. The wings are two small drake feathers stained to
the right colour, and here the angler may suit the colour
to his fancy, greenish-yellow with a slight olive tinge, a
most difficult colour to dye (so that it will stand), or a
darker bluish olive tinge. It is as well to have both
shades ; some prefer the feathers of the Egyptian goose,
and I like them if stained of the right colour ; some like
the simimer duck, which is good for a change. There are
a few feathers on a drake which are nearer to the dark
back feathers, more of dingy freckled sort, and less
regular in their markings, which I prefer to any, but
there are only a few of them, and they are not eas^ co
get ; but, whichever be chosen, they must be tied on nearly
upright and back to back, so as to spread out and support
the fly upright on the water. The head may be made of
two or three turns of bronzed peacock harl. This is the
best pattern for a green drake I know of, and for floating,
if the hook be not too heavy, cannot be beaten. Ham-
mond, of Winchester, an excellent judge of flies in his
day, used the speckled white partridge hackle instead of
bustard, and a sandy red one below instead of olive, and
a yellow or lemon coloured crewel body, though he latterly
adopted straw on my recommendation. The eyed hooks
made for this purpose by Mr. Hutchinson, of Kendal, do

118 ANGLING.

exceedingly well. You can get them of any size. I
always find the fish take the smaller sizes best, though
they rise at the largest well.

The grey drake is the change undergone by the green
drake when it casts its skin and becomes a perfect fly, and
it is often a most capital change for the fish towards
eyening. The body, head, and tail should be made as
before ; the hackle should be a sandy red, or a rusty blue,
the wings of the grey speckled drake's feather.

The black drake^ which is the perfect male fly, is, I
think, even a better fly still. It should be dressed a size
smaller than the grey drake body, tail and head as before,
but the hackle should be a silver grey with a black streak
in the middle, with dark partridge at breast, and the wings
should be of the close barred feather of the teal. I have
had good sport with this fly toward the end of the May.
fly season.

There are several other natural flies which are useful
in various rivers; but, as I seldom use them myself,
I don't give the dressing, but the angler can get
them at the tackle maker's if he wants them. Among
the best there is the oak fly, the cowdung, the ant
flies, the gravel bed, the grannom, &c., &c. The blue,
yellow, and olive duns have of late years become so
muddled and mixed up, and the colours and times of
appearance seem to vary and change so, that I find the
best way to discount them is to dress three sorts of flies,
which we call in Hampshire quills. There is first the blue
quill, light and dark, two shades ; the body is dressed
with quill, the hackle blue, and the wing starling, lighter
or darker to suit the shades. Then there is the olive
quill, a great medicine of my friend, Mr. Marryatt's.
Here the quill is stained either lightly or deeper ; the

TROUT FLIES. 119

hackle is an olive either lighter or darker. You may have
three shades, the wing lighter or darker as before ; this
runs into many shades of olive or yellow duu. The red
quill, plain undyed quill, with a lighter or darker red hackle,
wing lighter or darker as before. This will cover most of
the duns except the brown or hare's ear. The iron blue
and the little wee sky Hue or light durij with palest prim-
rose body, hackle of the same, and the lightest possible
wing. The quill commonly used is a single harl of green
peacock eye stripped of its fluff. This rolls on in rings
nicely, and makes a lovely body. If you want to dye it
much a single strand from the wing of the condor — an old
bird, it must be of a dozen years old — does better, but it
does not strip well, and you have to pull the fluff off ;
adjutant does equally. You can stain these any colour.
The quill bodies do not absorb moisture, and float nobly,
and are thus a great advantage.

GENERAL FLEES.

The Francis may be made of any size from No. 6 to
No. 10. Body, peacock harl, ribbed with copper coloured
floss silk ; legs, blue dun hackle ; wings, two points of the
same (freckled). It is a very good evening and rough
weather fly. I have made great takes with it, and have
heard of others from all parts of the world.

The Governor. — A capital fly, that kills all over the
kingdom from May out. Body, bronze peacock harl, with
two turns of yellow orange floss silk at the tail ; red hackle
and a bit of hen pheasant wing for wings. From 6 to 10.

The Coachman.— A. very useful evening fly, kills well at
dark in many places. Body and legs as before; wings,
two slips of white goose or any fine white feather. Hook
8 to 11.

laO ANGLING.

Wickham*8 fancy. — ^An excellent all day and nearly all
season fly, not only in Hampshire, whence it sprung, but
in many other streams. Body, gold tinsel ; red hackle
from head to tail, starling wing, light and dark, two
shades. Hook 9 to 12.

Partridge and grouse hackles. — Two small flies, very
useful at times, particularly on northern or moorland
streams. A lemon silk, or orange silk body, with three
turns of partridge or grouse hackle. Hooks 10 to 12.

The red and black palmers. — Very common and well-
known flies, and very useful, particularly the former.
They should have either peacock or black ostrich bodies,
and red or black hackles. The black palmer sometimes
is ribbed with silver. K, instead of a common red
hackle, you substitute one with a black centre, you
make

The Coch-y-bonddhu. — ^A noted fly in Wales, and use-
ful in very many streams. The flies may be dressed of
any size, from the largest to the smallest. I use this fly
in preference to all others, as a wet fly, ribbed with fine
gold wire, it kills in many streams nobly.

The Soldier palmer 1 have found a capital fly in many
rivers, particularly when thickened with rain. It is often
a good lake fly too. Body scarlet crewel ribbed with gold
tinsel ; red hackle. Hooks from 7 to 10.

With this list of flies the angler should kill anywhere.
I myself use chiefly the duns all round, the spinners, the
Governor, the Wickham, the alder, the sedge, the March
brown, the quill gnats, the Francis, the Coch-y-bonddhu,
the Coachman, the black gnat, and the drakes. I have
different sizes of some of them, and I rarely want any
other fly.

I find in fly-fishing that it is very useful to employ a

TEOUT FLIES. 121

damping box — one constantly has to change flies, and
unless the gut has been well soaked it is apt to crack at
the knot ; or it is very apt, if there is a little wind (par-
ticularly in your favour), to go at the head of the fly, and
flick goes your fly to grass, and this is very trying
if you happen to be short of the particular pattern
the fish are fancying. There are various methods of
keeping gut damp. Several machines have been invented
more or less ingenious, but after all an old wax match
box, one of those big ones about six or seven inches long,
by three or four wide, does as well as anything. Get two
sheets of flannel or soft felt to fit in the box, but about
three-quarters of an inch shorter than the box ; damp them
well, but squeeze out actual wet, and lay the gut between
the sheets. If there are flies to it, let them project just
beyond, on the three-quarter inch space not filled by the
flannel, &c., and when you put the box in your breast
pocket keep this end uppermost, or you crush the flies ; a
cast line or two kept in soak is also useful.

If you use eyed hooks you only want coils of loose
gut, and don't need to bother about flies, as you can
pick out your fly and tie him on then and there. While
speaking of eyed hooks I may as well go on with that
subject. Eyed hooks for eels and for salmon flies are
as old as the hills, but not so for trout. I had some
many years ago with a gut eye tied on, but trout
hooks with natural eyes to them were brought out first
by Mr. Hall some years ago. At first I did not much
like them, but further experience has changed my
opinion very much, and now I am gradually having all
my flies tied on them. In the first place if you keep
ordinary flies for more than two seasons the gut is not
trustworthy, it gets dry and brittle, and the fly is done

122 ANGUNG.

for ; not so with the eyed hook, the fly will last for
years and years, you can always tie on a fresh and new
piece of gut ; the same if the gut gets chafed or worn,
and you can use stouter or finer gut as it suits you, and
these are enormous advantages. But beyond all that there
is a great advantage in the fact that you don't whip off
one eyed hook for six of ordinary flies, and, as I use a
double handed rod and very fine tackle and small flies,
before I got the eyed hooks I used to whip them off by
the dozen, so much so that if I was short of a killing
pattern and there was any wind on, I got quite nervous in
making a long cast for fear I should lose my only killer.
Now, however, I have no such fears, I can flail away as I
list, and only now and then does the magic " snap "
announce that another good fellow has gone wrong. We
anglers owe a debt of gratitude ta Mr. Hall, who has spent
endless time and trouble in perfecting these hooks, for a
0 0 0 eyed hook is a marvel. You almost want a micro-
scope to see it, but don't the fish come at them ! My !
Messrs. Hutchinson are the makers of these hooks, and
have spent much time and labour over them, and the
hooks (to us, at any rate) are worth it.

Though they dress their flies somewhat differently in
Derbyshire, Cumberland, and the north, in some places
tying them all with hackles only, &c., yet, if you observe
them closely, you will find that they are very fair imita-
tions of the duns, spinners, <fcc., which we use ; still, the
angler will always do well, if he comes into a new neigh-
bourhood, and finds a pretty good local tyer, who is a
fisherman too, to give his flies a trial. Long experience of
a stream must teach a man something. If he cannot get
on with them, thea he can resort to his own, or he can try
his own for a change. In mountain becks, the small red,

TEOUT FLIES. 123

black and Soldier palmers, the black gnat, small March
brown, blue and yellow duns, sand fly, with the partridge
and grouse hackles, will kill from year's end to year's
end.

For lakes I give a few flies which, with a slight variation,
will kill all over the country. The bodies are nearly all
crewel, or pig's wool, and the standard colours are red,
yellow, orange, claret, black, and green, some of them
ribbed with gold, and some with silver twist. The
hackles commonly wedded to these are red, black, coch-y-
bonddhu, and grouse, no others being used; the wings
are teal, mallard, woodcock, and jay's wing, or a bit of
black wild duck with a white tip. One of the best Scotch
flies is known as

The Heckum-jpecJcum. — The body is scarlet or lemon
crewel, ribbed with silver twist and red hackle, and the
black feather with a wliite tij) from the wild mallard for
wing.

The same body and hackle, with either teal or brown
mallard, make an excellent fly. A green body, with a
grouse or black hackle, with a teal or mallard wing, and
gold twist is good.

Yellow or orange bodies, with gold tinsel, red hackles,
and woodcock wing are also excellent.

Black bodies, silver twist, black hackles, and teal wing
slaughter many.

Claret bodies, black hackle and jay, or teal, or wood-
cock wing, make a serviceable change. The March brown
and hare's ear, and hare's ear and yellow are also very
useful on lakes. These flies should be kept of two or
even three sizes for favourites, to suit deep or shallow,
rough, or smooth, the largest about a No. 6, down to
No. 8.

124 ANGLING.

In lake fishing a good boatman is not only half, but
two-thirds of the battle. If the lake be of the usual
character, with shallow shores and a deep centre, you drift
along, with an occasional paddle from the man, in a mode-
rate breeze, casting shorewards as you go. If the breeze
be heavy, you either row head to it, or, drifting, you find
it useful to have a rope or chain with a big stone, which,
throwing over and dragging along the bottom, checks the
too rapid pace of the boat.

In lakes where there are shallow bays, like Loch Awe,
and where the water all over them is not more than from
six to eight or ten feet deep, you may make two or three
drifts or courses at different depths. As a rule, the water
from six to twelve feet deep is the best place for the fish,
though I have caught fish more than once with the fly in
lakes where there was, perhaps, a hundred feet of water
beneath them, but this is not done every day. In lakes
like Loch Leven, where there are very large shallow
portions of the lake, you can make very long drifts
without much trouble. If there is not wind enough for
the fly by casting, you will often get a few fish by trailing
your flies with thirty or forty yards of line out, and a
spinning minnow at such times gives a better chance than
the fly. Eow slowly, so as to keep your minnow or flies
deep in the water. In some of the big Irish lakes they
use cross lines for the trout. I cannot approve of it. You
scratch and scare no end of fish ; and as for sport, half the
sport consists in disentangling your flies. I tried it once
for curiosity, but didn't like it.

The one great ingredient in successful fly fishing, as in
most other fishing, is patience. The man whose fly is
always on the water has the best chance. I am a great
sticker myself, and never like to give it up. There is

TEOUT FLIES. 125

always a chance of a fish or two, no matter how hopeless
it looks. You never know what may happen in fly-fishing.
I have, scores and scores of times, seen a bit of luck at the
last moment, which turned a bad day into a good one.
The very last day that I fished last season was one of the
best instances of this that has happened to me for a long
time. There had been rain, and the water was coloured,
and it was a cold blusterous day. A few small fish rose
under the banks, of which I got a brace about fib. each.
Evening came on ; I went to the most likely part of the
stream — a comer below a mill ; there I found the best rod
in our club, who hadn't a fish. He had fished all the best
places carefully, and had done nothing. It was getting
towards dark, and he left for home. I walked with him
for a chat for about half a mile, when I returned to the
mill, my way lying in a different direction. When I left
my friend I took down my cast and reeled up the line,
though the rod was still together. I had a companion
with me, who urged me to have another cast below the
mill, as he knew there were some good fish there. It was
the most hopeless chance to look at I ever saw — almost
dark, bitterly cold and blusterous. I would have bet
50 to 1 against even a rise. I put up the line again and
rose a fish at the first cast, and hooked him at the second.
I hooked three fish at that corner in about twenty minutes,
two of which were about IJlb., and the other 31b.,
besides rising and scratching two or three more. It was
marvellous.

Don't be in too great a hurry to change the fly, and if
your flies are a bad imitation of what is on the water, use
some totally different fly. It is more likely to give you a
fish or two, as it does not challenge comparison and
suspicion. When you get hung up in a bush or tree,

126 ANGLING.

always try persuasion and gentle means first ; an attach-
ment can often, in that way, be done away with, which
force would only make firmer. When you must break,
shorten your line as much as you can and pull steadily,
and if your tackle and line be properly constituted you
should only lose a fly. A stout bit of cord, some half-a-
dozen yards long, coiled in the basket, is often very useful.
You may either tie a small leaded grapnel or hook on to
one end, or even a stone may do if you have not one. This
thrown over a bough, that is out of reach will often be
found useful in saving flies.

Trout grow very rapidly when the water and pro-
vision to be obtained are suitable to them, and they
grow to a larger size in ponds, millheads, and such
still, quiet, deep waters, than they do, as a rule, in
rapid and shallower waters; and there are hundreds,
and even thousands, of ponds in England, which now
only carry a few worthless carp and roach, which, with
a very little trouble, could be made to produce the finest
possible trout. I have known many instances where
this change has been advantageously made, and I have
not, as yet, met with a single failure ; and I hope that
the time will come when trout will be as conmion as roach
are round London.

GEAYLING FISHING. 127

CHAPTEE IX.

GRAYLING FISHING.

THE GRAYLING (Salmo thyvmllus).

This fish, too, is not nearly so widely distributed as it
deserves. Seeing how delightfully it prolongs one's fly-
fishing season, even up to Christmas if the water be in
order and the weather open, and when the fish themselves
are in the finest condition, it has always appeared to me
a most desirable fish to have in many of our trout streams.
Grayling take a fly well, the same flies as are used for
trout being suitable for grayling. The addition of a turn
of gold tinsel, or a little tag or tail of red or orange floss
silk, being a great additional attraction to grayling.
There is a famous fly in Derbyshire called " the bumble,"
which succeeds admirably with grayling. The bodies are
made of different coloured silks, orange or pink, with
spirals of peacock harl up them, and hackles of silver grey
or light dun, or of sandy red, and no wings. As they
vary a good deal in the bodies, I cannot give a close
description of the dressings. Grayling may be taken, and
a good bag even made, when none are seen to rise at the
natural fly. At such times the angler should try the deep
still reaches, and fish well under the banks. Grayling rise
very quickly from the bottom in such places. Grayling
will often rise, and refuse even two or three times, and
then take after all, which trout rarely do. The play of a

128 ANGLING.

grayling frequently, in the more northern rivers, differs
much from that of a trout. He tumbles and rolls about
head over heels, and in a way that is often very trying, to
the hold of the hook particularly, as he is much softer in the
mouth than a trout. In the Hampshire rivers the grayling
play far stronger, and often run and jump in a surprising
manner, and they take longer to kill than a trout. Gray-
ling will often take the fly imder water, rising so quietly
that you will scarcely see any rise or break of the water at
all. It is desirable, therefore, to watch the line narrowly,
and to strike whenever you think it stops or checks, and you
will now and then be surprised, although there is no break
in the water, to find a good grayling on the hook. For, as"
is often the case with trout, the big ones are very quiet risers.
All that has been said on fly fishing for trout may
be more or less applied to grayling, and you may use
two, and even three flies, more safely for grayling than
you can for trout. They are less of weed runners,
and, indeed, in their best season, there are much fewer
weeds to get into. I have found a red hackle, with a
green peacock harl body, and a short tag of bright red
floss silk, to be one of the best flies you can put over a
grayling, which, with a dark- winged olive dun for the first,
and a willow fly for the second drop, is about as good a
cast in October as you could put on the Teme and Lugg.
A Wickham's fancy, too, does well, particularly with a
landrail wing, and a silver bodied fly with blue hackle and
light wing. For the rest any fly which is on the water of
the dun species will prevail with the grayling. The gray-
ling when dainty will take a dry fly well, but the ordinary
method is to cast straight across, and let the fly sweep
down round till it straightens below you, when repeat the
cast.

GEAYLINa FISHINO. 129

The most slaughterous way, however, of fishing for
grayling, particularly on the Shropshire streams, is with
what is called the grasshopper. This is a pear-shaped
lump of lead of small gooseberry size cast on to the shank
of a No. 4 hook. This is twisted over with rows of green
and yellow, and sometimes red wool ; five or six gentles
are then stuck on the hook, and the thing is cast into the
water in a favourable eddy, and allowed to go to the
bottom, when it is jerked up and down in a succession of
short jumps all over the eddy, never being allowed to
remain still. The moment you feel a touch, or the least
obstruction, you strike smartly, and you ought, if well up
to your work, to catch your fish.

When the bottom is first found, a very small quill
float, which is fixed on the line, is set to show the depth,
as a guide to the angler in his jumpifications. A
pretty stiff cane rod is used, and the gut is tolerably stout
— the hook so large that no time is wasted in playing
the fish ; as soon as he is hooked, you put a heavy strain
on, and quickly haul him ashore. Prodigious takes are
sometimes made in this fashion. I have heard of as
much as 901b. falling to one rod in a day. It is a coarse
business altogether. Grayling spawn in April and May,
and, I think, ought not to be taken before July, or even
later on some streams. The largest grayling in the
kingdom are found in the Itchen and Test, where I have
caught them up to 41b. weight, and, though a three-
pounder is not caught every day, 2ilb. fish are common.
They have increased greatly of late years, and some of
these waters now abound with them.

180 ANGLING.

CHAFTER X.

SALMON FISHING.

THE SALMON (Salmo salar).

Salmon fishing is justly considered the highest branch of
the angler's art, and when we know that salmon occa-
sionally are to be taken by the rod up to between 501b. and
601b. in weight, we may well wonder what sort of tackle is
needed to subdue and draw to shore a fish of such size and
power; and when we consider the nature of the water
which the salmon constantly inhabits, the wonder may
even be increased — tremendous currents, obstructed by
huge rocks, being their common habitat. There is little
need to dilate on the history of the salmon, but we must
give a short sketch of it. So far as we know it, it leaves
the sea and runs up the rivers to deposit its spawn, which
it does from November to the end of January chiefly. The
egg8> which are buried in the gravel, hatch in about
eighty or ninety days, or thereabout. The small fry, in
about a month or five weeks, when they have absorbed the
umbilical sac which is appended to them at their first
hatching, make their way out, and begin to seek for food.
From this time they grow more or less rapidly as parr, and
in about fourteen or fifteen months after birth a large pro-
portion of them become smolts ; up to that time they have

SALMON FISHING. 131

been nice little fish of five or six inches in length, and
called parrs, having certain blotches or marks, called parr
marks, on their sides, then they begin to change their
scales, and put on a new silvery coat, which hides the parr
marks, and makes the little fish appear the miniature
salmon it is. These fish are then called smolts, and they
migrate down the river to the sea about the month of May.
Here they stay for a longer or shorter time, and grow very
rapidly, being very eager feeders, and finding abundant
food among the molluscs and fish fry of the ocean. At
the end of three or four months some of these fish,
increased to 31b. or 41b. in weight, come back to the river
as grilse, and push their way up to the spawning beds,
where they spawn for the first time. Many, however, do
not return the same year, but stay another period of eight,
ten, or twelve months, or more, in the sea, and come back
greatly increased in size, often reaching 91b., 101b., or even
111b. in weight. Bat all these fish, on their first return
from the sea, are what are called grilse. They are more
slender in shape, have a more forked tail, and their scales
are more easily detached than is the case with mature
salmon.

Some of the parr, however, do not always become smolts
and migrate so soon. They remain in the river for another
year, and a portion of them have been found to remain
even two years before they make their first move. The
grilse, having spawned, goes down to the sea again as a
kelt, or spent fish, thin, and much deteriorated. And here,
again, there is some ii*regularity about its return, some
coming back mature salmon in a few months, and some
staying on another season in the sea, when they come back
mature fish, much increased in size. But the periods of
these migrations are now known to be more or less uncer-

K 2

192 ANGLING.

tain. Formerly it was believed that there was a regular
stated time for them in all instances, and this led to much
confusion and misunderstanding. Experiment, however,
has taught us better. The salmon deposits a vast number
of eggs, from 10,000 to 20,000, or more, and were it not
for the number of enemies it has, and the reckless and
improvident way it is dealt with by man, our rivers would
literally swarm with them ; as it is, however, scarcely
a mature fish survives out of every thousand of eggs
deposited. Salmon fishing commences on some rivers as
early as February, and on some it continues as late as the
end of November ; most of these late fish, however, are
very much out of condition.

The chief method of salmon fishing practised in Britain
is with the fly ; though minnow, shrimp, and even worm are
used, and kill a large number of fish. We will, therefore, take
fly fishing first. The rod and tackle used for the salmon
is, of course, much larger and stouter than that employed
for the trout. When the angler first takes to salmon
fishing, he should take care not to overburthen himself
with his rod, and, unless he is unusually strong, he will
find a rod of 16ft. or 16Jft. long and heavy enough to
commence with. After a season or a few month's practice,
he may be able to use a longer and heavier one, and may
go on to 19ft or 20ft. or even more, but unless it be in
exceptional water, he will very rarely need one of more
than 18ft., and even 17ft. will be found large enough for
any fish. The reel must be large enough to take 120
or 130 yards of eight plait dressed salmon line easily, so
that there may be plenty of room in winding up ; a plain
winch, not too wide between the plates, and with a mode-
rate check, just heavy enough to prevent the line over-
running, is the best. Multipliers are to be avoided in

SALMON FISHING. 133

salmon fishing, and, for that matter, in all fishing ; the

principle doesn't work, and, as in the old rhyme, it will be

found that

Multiplication is vexation,

and, if it doesn't cause a " division " in " practice," it will
certainly " make you mad." Eight-plait dressed silk line
is the best, and of these lines none equal the London ones.
Many other manufacturers have been tried, but they none
of them stand so well as the London lines. Most of the
other lines are plaited too tightly and closely, and the
result is either that the dressing does not soak into tho
line, but, merely adhering to the outside, soon rubs and
wears off, when they soon wear out (for few salmon lines
will stand^with advantage a second dressing), or the line
has to be soaked so long in the composition, and dries so
slowly that it becomes half rotten before it is dry, and full
half its strength is lost and destroyed. The London lines,*
however, are more loosely plaited, so that the composition
used for dressing not only penetrates quickly throughout
the fibre, but dries quickly too ; and thus, though the
outside may wear, the inside still retains sufficient for all
purposes, and the line is less damaged by the inmiersion.
These lines, however, are expensive, Sd. a yard being the
ordinary price ; and this has induced other makers to
fabricate lines of cotton, hemp, and other materials on the
same plan, but at a much cheaper rate. Some of these
lines are found to answer well ; but, if I can get a good
trustworthy London eight plait silk line I prefer it to all
others, and do not think the extra expense thrown away.
I have had lines of this sort which I have used for many

* Whether these lines are made in London or no I cannot
say.

134 ANGLING.

years, and which are as strong and trustworthy as they
were when I bought them. When a line begins to go,
however, it should be well tested when wety as lines are
often much weaker when they are wet than when they are
dry, and all that is at all unsound should be broken off and
cast aside.

Any line of from eighty yards long and upwards may
be turned end for end when one end begins to show signs
of weakness, but even then the weaker portion should be
broken off, as it is always unsafe ; and it is better to lash
it on to a length of common undressed stuff, which will
answer all the purposes of a long run, which will happen
now and then with a salmon, than to trust to any weak
part. Thus, in a line of that length you get two lines or
rather two lengths which you could hardly get out of a
shorter line, as in the run you would so soon get into the
worn part with a shorter line. It is as well to have the
cast eight or ten yards tapered so as to meet the casting
line, as this makes perfectly straight casting so much
easier and more certain. If more than this is tapered, as
is too often the case, it makes the line too light to go well
through the wind.

Rod, reel, and line being settled on, we next come to the
casting line : I usually employ for this about one yard of
treble- twisted and one of double-twisted gut, and about
two yards or two and a half of good round sound carefully
tied single salmon gut. You cannot be too particular in
looking at all the joints and junctions in your casting line.
Every knot should be regarded with scrupulous care, as if
the gut is new, sound, and good as it ought to be, if a
salmon breaks away it is nineteen times out of twenty one
of the knots that gives. The " double barrel " knot
shown at Fig. 2, Plate 4, in tackle making is the best and

SALMON FISHINa. 135

most safe for salmon casting lines ; it is a little bigger and
coarser than the single, but with stout gut the single will
sometimes slip, and the double may be made fairly neat if
the threads of gut are arranged so as to lie flat and level,
and not ride over one another. It is as well to have a
sound well-lashed loop at each end of the casting line ;
one for the running line to be fastened on to, which should
be done with a single hitch knot ; at the other end the fly
should be looped on, a loop being also made for the purpose
in the thread of gut fixed to the fly.

Salmon flies are mostly tied on loops or eyes, either of
single or twisted gut, or in some instances a loop or eye is
made in the end of the shank of the hook. The simplest
and easiest way is to tie a long loop with a double or a
single shp knot, whichever the angler prefers. I find the
single secure enough if properly soaked, but some prefer
the double. Push the bight of the slij) loop through loop
or eye on the hook so far as to be able to pass the whole
of the fly through the loop ; then draw the slip knot home
down to the eye and jam it tight : and, having looped the
fly on to the cast, you are all ready to begin. On reaching
the river side the casting is done exactly as in the case of
a double-handed trout fly rod. K you are fishing with
your left shoulder to the stream, you should cast from
your left shoulder left hand uppermost ; if with the right,
from the right. This is desirable, as you hang the fly
better in the stream, and that is, as old fishers will tell
you, a point of no slight importance, a very little practice
makes it immaterial which you use. You must cast across
the stream and somewhat down stream, allowing the fly to
go down stream until it is straight down from the top of
the rod, and working the fly more or less by alternately
raising and dropping the point of the rod as you do so.

136 ANGLING.

This makes the fly advance and retreat, giving to every
feather a life-like motion, and precisely the sort of motion
evinced by the shrimps and other marine creatures on
which the salmon feed largely in the sea, and it is supposed
to be very attractive to the salmon. When the line comes
straight down it should be withdrawn after two or three
jerks, and another cast made.

Never use too much power in casting ; it is not only not
necessary but it is injurious, you cast the line with the
top and half the second joint, and very little force suffices
to bring this into play. K you use more, all the effect is
to bring the lower part of the rod into action, which has
very little spring compared with the top of it. Try how
little force you can use (not how much) to get the line out,
and you will be surprised how little is really needed to
send a straight line out. * The tremendous ** whoosh " that
one often hears from a salmon rod is quite unnecessary
and even objectionable. Thirty yards is a very good cast ;
the most I could ever manage was 34J yards, and I
have done that two or three times and measured it. The
most I ever saw cast was 38 yards, but Pat Heams* has
cast over 43 yards. I never heard of anyone else doing
it. It is never necessary to fish over the same cast twice,
unless you have some special reason for it. Take a short
step between each cast so that you leave from two to
three feet between every cast, and thus you will not miss
an inch of the water. Though you may now and then
once in a way cast up stream and work down it is a very
rare case to get a rise from a salmon thus. Here and
there you may seem to do so and get a rise, but you will
frequently find that there is a great eddy at the spot

* Lately dead, poor old Pat !

SALMON FISHING. 137

where the stream really is working up ; and the salmon
always lies head to the stream, so that you will have been
fishing in the proper direction to rise him. Enough
attention is not paid to this, as eddies, particularly below
waterfalls or at the head of heavy streams, are very
common, and their direction is not sufficiently borne
in mind.

When a salmon rises there are three ways of knowing
it, you either see a part or nearly the whole of his body,
as he roUs over at the fly, or you see a large break or boil
in the water as he turns at it ; or you see nothing at all,
but feel a touch more or less smart ; this is often very
gentle indeed, for a 201b. salmon will frequently come so
softly and gently at the fly as scarcely to move the point
of the rod, and you would think that it was hardly a
three-ounce troutling. When you see the aforesaid body
of the fish, or the big break or boil, you may raise the
point of the rod pretty steadily and leisurely ; but, when
you feel the touch under water, you must strike instantly
and pretty smartly, as the fish is a shy one, and has taken
the hook very gingerly, and if not hit at once will drop it
directly. Many people say that you should never strike
till you feel the fish, because it will often happen that a
fish in his eagerness misses the fly, when, if it is not
pulled away from him, he will turn and seize it ; whereas,
if you snatch it away, he will get alarmed, and go down
sulky, and will not rise again ; and I must say that I have
seen this happen on several occasions. But it is by no
means easy (for a young hand more particularly) to avoid
striking when he sees the head and shoulders or the break
of a good fish.

But there is another point of view to be considered, and
that is that fish very frequently rise false, and come at

138 ANGUNG.

the hook with their mouths shut, or roll over, or smack
at the fly with their tails. These fish do not mean taking ;
they rise for frolicsomeness, or from some other reason,
but they will not take ; and yet it frequently happens that
if you strike at such fish the hook comes over or against
some part of the head, body, or fins, and hooks them foul,
and you get the best runs and most obstinate fights out
of foul-hooked fish, though I would only whisper the fact;
and these fish you certainly would not hook at all if you
didn*t strike or waited till you felt them, and it is quite
certain that the number of fish is much greater which you
hook in this way than of those which take the fly after
missing it if you don't strike. On the whole, therefore,
in the long run, the angler will find that it pays better to
strike than not to. As to the theory about pulling
the fly away from a fish before he can take it, or has time
to do so, that is only possible when you are standing on
a high bank, or rock, or bridge, and see the fish coming
from the bottom, at such times you are very apt to do it ;
but as for doing so when you see the rise or break from
the level, it is all nonsense. The fish has the fly by that
time (bar bimgles, of which, as I have said, there are but
few) if he means to have it.

K fish are rising very shyly, fish slow, and sink the
fly — many a fish will take a foot under water who
will only make a boil at a fly on the surface. If the
water is very clear and fine, plenty of single gut of
sea-trout size with small flies may answer. In trying
a shy fish, go slowly over him ; go quickly ; go with
big violent jerks ; go with very slight ones — some like
a steady draw without any, and Mr. Colquhoun recom-
mends simply ^vinding up the line over the throw as a last
expedient. All these and any other plans you can think

SALMON FISHING. 139

of may be tried over a dull fish, and oftentimes in vain ;
he has tasted steel before, and is mistrustful of toppings
and tinsel.

If you do not know a river it is always most desirable to
have someone with you who does. It is not always easy
to tell which are salmon casts and which not on a biggish
river ; and you may waste much time on the part of a cast
which is of little value, and scamp that which should be
fished inch by inch. If you see any stones or sticks stuck
in any unnatural or unusual position, or any cuts in the
turf, <fec., on the bank of a salmon pool, go gingerly oppo-
site that ; ten to one it is a mark to note some fish that
has risen to some former angler, and which has not yet
been accounted for.

When you hook a salmon play him as well as you can.
For some minutes he will play you most likely ; but when
he begins to calm down you may begin to alter the role a
little. It is of no use trying to check a salmon in his first
two or three runs ; but as his trips become shorter and
more laboured, let the line go out grudgingly, so that he
may have a good dead weight to pull against. In the
eariier part of the struggle all you can do perhaps is —
supposing the fish is running up or down, and there be
danger ahead — to take it in time, and by a little pressure,
and a gentle slant of the head, to run him clear of it. To
this end the instant you hook your fish, if you do not
know the pool well, look round ^nd take stock of all the
difficulties you have to contend with, so as to know well
beforehand what you want to do. Always keep a tight
line ; never let any slack hang about anywhere. If a fish
airs himself or jumps, drop the point of the rod, and give
to him all the line you can, so that it may be slack when
he falls in the water again ; but as soon as he is under

140 ANGLING.

water once more recover your strain. Always keep level
with or opposite to your fish, and do not let him get
further below or above you than you can help, as it is apt
to drown the line; and if the fish turns suddenly, you
may have a lot of loose line in the water, and the fish
careering about at his pleasure. When he begins to run
short, look out for a suitable landing-plaoe where you can
bring the fish close in, and where he can be either netted
or gaffed from ; never dash at a fish in gaffing, but wait
until he is well within reach, extend the gaff beyond him
(as near the tail as you can make sure of, so as to spoil
the fish as little as possible), and with a quick stroke and.
a drag, send the point well into him, and haul him out at
oneef letting him hang a dead weight on the hook (the
gaff being held perpendicularly) as you lift him out of the
water, get him in a safe place, and knock him on the head
at once.

If you have not a gaff or net, you must tail him out.
Find a shelving, sandy, gravelly bit of shore, and as the
fish turns on his side beaten, draw him up gently into the
shallow water, when your assistant should go behind him,
grip him firmly by the small of the tail, and " run him
in." If you have no basket nor bag to put your fish in,
get a piece of stoutish string, tie one end tightly round the
small of the tail, put the other end through the gills, out
through the mouth, drawing the fish up to the best part of
a circle, with about a foot of string between head and tail,
and tie off. If you then take four inches of a round stick,
and take a turn of the string round it, you can carry the
fish very convenientiy, and without cutting your fingers
with the string, any distance.

Although it is desirable to be able to make long casts at
times, you should never use an inch more line than is abso-

SALMON FISHING. 141

lutely necessary, or jou throw over aaid beyond your cast,
and so lose power, having more or less a bagged line when
you come on to it, and if your rod is upright, and your
line bagged, and a fish happens to rise, as they will some-
times at the last moment, you cannot strike your fish, and
the chances are a scratch and a lose.

Always fish your best, and cast as if you were expecting
a fish to rise at every cast. If you get listless and out of
heart sit down and smoke till you grow keen again, but
don't fish carelessly. It is ten to one that you lose your
chance if you do. You have been fishing all day perhaps,
and have not touched a fin. You are tired, out of heart,
and careless. You've fished the best of the pool. The
lower bit is never very good, only giving a fish once in a
way. You have pitched your fly out, however, and, your
cigar being out, you take the opportunity to strike a fuzee
while holding the rod for a moment in your left hand, or
you are doing something else equally imprudent, when
suddenly you feel a touch at the rod point. You look up
from the all-absorbing fuzee. "Ah! confound it, there

he was just as I was Oh, dem, dem, dem, he's gone ;

and, having had a good taste of the fly, will not come
again for a day or two, and what a thundering big boil he
made. I'll lay a sovereign that's the twenty-pounder
Jones saw ; and he said it was in this pool, too, but I
thought it was further up. Oh, dem, dem, dem ! " Why.
will you do two things at once? Isn't salmon fishing
enough for anyone ? There is nothing more common than
to fish all day and do nothing, and to get your fish, or even
two, towards evening.

Don't wade if you can do without, as, at the best, it. is
more or less rheumatic. If you must wade, use water-
proofs and worsted under, and always turn them down

142 ANGLING.

when not wading to let the air in and perspiration out.
Don't wade a pool unless you know it well, or have some-
one with you who does, and always " gang warily ; " a
round stone or an unseen boulder may, if it does no worse,
give you a hearty ducking, and if you are five or six miles
from home, and no inn or house near, that is not worth
while.

SALMON FLIES. 143

CHAPTER XI.

SALMON FLIES.

I NOW come to salmon flies. Of these I shall give a list
of fourteen, which will suffice for all general work, and
with which — regard being had to the size, depth and
colour of the water, and the consequent size of the fly —
fish should be killed anywhere. There are hundreds of
varieties of flies used on the different rivers in Great
Britain, and every river has its peculiar varieties. I always
use the flies which are said by the local fishermen to kill
best ; but I have no space to give here a complete list of
all these flies for each river. Salmon fishermen who are
so far interested in their pursuit as to desire this, may
find complete lists for every river and lake fully set forth
and described in my " Book on Angling." But the labour
and drudgery of compiling such a list is so great and so
tedious that having done it twice I have no desire ever to
go through it again. I here give a list of the flies under
the names they are known by. The method of dressing
them follows.

FOURTEEN SALMON FLIES.

The Butcher.
The Jock Scott.
The Blue Doctob.

The Silver Doctor. The Wasps.

The Parson.

The Namsen.
The Popham.

Thunder and Lightnino.

The Black and Teal.

The Orange and Grouse. The Childers.

The Claret. i The Ranger.

144 ANGLING.

With these flies in his book, suited in size and brilliance
to the water, the angler need not fear to encounter any
river. It will be seen, too, that with slight modifications
of dressing, which I have suggested, perhaps double the
number of patterns could be made. I will now give a
brief description of the dressing of each fly.

The Butcher is, perhaps, one of the most general
fayoorites with slight variations. It is dressed in many
ways. The body is made of rough pig's wool. Beginning
at the tail we have about one-fifth of the whole body
oompoeed of claret, then the same quantity of. medium
blue ; ditto ditto red, and the rest of the body of dark
blue ; a reddish claret hackle with gallina at the shoulder ;
fine gold tinsel ; an under wing of golden pheasant's niff
and rump, and a mixed upper wing of mallard, bustard,
wood duck, dyed swan, &c., Ac. : a topping for the tail ;
and the same may be added to the wing if you wish
to make it extra gay. This fly may be used of any size.

The Jock Scott has grown greatly in favour of late
jean. In Scotland there is hardly any river which it will
not kill on. The tail, one topping and a short Indian
crow feather ; the body is made of floss silk in two
joints — the tail joint of golden yellow, the upper one of
black. At the joint are tied in two or three small toucan
points, with two turns of black ostrich harl ; silver twist
over the black joints, gold wire over the yellow ; a black
hackle with gallina over it ; a mixed wing of white tip
turkey, pintail, bustard, mallard, and dyed swan, with one
topping ; a short kingfisher feather on either shoulder ;
and blue macaw points. This fly ranges from a largish
medium size downwards to sea trout size.

The Blue Doctob, another capital fly. Tail, a
topping ; over this a turn of bright scarlet crewel ; body,

SALMON FLIES. 145

very pale blue silk ; silver tinsel ; on large flies double the
tinsel or use silver twist alongside it ; hackle, either a blue
some shades darker, or a blue jay feather may be used,
and over this, at the shoulder, a grouse, or a bustard
hackle; mixed wing of bustard, dark turkey, Argus
pheasant, and dyed swan ; head, scarlet crewel. Some
people omit the scarlet crewel at head and tail, and use
the ordinary black ostrich harl ; it is matter of taste and
fancy. I don't think it influences the salmon much one way
or the other. The fly is dressed large at times. I have seen
very large ones used in the heavier casts in the Tummel,
where it is the best fly by far that can be used ; and they
run down to sea trout size.

The Silver Doctor. — There is another fly somewhat
similar to this called " the Wilkinson," which kills well in
the Tweed and elsewhere. The doctor has a body of
silver tinsel, with a topping for tail, and red crewel at the
butt, as in the Blue Doctor ; blue hackle, speckled gallina
at the shoulder ; and a wing chiefly of pintail with dyed
swan, mixed fibres, a topping or two over, and red head.
The " Wilkinson " has a similar body ribbed with silver
thread; hackle and tail as in the Doctor, with a lake
coloured hackle at shoulder; a mixed wing of bustard,
wood duck, pintail, red and blue macaw, a topping over,
and two kingfishers at the shoulders ; with a black instead
of a red head. The only real difference is in the wing and
the shoulder hackle, which, possibly makes the fly a little
more brilliant, and perhaps improves it. From medium
to a moderate grilse size.

The Black and Teal is a capital fly, and kills almost
anywhere. In small flies I make the body of black silk,
and in larger ones, as it gets towards the shoulder, I throw
in some black pig*8 wool ; a topping for tail ; with silver

l

146 ANGLING.

twist for small, and tinsel for larger flies ; a black hackle
on half the body, and gallina (the large spotted feather)
at the shoulder. In small flies I make the wing simply of
a slip of teal ; in larger ones I add doubled, or a long and
short jungle cock on either side of it as well ; and a small
teal or black partridge feather for the under wing. You
may add a topping if you like. This fly runs from some-
thing above medium size down to sea trout size. It is a
good sea and lake trout fly also.

Thb Obanqe and Grouse. — This is a capital Irish fly,
and will kill in more places than Ireland. Tail, a topping
and small kingfisher feather ; body, orange coloured floss
silk, with a turn or two of lake floss at the tail end ; silver
tinsel ; hackle, grouse with a bit of blue jay at shoulder.
The hackle is usually clipped on the breast, and left long
for the wing ; but I do not like this plan, and prefer a
wing of brown turkey of the same colour as the grouse
hackle, with one topping, and blue macaw points. You
may vary the blue jay at shoulder with any other colour ;
a long fibred black heron hackle, with a coch-y-bonddhu,
instead of grouse, makes a good change, and you may put
a bit of tippet in for an imder wing. , This fly should be
dressed from a small medium size down to sea trout. The
orange must not be too deep a red.

The Clajiet. — This 'fly is sometimes called the fiery
brown. The colour of the body may be varied from a sort
of brownish claret to reddish and almost to plum colour.
The reddish or ordinary claret is the best, however. Tail,
a topping ; body, claret mohair, or seal's fur, with two or
three turns of orange floss at the tail ; gold twist ; a dirty
reddish claret hackle (a darker one for the darker bodies),
with a black hackle at the shoulder ; vary this with a blue
jay; wing, a golden pheasant tippet feather for under

SAXMON FLIES. 147

wing, the upper "wing, mixed gold pheasant tail, brown
turkey, pintail, and bustard, with a few fibres of red and
green parrot, and blue macaw points. This is a very
useful fly, and may be dressed from over medium size
down to grilse size.

The Pa-rson. — This is a very gay fly indeed, and is
rather a name for any fly with a number of toppings in it
than for any particular fly. It hails from the Erne in
Ireland, one of the most charming salmon rivers I know
of, and where I have had many a delightful day's sport ;
but if a striking showy fly is required, this is almost as
good a basis as can be selected ; Tail a topping, some
tippet sprigs, and a short kingfisher feather ; body, golden
floss about three turns, then pig's wool of the same colour,
changing into orange ; silver twist ; a golden olive hackle
with a turn or two of orange over it, and lastly, a lake*
hackle or blue jay in the shoulder, or in very showy flies a
few short toppings are tied in at the breast. The wing
varies according to the brilliancy of the fly — in very bright
flies a single tippet, with cock of the rock (not the square
feather), on either side, two strips of pintail and a lot of
toppings — as many as the fly will carry — with two short
kingfishers at the shoulders, and blue macaw points. In
less showy flies, two golden pheasant saddle feathers over
the tippet and less toppings, with a few sprigs of gold
pheasant tail over the pintail, and no cock of the rock,
does well — the toppings are sometimes tied on so as to
curve upwards. Tie it about medium sizes.

The Namsen. — This fly is remarkable chiefly for the
beautiful way in which the colours of the body are
graduated from the tail to the shoulder. Taking that

* I don't know what they call this colour now, but it is a sort
of red purple.

L 2

148 ANGUNG.

body for a basis, you may put any hackle and wing to it
you like, but I do not think you can improve the body.
Tail, a topping and a bit of red ibis ; body, two turns of
golden yellow pig's wool, changing into orange, and then
into claret, and lastly into darkish blue ; and you may add
a twirl of black. The upper part of the body should be
roughish, and picked out to serve as a hackle ; silver and
gold thread side by side, a black hackle on the shoulder ;
wing, slips of dark turkey, well marked bustard, bittern
wing, and dyed swan fibres, various. Size medium.

The Popham. — This is a curious fly, but it has become
a very general favourite of late years. The body is made
in three equal joints of floss silk, the lowest of bright
yellow, the middle one of medium blue, and the upper one
of orange ; at each joint is tied in two or three Indian
crow feathers, with a turn of peacock harl over ; fine gold
twist ; blue jay hackle at shoulder ; tail, a topping ; a
mixed wing of golden pheasant tail and tippet, bustard,
teal, and dyed swan fibres various, and one topping. From
medium to grilse size.

The Wasps. — These are flies so named on the Tay, but
they are merely the type of the old almost universal Scotch
fly, which formerly, with a slight variation in the wing,
was used, and is now, not only all over Scotland, but
Wales as well. Varied slightly they are the most useful
flies the angler can have in his book. The body is the
main point, it is made of pig's wool, the lower half yellow,
the upper of either medium, blue, black, or claret pig's
wool, or you may graduate it with a few turns of orange
or claret above the yellow ; the hackles are mostly either
coch-y-bonddhu or black, with or without a bit of gallina,
jay, blue or claret, at the shoulder ; tinsel, either silver or
gold at will— tail a discretion. The wings are either of

SALMON FLIES. 149

cinnamon coloured turkey, or brown speckled turkey, or
peacock wing, or (and this is a modem innovation) mixed,
of gold pheasant tail and ruff, bustard, wood duck, and
dyed swan. These flies may be dressed of any size, from
three inches long down to sea trout size. With the black
and yellow body, coch-y-bonddhu hackle, and brown turkey
wing, I beat every fly I could put on the Usk last autumn,
killing every fish I did kill with it, though I used many
other flies. It is now called there the Usk Francis,
though the fly is as old as the hills, or at least as salmon
fishing.

The Thundee and Lightning. — A capital Irish fly
first introduced on the Moy, but now much used also in
Scotland, where it kills well. Tail a topping, black ostrich
over ; body, two turns of orange floss, the rest of black
floss ; gold tinsel ; light orange hackle all the way down
with blue jay at shoulder ; wing dark brown mallard, one
topping, blue macaw ribs ; dark purple head. From
medium to sea trout size.

The Childebs. — This is another capital Scotch fly. I
never did a great deal with it, but that is because I have
used it but little. On all the northern rivers, however, it is
indispensable. Tail a topping with some teal and tippet
fibres ; body yeUow, orange, and dark reddish lake (it is a
difficult colour to describe) pig's wool ; broad gold tinsel ;
a reddish claret hackle and lightish blue or jay at the
shoulder ; wing darkish turkey, bustard, and gold pheasant
tail, with dyed swan fibres, various. From above medium
size down to grilse.

The Kangeb. — There are two Eangers, the black and
blue. The first has a topping for tail. Body two or three
laps of bright yellow floss, then bright red and black pig's
wool ; silver twist and tinsel ; or dark blue hackle with

150 ANGLma.

black at the shoulder ; wing doubled jungle cock feathers,
some tippet, a topping blue macaw horns, and kingfisher's
at the shoulders. Substitute blue pig's wool for the
black and a gallina for a black hackle, and you have the
blue Banger.

ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 151

CHAPTER XII.

ON TACKLE MAKING, &c.

Tackle Making. — The first thing in tackle making is to be
able to tie a hook and gut together. Take some fine toler-
ably strong waxed silk, using either cobbler's wax or white
wax. If the colour of the silk is a matter of any moment,
the white wax will be found the best. Select the hook
and gut, lay the gut along the shank of the hook until it
nearly, but not quite, reaches the bend, and lay the end of
the waxed silk along with it and, holding both gut and silk
in its place on the inside of the hook, twirl the silk round
and round, laying every coil evenly and firmly side by side,
until the whole of the gut is covered, when fasten off with
a couple of hitches drawn tight. Touch the silk with
varnish, and put it aside to dry. A little practice will
enable the angler to do this with great quickness and
certainty ; but, before laying the gut to the shank of the
hook, it is as well (particularly in smallish hooks) to bite,
or indent with the teeth, the gut to be lashed over, as it
gives an irregular surface to the silk and prevents it from
slipping.

The next thing is to tie two ends of gut together so as
to be able to make or lengthen a casting line or other
tackle. On tying gut together you should always soak it
first in lukewarm water — if you do not the knot never
draws so close home, and is very apt to slip. If you have

152 ANGLING.

no warm water at hand, place the ends in your mouth and
keep them there for some minutes. There are two or
three ways of tying strands of gut together, the first and
simplest is by what I call the single l)arrel knot, as given
in the first knot in Plate 4. Lay the ends of the gut
alongside of one another for an inch and a half or two
inches, take a coil round and pass the ends through ;
shorten the useless ends as much as you can so as te waste
none, draw the knot as tight as you can and cut off the
ends, unless you contemplate lashing them te the line with
fine silk, as some people do, when leave about the sixth of
an inch, and lash that, touching with varnish of course.
I sometimes do this with the upper side of such a knot,
when I want to tie on over it a dropper fly ; in other cases
I find it quite enough, with moderately fine gut, to pull
tight when moist, to allow the knot to dry, and then having
cut off the ends, touch it with varnish. It is ten to one
against its slipping in any ordinary trial ; but with stout
salmon gut submitted to heavy strains such knots will
sometime slip unless the ends are lashed. The stouter
the gut the more liable it is to slip.

Many persons, to make quite sure, use the double barrel
knot. This is the same fashion of knot, only the ends are
passed twice through the coil, as shown in Fig. 2, and
when drawn tight you must be careful to anange the coils
so that they lie nice and even, and no one rides over the
other. There is another knot and a very good one — the
double tie knot. Lay the gut ends together as before,
take hold of one end and tie it round the opposite gut,
then take the other end and do the same ; pull the ties
home, and then draw the ties together until they are quite
firm and strong, and cut off the ends. This is shown in
Fig. 3. Some people use this knot for fixing di-oppers :

ON TACKLE MAElNa, ETC. 153

they tie a knot at the end of the gut of the dropper, put
it between the gut strands between the ties before they are
drawn home together, and then when drawn home the knot
in the dropper holds it. I don't approve of the plan.
The only other knots or hitches worth notice are the single
hitch, by which a running line without a loop can be
fastened very quickly and simply to the casting line:
when drawn home this is very secure. (See Fig. 4.) A
double hitch can be made by returning the knot at the end
of the running line again through the eye, so as to leave
a bight of the line on one side of it and the knot end on
the other. When this is drawn tight, the hitch can be
undone instantaneously by a pull at the knot. The double
slip, which is given at Fig. 5, is the double slip loop
mentioned in fastening on salmon flies, the bight is pushed
through the loop of the fly so far that the whole fly can
be turned through it, the slip is drawn home and the end
cut off. It is usually easy thus to take the fly off and put
on another in the same way, though now and then the
loop gets so jammed that it is not very easy to do so.
These are all the knots that are really required by the
angler.

The next point is how to tie a trout fly. The simplest
form of trout fly is not difficult at all to learn. Of course
practice is required to be able to do it neatly. The
simplest form of fly is that of the plain hackle or palmer
fly. It is fitted with more or less body, which has a
hackle rolled over it till it resembles a small section of a
bottle brush. In the north, where hackle flies are largely
and in some instances almost exclusively used, only a few
turns of the hackle are made at the head of the fly. In
other flies — take chub flies for example — they are rolled
thickly all up the body from tail to head. In most of the

154 ANGLING.

winged flies, however, only about two or three turns are
taken at the shoulder or breast, though there are several
exceptions to this ; but suppose we want to make a full
dressed palmer of the chub fly pattern, we take two or
three strands of harl, either of peacock, ostrich, or other
feather, or a fragment of silk, wool, or other matter, and
having whipped on the hook to the gut, and left a good
end of silk hanging, we tie one end of the harl, &c., on to
the lower end of the hook, just above the bend, tying in at
the same time the tip of a hackle of suitable proportions.
See Fig. 6, Plate 4. Then we roll the silk up to the head
of the fly, as that is where we now want it ; we then take
hold of the harl — silk or wool — and roll it round the
shank of the hook, coil after coil, till we reach the
shoulders or head, where the lashing silk is, and with this
we take a turn over the harl, &c., and a hitch to secure it ;
cut off the surplus harl, Ac, and there is the body com-
plete. (Fig. 7.) Then we take hold of the butt end of
the hackle, and roll that on likewise in rather more open
coils, taking care that the points of the hackle are kept
clear and free, and not doubled up anyhow, all of a heap ;
and having in like fashion reached the head or shoulder,
tie off the stump of the hackle with two or three tight
turns and hitches; cut off all the refuse hackle, neatly
press the fibres down in the direction they should point,
pull out any that may have got doubled, so that they
stand in their proper place, with a dubbing needle — this is
a blunted carpet needle, fixed in a handle — blunted that
it may not cut the silk ; touch the head of the fly where
the tying silk is with varnish, and there is your hackle or
palmer fly complete. (Fig. 8.)

If you want a winged fly, you must leave a fragment of
the hook unoccupied at the head, and pinching or pulling

ON TACEXE MAKING, ETC. 155

off a fragment of feather from the wing of a starling,
thrush, or other bird of the requisite size, and, holding
the feather between the left finger and thumb, fit it care-
fully to the hook, so that it may not be too long or too
short, and, having nipped in the butt end of the feather in
the place where the tying silk should come, take three or
four turns of it over that spot, and fasten off ; and if you
have managed it well, you will find the wing of the fly sit
up well, and open in shape like unto the wing of a fly. If
not, and the wing be askew or broken, you must humour
it as well as you can, and make the best of it. Practice
alone will put you on velvet here. Many tyers use a pair
of wings. In this case you should pull pieces from both
the bird's wings, so that they may sit well right and left.
Having tied your wings on separate, then, with the dubbing
needle, cut off stumps, touch with varnish, and all is
finished. (Fig. 9.) In about eight or nine-tenths of the
winged flies, however, the hackle is not carried all up the
body. In this case, when you are carrying your silk up to
the head, after tying in at the bend of the hook the end of
the material which is to form the body, you do not tie in
the tip of the hackle with it, but wait till the silk reaches
half or two-thirds up the shank of the hook, and tie the
tip of the hackle in there, when two or three turns suffice
after the body is on, which is worked up to the head and
past the hackle, carefully avoiding it in the process. If a
tail is wanted, it usually consists of two or three points or
strands of some hackle or other feather ; they are whipped
on above the bend of the hook, after it is lashed to the
gut, before any other process is taken. If a spiral of
tinsel be required, it is tied in at the bend at the same
time as the body material ; and after the body is wound

156 ANGLING.

on, the tinsel is wound over it in open spirals, and tied off
at the shoulder similarly.

There is one more process, and that is in case of a fur
body being required, pick out your fur enough and to
spare, lay it along the palm of your hand, as if you were
depositing the tobacco for a cigarette ; then roll it to and
fro in just the same manner until it incorporates in a long
thin roll. Then lay this against the waxed thread, and
twirl the thread so as to whirl the fur round it, roll on
silk and fur together up to the shoulder till the body is
formed, when pull off the refuse fur, and fasten off the
silk as usual. Then, with the dubbing needle, pick off all
that is not needed, and work the body to the proper size
and form. If the tyer wants his fly to be lightly legged,
he can, by stripping one side of the hackle, and rolling on
the other, have it as light as he pleases ; but he must be
careful to strip the right side of the hackle. A little
experience, however, on all these points, and a few bungles,
which he is sure to make, will soon teach him the right
method, and there is nothing else he will learn so quickly
or so soon from. The only lesson I ever had in fly tying
was seeing a schoolfellow tie a palmer (such as it was, and
it was rough enough in all conscience) hard on fifty years
ago — all the rest I puzzled out myself. There are other
ways of tying flies ; some tie the wings on first, and work
down to the tail, &c. &c. ; but this is the simplest. Since
I knew how to tie flies — particularly salmon flies — I have
picked up a hint here and there, but the general method
is much the same throughout. The great skill — quick-
ness and precision of professional tyers is acquired from
the habit of tying large orders of particular flies. For
example, a man has an order for three or four dozen of
** clarets." First he looks or fits out three dozen hooks

ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 157

with loops ; then three dozen small toppings for the tails.
Then he looks out for a good quantity of claret seal's fur,
with tinsel to match. Then three dozen claret hackle,
three dozen jays, or black, or what-not for shoulders, and
then he makes up three dozen piles of assorted wings.
Having his various materials sorted out before him on the
table, he begins and whips on his three dozen tails, one
after the other ; then three dozen bodies ; then three
dozen strips of tinsel and hackles to match ; and, lastly,
three dozen assorted wings. In this way, if any difficulty
or error occurs in one body, hackle, or wing, &c., it is
corrected by experience in the next, and the constant
doing of the same thing gives wonderful dexterity and
certainty, which an amateur can hardly obtain.

Now, one great object in tying a salmon fly is to leave
nothing but the feathers, &c., it is tied with visible ; all
lashing and fixing materials should be concealed until the
extreme head of the fly, where the loop is reached, when the
least bit of the hook may be left to finish off the lashing.
Consequently, as you finish off one operation, you cover
the lashing of that finish with the material of the next
operation. With the salmon fly, you begin, as in the trout
fly, at the tail. Very many flies have what is called a tag.
This is a turn or two of fine tinsel or thread, and the same
of floss silk. First, you tie on the end of the tinsel, and
work the tying silk back. Take two or three turns of the
tinsel, and tie it off, tying on the end of the floss at
the same time, and work that off in the same way. Then
you tie on the tail, making it set as well as you can in a
straight line with the hook, and curving delicately up-
wards. Having tied that on securely you may touch it
with varnish. Then take a bit of the strongest ostrich
harl you can find (black is usually employed), and tie the

158 ANGLING.

end of that in over the stump of the tail. Take about
three turns of that, taking care that the fibre of the harl
points towards the tail. This is called the butt. It is not
used in all flies by any means ; but in many, and par-
ticularly where the bodies or the lower part of them are
made of floss silk, it gives an elegant and brilliant finish
to the fly. It is not at all indispensable, however. In
tying or fastening off the butt, it is usual to tie on the
floss or other material for the body ; likewise the tinsel ;
and, if it runs all up the body, the hackle likewise. Work
the silk back up to the shoulder of the fly, leaving a
portion of the hook for the wing and head to be fitted on.
The process then followed is just the same as in a trout
fly. You roll on the body and tie it off at the shoulder.
Then the tinsel, and then the hackle, following the spiral
of the tinsel with the quill of the hackle, and fasten
off at the shoulder. If the hackle is only needed at the
shoulder or half way up the body, the tip must be tied on
as you work the silk back; and it must, of course, be
avoided in rolling on the body and tinsel.

Having now got on body, tinsel, and hackle, it often
happens that you want a shoulder hackle. This is com-
posed of some short feather, as a grouse, jay, bustard, or
other hackle. You never want much of this ; at most, not
more than two or three turns. Now to make the hackle
run even, you must compare the length of the fibres, and
match them, cutting off all that is too short, then nicking
the feather where you want to tie the quill in, and cutting
off most of the hackle fibre, so as not to have too big a
bunch of stuff to tie in the point you have thus fashioned.
Work the silk back to the head, roll on the hackle two or
three times round, taking care to make the fibres point
straight and even with the others ; then tie off the stump

ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 159

firmly, and cut o£E all refuse, and touch the tie with
varnish. If you use grouse, jay, or hackles of that class,
it is best to strip ofE one side. Be careful that you take
off the right one. In the jay hackle you will probably
have to shave off some of the quill with a sharp Denknife,
as it is too thick at the stump to roll neatly. This is a
delicate operation. It is always as well to let your varnish
dry before fixing on the wing and head.

If you have what is called an underwing, which usually
consists of one or two tippet or saddle feathers of the
golden pheasant, or some other short showy feather, you
must tie that on first, and the main wing you tie on over
it. This will either be strips of some feather or a mixed
wing of many fibres of various feathers. The strips you
tie on right and left of the under wing, and it is by no
means an easy thing to make them all set straight and
well always. In the mixed wing you either select the
various fibres and put them together before tying on, and
then tie them on in bulk, or you tie on a few at a time.
But all this experience will teach better than precept.
Make a few bungles, my dear pupil, and try to rectify
them, that is the way to learn ; and beyond all you need
not throw away your bungles in disgust. They will
probably kill quite as well as the most perfect works of
art.

One of the most successful fishermen I ever knew was
one of the worst fly tyers, and he always fished with his
own monstrosities. Awful things they were — " quite too
utterly awful " in the Lingua Haut-tonica of the period.
His hackles buzzed in all directions. His tails skewed,
and his toppings stared enough to give a neat tyer the
cold shivers, but the salmon liked 'em well enough some-
how. There was a novelty about 'em, and my friend was

160 ANGLINa.

a very eminent sticker. IVe known him stick for two or
three hours over a fish, and work him with fly after fly till
the fish, in desperation and to get rid of the nuisance, took
it at last. My old friend was particular about colour and
size, however ; moreover, he used a long stretch of single
gut, and that was all that he required, and I am inclined
to think he was not far out.

Having got your wing on to the best of your ability,
you may, if you please, mount it with a topping, or even
two or more, and you may put what are called ribs, horns,
or feelers of macaw points, or you may put cheek or
shoulder feathers — which are short feathers of kingfisher,
blue chatterer, or jungle cock— at the side ; all these are
mounted after the bulk of the wing is on ; all these aids
are more difficult to tie on straight and true than the
other part of the wing, and nothing but practice will
enable a fly tyer to put his wings on neatly. Having
bound your wing on firmly, varnish the tie well, and lay
it aside till dry; then take a bit of harl, crewel, or chenille,
the last is the strongest, and preserves the fly best, tie the
end on, wind it round over the stump of the wing once or
twice, and tie it off to last fragment of hook, and this
forms the head ; take a turn or two on to the loop to make
all secure, fasten off, and, finally, cut off the silk, varnish,
and lay the fly by till it is wanted. If by that time the
wing stands pretty firmly on the fly, and cannot be
wobbled to and fro when handled, you may be satisfied. If
you want to see how any particular salmon fly is tied, you
must cut it up, beginning with the head, and having got
to the silk under it, cut by cut until you work down to the
tail, and you will then see pretty clearly how H is done.
These directions on reading them over appear to me so
dear and understandable, that I think the reader, if he

ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 161

has any taste or appreciation of tackle making, can hardly
miss his mark or lose his way. Some tyers use a vice,
some trust altogether to their fingers. Where the fly is at
all beyond the simplest, I generally use a vice myself, as it
gives more freedom, and another pair of fingers as it were,
and with two pair of spring pliers to hold the silk or the
hackle in place, one ought to be able to get on in time —
once master the method, however, and all the rest is
a matter of practice.

Eecipes. — I have mentioned —

White Wax. — This is made with a lump of resin, about
one-sixth the quantity of beeswax, and one-eighth of
taUow ; melt them together in a pipkin ; then pour out
into cold water, and then work the mass about till it
becomes quite pliable and tough in the fingers ; lay it by
for use.

Vaenish is made of the best spirits of wine put into a
bottle, and about half the quantity of broken up shellac ;
let it stand till all is taken up by the spirit, and when you
use it, let it be quite dry before you put your tackle into
the water, or it turns white and crumbles.

Cobbler's Wax, when it becomes too hard and brittle
in cold weather, may be worked up before the fire with the
smallest fragment of tallow, and will soon become quite
soft and usable.

162

ANGLING.

ADDEISTDA.

I HB&B add a very useful little table compiled originally,
or at any rate put forth, by Messrs. Eaton and Dbller.
of Crooked-lane. It may not be strictly accurate always,
but it gives a fair approximation to what fishes of various
lengths should weigh.

A TABLS Oy APP&OXIM ATB W1IORT8 OF riBH AOGOBDINO TO
THBIB LVNOTB.

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PHEASANTS:

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YACHT DESIGNING:

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PRACTICAL APPLICATION of the SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES

DPON WHICH 18 BX8BD

THB ART OP DESIGNING YACHTS.
By DIXON KEMP, A.I.N.A.,

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nL— Application of the Foregoing Bolea.

Vl— llM Effect of Shifting and B«movingWeighti on StabUity ; the Longitadinal
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X.— Nystrom's System of Parabolic Construction.
XI.— Oalenlation of Probable Speed.
XIL— Coostmetioo Drawing.
XnL— Laying Off ; Taking Off.
XIV.— Ballast and Spars.
XV.— Besistance Experiments with Models.
Appendix.

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THIRD EDITION. GREATLY ENLARGED.
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A MANUAL

OF

YACHT AND BOAT SAILING.

DIXON KEMP, A.I.N.A.,

Adthoe of "Yacht Desiqnwg."

CONTENTS.

Infor.
of

Chap.

r— Selecting a Yacht.
II.— Examination of the Yacht before

Purchasing,
m.— Building a Yacht.
IV.— The Equipment of the Yacht, in-
cluding complete information
as to Spars, Rigging, Ac.
v.— Seamanship.

Thifl chapter contains complete Information
as tothe
the
Off

ing, Oybini

Under way, &o. It also ffires
mation as to the Management
Open Boats.

VI.— The General Management of a
Yacht, including Duty and Dis-
cipline of the Crew.
VII.— Yacht Eacing.

Containing full Information as to the ex-
penses of Tacbt Baolng, and an Kzpoeltion of
Yacht Badng Kales.

VIII.— Centre-board Boats.

This chapter Inolndee designs for Centre-
board Boats for Bowing and Balling, and the
best varietlee of SaUs, with working drawings.

IX.— Sails for Centre-board Boats.

This chapter diaotuses the merits of the
various lug sails and sprit sails used, inoludlitg
the Balance Lug, Chinese Lug, Ounter Sprit
Klg, Falmouth Luggers, Lowestoft Lateen
Sail, Algoa Bay Lateen Sail, Ac.

Chap.

XI. — Centre-board Sloop
XII.— The Polly wog.
XIII.— Lough Erne Yachts
XIV.— Una Boats.
XV. — The American Centre-board

Sloop Parole.
XVI.— The Sharpie and Sneak

Boat.
XVII.— New Brighton SaUing Boats.
XVIII.— Lake Windermere Yachts.
XIX.— Yachts of the Norfolk Broads.
XX.— Itchen Boats— Itchen Sailing

Punts.
XXI.— Clyde Sailing Boats.
XXII.— Kingstown Boats.
XXIII.— Yachts of Three, Five, and

Ten Tons.
XXIV.— Penzance Luggers, Coble,
Oalway Hooker and Pook-
haun, Norwegian Pilot
Boats, ius.
XXV.— The Jullanar.
XXVI.— Double Boats.

This oh^ter Includes a full desoription of
the American Catamaran.

XXVII.— Steam Yachting.
XXVIII.— Ice Yachting.

XXIX.— Canoeing.
Appendix.— Contains complete instruc-
tions as to Practical Boat Building.

This section Is arranged alphabetically In the
form of a dictionary, and embodies a variety of
Information connected with Yachts, Boats, &c.

X.— Brighton Beach Boats.

Full initruction is g^ven as to the Building and Management of every Boat
described.

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THE

CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN:

BEING

A SERIES OF ARTICLES

ON THS

VARIOUS BREEDS OP CATTLE OP THE UNITED KINGDOM,
THEIR HISTORY, MANAGEMENT, &c.

Editsd bt J. COLEMAN,

■dttoroTtlMruin I>«p*(tiiMBto<"TlM FUUL" ftod foniMrly ProfaMor of Affrioolturd
•t Um Ho|mi Acrlooltoiml OoUflg*, Otrenoaster.

CONTENTS.

THE GENERAL iANAGEMENT OF CATTLE.

L— Introductory.
IL— Breeding and General Hana^e-

IILF-PiinelpleA of Feeding— Nature

and Value of Different Kinds

or Food.
IV.— Boildln«s. and the Manufacture

of Manure.
V.—Dalry Manasemeat, the MUk

Trade. Ac.

%.

SCOTCH OBOUP.

THE VARIOUS BREEDS OF CATTLE.

ENGLISH OEOUP.

VI.— Shorthome. By John Thornton.
ViL—Herefords. By Thomas Duck-
ham.
VIIL— Derons. By Capt. Tanner
DaTey.
IX.— The Longhoma. By Gilbert

Murray and the Editor.
X.-aiiBaez Cattle. ByA.HeaBman.
XL— Norfolk and Suffolk Bed Polled
Oattle. By Thomas Fulcher.

-Polled Galloway Cattle. By
Gilbert Murray.
„ Polled Angus or Aberdeenshire
Cattle. By " Scotus."
Xm.— The Ayrshire Breed of Cattle.

By Gilbert Murray.
XIV.— West Highland Cattle. By
John Bobertson.

WELSH AND IBISfl GEODP.
Chap.
XV.— The Glamorgan Breed of Cattle.

By Morgan Evans.
XVI. — Pembrokeshire or Castlemartin

CatUe. By Morgan Evans.

XVII.— The Anglesea Cattle. By Mor-
gan Evans.
XVni.— The Kerry Breed of CatUe. By
E. O. Pringle.

CHANNEL ISLANDS GEOUP.
Chap.

XDl.— The Aldemey Breed of Oattle.
By " An Amateur Breeder."
XX.— The Breton Breed of Cattle.
By J. C. W. Douglas and
Others.
XXI.— The Guernsey Breed of Cattle.
By " A Native.-

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THE

SHEEP AND PIGS OF GREAT BRITAIN:

BEINa

A SERIES OF ARTICLES

ON THE VARIOUS

BREEDS OF SHEEP AND PIGS OP THE UNITED KINGDOM,
THEIR HISTORY, MANAGEMENT, &c.

Edited by J. COLEMAN,

Editor of the Farm Department of " The Field," and formerly Professor of Agrloaltaiv
at the Boyal Aflrrtoultural College, Cirencester.

CONTENTS,

S H B3 B3 P.

THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.

Chap.
I.— Introductory.
II.— Management of Ewes np to

Lambing.
III.— Preparations for and Attention

during Lambing.
IV.— Management from Birth to

Weaning,
v.— From Weaning to Market.
VI— On Wool.

THE BREEDS OF SHEEP.

Chap.
I.— Leicester Sheep. By the Editor.
II.— Border Leicesters. By John

Usher.
III.— Cotawold Sheep. By the Editor.
IV.— Long-Wooled Lincoln Sheep,
v.— The Devon Long-Wools. By

Joseph Darby.
VI.— Bomney Marsh Sheep. By the

Editor.

VIL— Southdown Sheep. By the Editor.

VIII.— The Hampshire, or West Country

Down Sheep. By E. P. Sqnarey.

IX.— Shropshire Sheep. By the Editor.

X. — Oxfordshire Down Sheep. By

Messrs. Dmce and C. Hobbs.

ChM).

XL— The BoscommoD Sheep. By

B. O. Pringle.
XII.— Negrette Merino Sheep.
XIII. — Exmoor Sheep.
XIV.— The Blackfaoed or Scotch

Mountain Sheep.
X v.— Cheviot Sheep. By John Usher.
XVI.— Dorset Homed Sheep. £^

John Darby.
XVII.— Welsh Mountain Sheep. By

Morgan Evans.
XVIII.— The Radnor Sheep. By Morgan

Evans.
XIX.— Herdwlck Sheep. By H. A.

Spedding.

XX.— Sheep Farming in Queensland.
By John Sidney.

FIGS.

Chap.
I.— General Management of Pigs.
II.— The Berkshire Pig. By the Editor,
ni.— Black Suffolk Pigs.
IV.— Large White Pigs. By the Editor,
v.— SmaU White Pigs. By the Editor.
VI.— Middle-bred White Pigs. By the

Editor.
Vll.— The Black Dorset Pig. By A.
Benjafield.

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BSPBINTED FBOM ''THE FIELD" NEWSPAPEB.

By J. H. WALSH,

** STOKXHiNeB," Editor or *< The Fiklo."
{WITH THE AID OF SEVBRAL EXPERIENCED BREEDERS.)

CONTENTS.
General Manafirement.

L— MAnA(ein«nt of Dogn in Health.
IL— Drag* Oommoaly Used for the
DiMsaee oT Doga, and their Modes
of Administration.

III.— The Ordinary Diseases of the Dog

and their Treatment.
IV.— Judging at Dog Shows and Field

Trials.

Sportlngr Doers.

I Book

•Dogs Used with the Otin. | II.— HoandB and their Allies.

Non-Sportlngr Dogs.

L— Watch Dogs. m.— Terriers (other than Fox and Toy)

n.— Sheep and Cattle Dogs. I IV.— Toy Dogs.

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THIS WORK CONTAINS ABOVE 700 PACES, AND NEARLY 400

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cloth gilt.

Shifts and Expedients

OF

CAMP LIFE. TRAVEL, and EXPLORATION.

W. B. LORD AND T. BAINES.

(Royal Artaiery.) {F.R.OM.)

CONTENTS.

iKTRODUCnON.
Chap.
I.— Outfit to take abroad.
II.— BoatB, Eaf tfl,and Makeshift Floats
m.— Working in Metal.
IV. — Hats and Houses,
v.— Extempore Bridges and Make-
shifts for Crossing Eivers and
Bavines.
VI.— Timber and its Utilisation.
VII.— Sledges and Sledge Travelling.
Vni.— Boots, Shoes, and Sandals.

Chap.
XV.— Fish and Amphibious Animals.
XVI. — Poisoned Weapons, Arrows,

Spears, itc.
XVII.— Tracking, Hunting, and Trap-

ping.
, — Palanqi

XVni.— Palanquins, Stretchers, Ambu-
lances, Ac.
XIX.— On Sketching and Painting
under the Ordinary Difficul-
ties of Travel.
XX.— The Estimation of Distances,

IX. — Waggons and other Wheeled and Hints on FieldObserving.

Vehicles. I XXI,— Hints to Explorers on Collect-

X. — Harness and Pack Animals. I ing and Preserving Objects

XI. — Camels. I of Natural History.

Xn.— Cattle Marking. XXII.— Eopes and Twines.

XIII.— Water, and the Sap of Plants. XXIII.— Bush Veterinary Surgery and

XIV.— Camp Cookery. Medicine.

Extract from the INTRODUCTION.

Like two voyagers returned from a long cruise in far-off seas, we throw together
our joint gleanings in many lands. These do not consist of jewels, gems, gold, or
furs ; no piles of costly merchandise do we lay at the reader's feet as offerings from
distant climes, but simply the experiences of two roving Englishmen who have
"roughed it." By those who have to pass through a campaign, travel wild
countries, or explore little known regions, shifts must be made, and expedients of
many kinds had recourse to, of which the inexperienced in such matters would but

little dream In our travels and adventures we have not been associated, the

paths trodden by us being widely separated. Whilst one was exploring the wilds
of North Australia, the other was dwelling in a canvas-covered hole in the earth
before Sebastopol. The scenes chanare; Southern and Tropical Africa is visited
by the late Australian traveller, whilst the Crimea, with its rugged hills and wild
ravines, is exchanged for the jungles of Central India by the other.

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THE

MODERN SPORTSMAN'S
GUN AND RIFLE,

INCLUDING

Came and Wildfowl Guns, Sporting and Match Rifles,
AND Revolvers.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

Vol. I.— Game and ^Vildfowl Guns.

By J. H. WALSH,

** Stonkbkkob," Editob of "The Field,"
Amtktr <r* ^V» o/thtBritUh I$kmd$," " The Orefkomd," " BrUUh Rural Sporti" *c.

** A peniMl of Mr. WaUh'a book baa forced apon as tbe conclusion, one that will
be aluired by neaiij erery reader, that it is indisputably the Rtandard work on the
■nbiect, and ia Ukely kmg to remain so— a position it richly merits. Sportsmen
will anxkmaly look forward to tbe eeoond Tolume of the work, for there is every
WOP to anOeipale that tbe same high sUndard will be maintained, and that the
rifle will reoelTs aa comitete an exposition as tbe ' Qame and Wild Fowl Uunn.'
We ar» oi^ fnlfUllof a duty to the pablic when we say that no man connected in
any way with nnaor ffnimery sboald be without a copy of Mr. Walsh's masterly
reamer— Tk» Dbmtighmm DaUy Oatette, Not. 31, 1883.

** It will be aeen that the work contains a variety of hints which may he useful to
inWDding purchasers of cons, so that we can confidently recommend an intelligent
^■aee throogb it aa likdy to save money and prevent disappointment."— iSa^urcfat^

** Taking the work aa a whole, the sportsman will find in it much information on
(una, shot, and kindred topics."— /*a// Mall Oatette.

** Tbe meet complete work that baa yet been written on sporting guns."—
8L Jamet'i Oazette.

<* For breadth of view and completeness this treatise could hardly be excelled.
U haa, moteover, the advantage of reporting authoritatively on the very latest
Its, both as regards weapons and powder and shot, all which objects

of % nortKnan's consideration seem to be susceptible of indefinite progress." —
Dattflfeun.

^ With sQcb a guide as this, all who appreciate sport will be able to enjoy it
folly, and, what is of importance, will be able to avoid much of the danger
attending the use of imperfect weapons.- 7'A« Bra.

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SPORTING SKETCHES

WITH

PEN AND PENCIL.

BY

FRANCIS FRANCIS AND A. W. COOPER.

CONTENTS.

The First of September. Babbit Shooting.

A Day in a Punt. Eoaohing.

Mark Cock ! GrooBe Shooting.

Tronting. Salmon Fishing.

Long Tails and Short Ones. Snipe Shooting.

Paying the Pike. Grayling Fishing.

Crown 4to., printed on toned paper, price 26s., by post 2S<.
THE

ANNALS OF TENNIS.

BY

JULIAN MARSHALL.

ThjS work will be found very complete, and, it is thought, jnstly entitled to take its
place as the standard work on Tennis. It has cost its author much laborious^
research ; and, independently of its great value to tennis players and all lovers of
the game, it is trusted, from the vast amount of carious lore it contains, the volume
will be found not unworthy of a place on the shelves of the scholar. The author,
himself a well-known amateur, is fully competent to speak with authority on the
game, having had the opportunity of studying the play of the best Continental, In
addition to that of the best English, masters, and, therefore, may be taken as a safe
guide by learners.

CONTENTS

I. — Tennis Abroad.
n. — Tennis in England.
III. — The Court and Implements.

rV. — The Laws and their History,
v.— The Game.
VI. — Appendix.

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A PRESENTATION VOLUME FOR CLUBS.

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THE

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OOMPKISINO A DIQB8T OP ITS

ORIGIN. CHARACTER. HISTORY. AND PROGRESS.

TOOKTHKB WITH

AN EXPOSITION OF ITS LAWS AND LANGUAGE.

CHARLES BOX,

MM Of 0«l*brat«d Play«n." Sssaya on
■Bd PtMOoe of Cricket," ko.

CONTENTS.

TOV Introdaetory.
VL)

QluoM at ik» PMt and PrMeat SUta of
Oraaty Cricket.
Vn.— IflddleMX.
Vm.— PnbUo School Uatcbaa.
IX— Kent.
X.— Hampahlre.
XL— Sorrej.

hire.

xniw— N(

XIV^Ti

XV.— Warwickshire and Derbyshire.
XVT. — Oloucefltershire.
XVII. — Lancaiihire and Leicestershire.
XVIII.— The Eastern Counties.

^^l IntercolonUl Matches.

XX I.— School and Village Matches.
XXIL— Curiosities of Cricket.
XXin.— Cricket Grounds.
XXIV.— Laws of the Game.

XXV.— Poems, Son«s, and Ballads.
XXVI.— Glossary of Words and PhraseR.
P08T8CBTPT.— Shakespeare and Cricket
—An Enforced Dissertation.

OPINIONS OP THE PRESS.

'< The most complete and interesting work on cricket ever published. No expense
has been spared in making that which is really useful a very handsome volume." —
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the new." — Sporting and Dramatie Nan.

** This work will prove interesting to all lovers of cricket."— 7Ynj««.

*^ The volume is a very handsome one indeed, destined, doubtiess, to become an
authority on the essentially ' English Game of Cricket.'"— i/omt;!^ Pott.

"The beet work on cricket that has yet come under our no\lice."- -Nottingham
Jommal.

*' A handsome and well got-up volume, the author being the man of all others
qualified and in a position for compiling such a work.— ATen^ Herald.

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BY LAKE AND EIVEE:

AN ANGLEE'S RAMBLES IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND
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Author of "A Book on Angling," <fec.
Second Edition, large post 8vo., price 5«., by post 5s. 3d.

JL 3sr C3- Xj I 3sr a-.

By FRANCIS FRANCIS.

Author of " A Book on Angling," " By Lake and Eiver," " Hot-Pot," 4c.

Prkface.

CONTENTS.

Chap.

v.— The Pike.
VI.— Trout Fishing with Bait
VII.— Fly Fishing for Trout.
VIII.— Trout Flies.
IX.— Grayling Fishing.

I.— The Art of Angling,
n.— Mid- Water Fishing.
III.— Surface or Fly Fishing,
rv.— The Gudgeon, the Pope or Buff,

the Bleak, the Roach, the Budd, I X.— Salmon Fishing,

the Dace, the Chub, the Barbel, { XI.— Salmon Flies,

the Bream, the Carp, the Tench, ; XII.— On Tackle Making,
the Perch. I Addenda.

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Christmas in the Fisherman's Snuggery— St. May Fly— Catching TarUrs—
Under the Boughs, " Now and Then "—Reminiscences of an Angler, " Farmer
Qumshun "—Bankers and Tinkers— The Pleasures of Grayling Fishing — Will
Whistle — An Angler's Christmas Yam— Reminiscences of an Angler, '* Squaring
the Keeper ''—A Week on the Brattle— A Storm on the Bra wle— White Trout and
Salmon Fishing in Galway— Reminiscences of an Angler, " Anglers' Miseries "
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MODERN WILDFOWLING.

BY

LEWIS CLEMENT,

" WiLDFOWLBB."

I.— Introdat'tlon.

CONTENTS

Clw]

Uunle-loadinx Punt Gans
(Flint. Percasaion and Ck>pper

t.ferciu«]
• lotion.

Tob©

BreeehkMdlof Ptint Onnt.

-LcMdinff Pont Oons.
-Alminf and Firing Pont Qnns.
-The 8^Slx« of Punt Qona.
oO and After-recoU Appa-

Pont«.

-Laonchinc Pnnla and Oanoea.
-Panting.

Pnnting.

-My First Sln^le-banded Pant-
ing Trip.

Amateur and Professiona]
Puntnncn.

ciwp.
XXVII. -)

XXVIII. ^Shoulder GuHB.
XXIX.)
XXX.— Flapper ShooUng.
XXXI.— Inknd Duck Shooting.
XXXII.— SnllioK to Fowl.

^^J^^; j- Decoying to the Qun.

XXXV.— Decojrlng in America.
XXXVI.— American Blinds.
XXXVII.— American Canvas • back
Shooting.
XXXVIII.— Shore Shooting.
XXXIX.— Flighting.

XL.) Curious WUdfowl and Sea-
XLI.f fowl Shooting Expedients.
XLIL-Oloae Time and WUdfowl

and Sea-fowl Acts.
XLUI.— "Wildfowler'B" Table of

XLIV.— Netting Plovers and Snipe
Snaring.
XLV.— Snaring and Hooking Sea-
fowl on the Continent.
XL VI.— Decoying into the " Pipes."
XLVIL— Flight Ponds and Eock

Fowling,
XLVni.— Concluding Bemarks.

OPINIONS OF THE PBESS.

**AnezoeUent work indeed, and full of capital illuotrationR, is 'Modem 'Wild-
fowling;' to recommend it aright I should have, if I were clever enough, and it did
not already exist, to invent the famouR phrase, 'a book no gentleman's library
should be without.' "—Truth, March 17, 1881.

♦* This book deals not only with the various modes of approaching or decojing,
and killing wildfowl of all kinds, but enters into minute details upon the construc-
tkm of punts, both single and double banded: sails; punt guns, muzzle-loading as
wefl as Dreechloarting; recoil apparatus; and shoulder guns of all patterns, with
the Tmrytng loada required for different bores. In addition to this are several
chapters devoted to a narration of the adventures of the author while in pursuit of

wildfowl, both at home and abroad— which are very pleasant reading

With the addition of a good index, sportsmen will have in this work a capital vade
on the art of wildfowling.— 7%« ZooloffUt for November, 1880.

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Chap.

XVI.— Brown In the Country.
XVIL— The Earthstoppers' Feast.
XVIII.— The White Snipe.
XIX. — Swans and Eagles.
XX.— The Philosophy of Mlsalng.
XXI.— Shooting In Aldemey.
XXII.-Shirkers.
XXIII.— Our Black Heath.
XXIV.— Traps and Calls.
XXV.— Northward.
XXVI.— A Bright October.
XXVII.— Varied Shooting.

uoap.

I. — Agricultural Labourers.
II.— The Rough Eider.
III.— The First of May.
IV.—" Strictly Confidential."
v.— Shooting Dress.
. VI.— Some Old Portraits.
VII.— Dens and Sanctums.
VIII.— The Bat-catcher.
IX.— Early Morning in London.
X.— The Earthstopper.
XI.— The Shooting Pony.
XII.— Whistle and Whip.

XIII.— Old Traps and Spring-guns. XXVIII.— The End of the Season.

XIV.— Tom Frere the Hard-riding XXIX.— On Beating for Game.

Fanner. | XXX.— Land Valuers and Stewards.

XV.— Expecting Brown. | XXXI.— Snipe Shooting.

This work is admirably adapted for use as a Sporting Touriat's
Handbook, while it is of absorbing interest to the general reader.

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OF

LIFE, SCENERY, AND SPORT IN NORWAY.

Rev. M. R. BARNARD, B.A.

Author of " Sport in Norway and Where to Fbid It," " Life of Thorvalsden,"
and Translator of " Private Life of the Old Northmen," and a '' Summer in
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ESSAYS

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SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY.
By J. E. HARTING.

CONTENTS.

Shooting— Hawking— Fishing — Training Hawks — Lark Mirrors —
PloT«r Catching — Fishing with Cormorants — Decoys — The Irish
Wolfhound— The Badger— Wild Turkeys— The Great Bustard-
Seals- Wfld Swans, Ac.

Thirty-eight Essays : oonolading with Practical Hints on Bird
Preserring for the use of Travellers and CoUeotors.

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RAMBLES AFTER SPORT;

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TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN THE AMERICAS AND AT HOME.
By "OLIVER NORTH."

CONTENTS.

A Week's Dock Shooting at PooI»— That Sheldrake— Qoail Shooting in California
—Bear Hunting in Mezioo— Bear ShooUng in California^— My First Elk— My Last
Bear— Bound Ci^M Horn, Valparaiso, Santiago— Andacollo, Lima, Panama,
Jamaica— Country Sports and Life in Chile— Shooting in Chile— Two Days' Fishing
in ChUe— ** Toling" for Doeks in Califomia^Up the Sacramento— The White Elk
of Astoria— Sport in tbe Coast Bange M oontains.

In large post 8vo., limp cloth, price 2s. 6d., by post 2s. Sd.

OOXjOI^J^IDO :

ITS

AGRICULTUEE, STOCKFEEDING, SCENERY, AND SHOOTING.

By S. NUGENT TOWNSHEND, J. P.

(''St. Kambs.")

"THE field" office, 346, 8TEAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BY HOEACB COX. 17

Now ready, VOLUME I. (containing Parts I., II., and III.), in
crown 8vo., red cloth, price 6s., hy poit 6«. 6<J.

THE

HUNTING COUNTRIES

OF

ENGLAND,

THEIR FACILITIES. CHARACTER, AND REQUIREMENTS.

A GUIDE TO HUNTma MEN.

By "BROOKS BY."

CONTENTS.

PART I.— Introduction— The Belvoir— The South Wold— The Brocklesby—
The Burton and The Blank ney— The Fitrwilliam— The Quom— The Cottesmore—
The Puckeridge— The Old Berkeley.

PART II.— The North Warwickshire— The Pytchley— The Woodland Pytchley
—The Atherstonev-The Blllesdon or South Quom— The Meynell— The Bicester and
Warden Uill Hunt— The Heythrop— The Old Berkshire— The South Oxfordshire—
The South NottinRhamBhiro— The East Kent— The Tickham— The Vine— The
South Berkshire— Mr Garth's— The H. H.— The Tedworth— Lord Ferrers'— The
Warwick Bhi re.

PART III.— The Dulverton— The Stars of the West— Mr. Lnttrell's— Lord
Portsmouth's— The Essex and the Essex Union— The Hertfordshire— The Whaddon
Chase— The Vale of "White Horse— The Cheshire and South Cheshire— The Black-
moor Vale— The Cambridgeshire— The Duke of Grafton's— The Holdemess— The
Oaklqr— The North Herefordshire— The Duke of Buccleuch's— The Tynedal©—
Lord Percy's— The Morpeth— The Bufford.

Also nmo ready (VOLUME II.).

PART rV.— The Badsworth— The Southdown— The East Essex— The Bram-
ham Moor— The East Sussex— The Essex and SufTolk- The York and Ainsty— Lord
Fitzwilliam's— The Crawley and Horsham— The West Kent— Sir Watkin Wynn's
—The Hursley— The Hambledon— Lord Coventry's— The Grove— The West Norfolk
-The Bedalo— Lord Zetland's— The Craven— The Surrey Union.

PART v.— The Old Surrey— Mr. Richard Combe's— The Burstow- The Hur-
worth— The Cattistock- The Suffolk— The Shropshire— The Earl of Radnor— Capt.
Hon. F. Johnstone's— The South Durham— The Worcestershire— The Ledbury—
The South Herefordshire— The South Staffordshire— The North Staffordshire— The
Duke of Beaufort's— The Cotswold- The Dumfriesshire— The Albrighton— The
North Cotswold.

Each Part is published separately, pries 2s. 6d.

In One Map, bound in red cloth, mounfed on eantxu, site 25in. by 25in., price is. 6dL,
by po$t At. %d.

"THE FIELD" HUNTING MAP

(printed in colours),

GIVING THE NAMES AND DISTRICTS OF EACH PACK OF HOUNDS FROM
CARLISLE TO LAND'S END.

" THE FIELD " OFFICE, 346, STBAND, W.C.

18 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

^010 ready t royal 8vo., price 10s. 6d., hy post lis.

HORSE BREEDING RECOLLECTIONS.

BY

COUNT G. LEHNDORFF,

CONTAININO :

Notes on the Breeding of Thoronghbreds — In-breeding and Out-
orowing — Pedigrees of all the Principal Sires — and (Genealogical
Tables of Celebrated Thoroughbreds.

Post 8vo., price 7s. Sd., hy post 8s.

MOSS FROM A ROLLING STONE;

MOORISH WANDERINGS AND RAMBLING
REMINISCENCES.

BT

•* SarctRe" o/**J%e FUld," <tf., Amthor iff The Diamond Diggingt of South Africa:*

Price 5». cloth, by post 5s. 4d.

A Year of Liberty ; op, Salmon Ang-Iing in Ireland.

BT

W. PEARD, M.D,. LL.B.

In One Volume, larffi pott 8ro. iri7A Mapt, price &*.. by pott 6i. 4</.

THE DIAMOND DIGGINGS OF SOUTH AFRIGA.

A PERSONAL AND PRACTICAL ACCOUNT.

BY

" SarcelU;' of " The Field."

CONTENTS.

Put I Part

L— (}eneral Account of the Fields. IV.— My Diary at the Diggings.

IL— Bootes to the Fields. j V.— The Gold Fields.

IIL— Sketches of Life and Character on the Fields.

THE field" OFFICE, 346, STRAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BY HOBACE COX. 19

Thibd Edition. Large post 8ro. price 7s. Gd. cloth, by post It. lOd.

FACTS AND USEFUL HINTS

RELATING TO

FISHING AND SHOOTING:

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A LIST OF RECIPES FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND CURE
OF DOCS IN DISEASE.

Edited by I. E. B. C,

Editor of " The Gamekeeper's and Game Preserver's Account Book and Diary," Ac.

C035rTE2SrTS.

FISH INC.

Baits— Fish— Fish Hatching— Flies and Fly Making— Flights— Floats— Gnt— Lines
—Miscellaneous— Nets— Ponds and Streams— Rods— Wading Boots— Wax.

SHOOTING

g — Coverts — Deer— 1
sts — Preserving — Rabl

APPIVDIX.— I>iB«a8e8 of Dogs.

Birds and Beasts- Breeding — Coverts — Deer— Dogs— Ferrets— Foxes— Guns—
Kennel— Miscellaneous— Nets— Preserving — Rabbits— Rifles — Traps — Vermin.

In post 8vo., with IHuatrations, price 3s. 6d.

THE PRACTICAL MANACEMENT OF FISHERIES.

a book foe propeietobs and keepees.
By Francis Francis,

Author of ♦' Fish Culture," " A Book on Angling," " Reports on Salmon
Ladders," Ac. <feo. &c.

CONTENTS.

Cbap. CIuu>.

I.— Fish and Fish Food. VL— On the Rearing of Fry and

II.— How to Grow Fish Food and how the Conduct of Ponds, Stews,

to Make Fishes' Homes. Ac.

III.— On the Management of Weeds and VII.— Some Hatcheries.

the Economy of Fishing. VIII.— Coarse Fish.

rV.— The Enemies of Trout and how to '. IX.— On Salmon and Trout Ladders

Circumvent them. ' and Passes,

v.— The Artificial Incubation of Ova. Appendix.— Notes, Ac.

"THE field" office, 346, STRAND, W.C.

20 A CATALOGUE OP BOOKS

Now nady, quarto, price 5»., by po9t 6«. 6d.
THE

GAMEKEEPER'S AND GAME PRESERVER'S

Account l^ook attir ©tars.

By I. E. B. C.

of tracts and Uaefal Hint« reUtliv to Fishing and Shooting," "The
Angler's Dlarj-," Ac

AKD m GUAROIAire.

or AoRUMurr.

BKHPTS AVD PATmMTB.

VSKlfnt DIABT—

OcnanU 8amm*rr,

POCLTKT DlAKT—
BMSlptaaii

PHBASAJrr DUBT—

ITS SECTIONS COMPRISE-

Dm DlABT—

KmumI Vmmm, A«m, VaIim, fto.
KaniMl Oooapanta at the bertnninff of

•Mih Qoartar of the Tear.
Prodoo* Rerlater— Bitches.
Stad Bealster.
PwUfTsas.
Beodptau

Oamb Diaby—

Tol»l Bammanr at the Besson.
Prodooe of the Beats or Gorerts.
TsnsBta. tto., to whom Owne should be

InTentorjr of AppUsnoes, fto.
Stock Valuation.
General Balance Sheet for the Tear.

In handy pocJcet site, price 1«. W., by po»i Is. 7d.

THE GAMEKEEPER'S SHOOTING MEMORANDUM BOOK

FOB THE
REGISTERING OP GAME SHOT, MEMORANDA OF SALE, Ac.

By I. E. B. C.

Editor of " Facte and Usefal Hlnta relating to Fishing and Shooting," " The Game-
keeper's and Game Preserver's Account Book and Diary," Ac.

Oroim Svo., price 2>». 6d., by post 2«. 9c?.

PUBLIC SHOOTING QUARTERS

IN ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, AND ON THE
CONTINENT.

By •• W I L D F O W L E R ,"

Author of " Shooting and Fishing Trips," *• Modem Wildfowling," « Table of
Loads," Ac.

"THE field" OFFICE, 346, 8TBAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 21

Thibd Edition, Enlarged and Eevised.
Large post 8vo., with Illustrations, price 5s. cloth, by post Ss. 4<l.

THE COUNTRY HOUSE:

A COLLECTION OF USEFUL INFORMATION AND RECIPES,

Adapted to the Country Oentleman and his household, and of the greatest utility
to the housekeeper generally.

By I. E. B. C,

Editor of " Facts and Useful Hints relating to Fishing and Shooting," and " The
Gamekeeper's and Game Presenrer'a Account Book and Diary."

Published Annually. In post 8vo., price Is. 6d., by post 1«. 8d.

THE ANGLER'S DIARY

AND

TOURIST FISHERMAN'S GAZETTEER

CONTAINS

A Record of the Bivers and Lakes of the World, to which are added a List of

Rivers of Qreat Britain, with their nearest Railway Stations.

Also Foims for Regintering the Fish taken during the year; as well as

the Time of the Close Seasons and Angling Licences.

By I. E. B. C.

Editor of " The Gamekeeper's and Game Preserver's Account Book and Diary," Ac.

Fourth Edition. In/cap. 8vo., price Is., &y post Is. Id.

GROUND GAME ACT, 1880,

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES,

Indicating the various periods at which the law comes into force under different
conditions, its effect on existing contracts between owners and occupiers of land,
and the lessees of sporting rights, the limitations placed upon the killing and
selling of ground game, and other matters included in the Act.

*' Will be a great convenience to magistrates, and to all persona affected by the
Act." — Saturday Review.

Third Edition. In /cap. Svo., price Is., by post Is. Id.

WILD BIRDS' PROTECTION ACT, 1880,

WITH COMMENTS ON THEIR RESPECTIVE SECTIONS

Explanatory of their bearing as regards owners and occupiers of land, sportsmen,
bird catchers, bird dealers, Ac. ; together with Notes on the Birds named in the
Schedule, their provincial names, &c.

" An accurate exposition of and commentary on the recent measure, and will
dispel many misconceptions of its acope."— Quarterly Review.
'A capital annotated edition of the Act." — Saturday Revieic.

"THE field" OFFICE, 346, STRAND, W.C.

A CATALOOUB OF BOOKS

Sbcond Edition. In dtmy 8vo., price 10». 6d., by post lis.

ESTATE MANAGEMENT:

A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK FOE LANDLORDS. STEWARDS,
AND PUPILS,

WITH A

LEGAL SUPPLEMENT BY A BARRISTER.

AJ.80

Cnuutt Bigi)t from a laiitrlortl'it ^otiit of tSitfo,
By CHARLES E. CURTIS.

L— Leuiiwa
II.— r»mVi

CONTENTS,

ralaations.

in.-]

IV.
v.— FenoM.
VL— QrMneii raluble for Wood* and

Planutlona.
VIL— The Home Farm.

^'jy- j Bepairs and Materials.

xi— The Bliffbts of Wheat and other

CerealB.
XL— Aocotinte.

XII.— Usefal Bales of Arithmetic and
Mensuration.

In croicn 8vo., price Is.

CATECHISM OF ESTATE MANAGEMENT.

SECTION I.

LETTING AND LEASES.

BT

CHAS. E. CURTIS, P.S.I.,

ProTeMor of Estate Management at the College of A^coltare, Principal of the
Sdiool of latate Manaffement, Aathor of *' EsUte Manaipement," &c.

Jn crown 8tx>., vnth Thirteen full-page Plates, price 2«. 6d., 61/
post 2s. 9d.

The Swimming Instructor:

A TREATISE ON THE ARTS OF SWIMMING AND
DIVmG.

By WILLIAM WILSON.

Anther of ** Swimming, Diving, and How to Save Life," '' The Bather's Manual,"
" Binte on Swimming."

"THE FIELD*' OFFICE, 346, STBAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 2^

Just pvhlished, 228 pp., demy 8vo., price 4«., by post 4s. 4ci.

SILOS

FOB

PEESEEVING BRITISH FODDER CROPS STORED
IN A OREEN STATE.

Notes on the Ensilage of Grasses, Clovers, Vetches, &c.

COMPILED FBOM VAEIOUS SOUBCES

BY THB

STJB-EXDITOI^ OIF "the DF^IEILID."

I. INTBODUCTOBV. COHT^HTS.

II. Cbops fob thk Silo.— Grasses, cloven, lucerne, vetches, green rye and
oats, roots and miscellaneous crops.

III. Making thb Silo.— Earthem pits and other simple forms of silo; best
kinds ; American silos of concrete, wood, Ac. ; English silos.

rV. Cost of Sii.08.— Estimation of capacity and cost of American silos built
of wood, concrete, brick, stone, and mixed materials ; French and English
silos; relative capacity of silos and hay-bams; roofs, weights, and planks.

V. Filling and Emptying the Silo.— Mixture of dry material with green
fodder; influence of wet weather; chopping up fodder; slow r. quick
filling ; the use of salt ; the covering boards ; closing the doorway ;
opening the pit.

VL COVKBINO UP THK SiLO.— Straw and other materials.

VII. Wkightinq the Silo.— Amount of weight to put on; consequenoea of
insufficient pressure.

VIII. Effect ok Ensilage on Foddbbs.— Quality of ensilage shown by qaallty
of butter; fermentation in the pit; advantages and losses produced by
fermentation.

IX. Feeding Qualities of Ensilage.— Sir John Lawes on ensilage and turnips;
American and English experiments in feeding and milk production.

X. SCHMABY OF PbACTIOB.

Appendix.

Now read/y, price 6d.

HARVESTING CROPS INDEPENDENTLY
OF WEATHER:

Practical Notes on the Neilson System of Harvesting.

By "AG RICO LA,"
And otheb Contbibutobs to " Thb Field."

THE field" office, 346, STBAND, W.C.

24 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

niuttrated Vfith numerotu Woodcuts, post 8vo., price 5«.,
hy post 5s. 3d.,

The Internal Parasites of our Domesticated

ANIMALS:

A MANUAL OF THE ENTOZOA OF THE OX, SHEEP,
DOG, HORSE, PIG, AND OAT.

By T. 8PEKCES COBBOLD, MJ)., PJL8., P.L.S.
In erown 8vo., price 2s. 6<i., by post 2s. Sd.

MANURES:

THEIB RESPECTIVE MERITS FROM AN ECONOMICAL
POINT OP VIEW.

Author of " Omum : iU Oiiftn. Blstory, and Vtrtaaa." " The PoUto and its Colttvation," fto.

CONTENTS.

PABT. I.— Definition of the Word "Manure"— Nature's Modes of Applying
Fertiliner*— HiBtory— Clansiflcation.

PART n.— The Value of Plouxhinx Down Green Crops— Weeds— Sea-weed—
8U»w—8«wita>t— Tanners' Bark— Wood Ashes— Peat— Bape Cake— Hemp—
Pop|«7, OoUoa, and Cocoa-nut Cakes— Bran— Malt Dust— Brewers* Grains— Coal—
8ooi— Ghanoal.

PABT m.— Dead AiUmals— Fish— Blood— Animalised Charcoal- Bones— Horn
•-WooDn Ba^a, Hairs, Featheni, ftc.-Night-soil— Farmyard Manure— Guano.

PABT IV.— Salts of Ammonia— Salu of Magnesia— Salts of Potash— Salts of
Soda— Oommoo Salt— Lime and its Compounds— '* Ooze."

In erown Svo., price 2«., by post 2s. 2d.

THE POTATO AND ITS CULTIVATION.

BY A-. 'W. CB»B^WS.

Aotbar of " Onano -. its Origin. Hiatory, and Virtoas," " Manares : their Respective
Merita, Ac.

CONTENTS.

DeriTation — History — Constituents — Varieties — Sprouting - Soils — Planting-
Manures— Earthing up— Disease — Scab— Storing— Forcing— Producing New
Varieties — Substitutes for the " Potato "—Miscellaneous Information.

THE field" OFFICE, 346, STRAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BT HORACE COX.

25

Demy 8eo., price Z$. 6d., by pott 3». 9rf., Illiutrated tnth several Diagrams.
THE

PRACTICAL SURVEYOR :

A TREATISE UPON SURYEYING.

SPECIALLY AEEANQED FOE THE GUIDANCE OF PUPILS, STEWAEDS,
THE SCHOLASTIC PEOFESSION, AND INTENDING EMIQEANTS.

BY THOMAS HOLLOWAY.

CONTENTS.

Ch«E

kp.

I.— The Man and his Outfit.
II.— The Chain — Cautions to Be-
ginners— Best Figure for Chain
Surveying.
III.— Boundaries .
IV.— Setting-out Lines by the Eye and

passing Obstructions,
v.— Division of the Circle and Use of
Box Sextant — Chain Angles
Condemned— Cross Staff Con-
demned— The Optical Square
— Measuring Inaccessible Dis-
tances.
VI.— The Theodolite — Settlng-out

Lines with the Theodolite.
VII. — Eeduction of the Measure of Un-
dolating Qrotmd to Horizontal
Measures and Table of Vertical
Angles.
VIII.— Measuring Lines- The Offset
Staff and taking Offsets.
IX.— To prove the Correctness of Ob-
servatlonB taken with the Sex-
tant— Single Fields Measured
with the Chain and Optical
Square, so that the Areas can
be directly Calculated.
X.— To Set-out a Eight Angle with
the Chain— Figures of the Lines
of Measurement best adapted
to Irregular Fields
XI.— Equalising Boundaries, and
Drawing a Triangle equal to a
given Figure.
XII.— Computation of Areas of Irre-
gular Fields.

Chap.

XIII.— Example of a Survey of several
FieldB together, and the Field
Book.
XrV. — Befereoce Numbers to Maps—
To put Detached Buildings
in correct Positions on a Plan
by Means of Unmeasured
IJnes — Lines Measured on
the Work— Making Stations.
XV.— Plotting — Selection and Ma-
nagement of Paper— Inking
in.
XVI. — Surveys made for the purpose
of Dividing Land into Stated
Quantities.
XVII.— Settlng-out AUotmenta and

Building Plots.
XVIII.— Angles and Bearings, and Use
and Adjustment of Circular
Protractor.
XIX. — Traverse Surveys.
XX. — Trespass.

XXI. — Quality Lines — Superstructures
and Works Underground —
Harvest and Coppice Work
— Beducing Plans from a
Large Plan to a Small One.
XXII.— To Copy a Map— Colouring,

Penmanship, Ac.
XXIII. — Commencement of a Parish
Survey— Surveying to a Scale
of Feet.
XXrV.- Town Surveying.
XXV.— Testing the Accuracy of a
Survey— General Bemarks.
XXVI,— In Memory of the Past.

Price 6d., by post 7d. ; or 2$. 6d. the half-dozen.

"The Field" Duplicate Judging Book

Facilitates the work of the Judges at Poultry and other Shows, by a very simple
method of entering and preserving a duplicate judging list.

THE field" office, 346, STEAND, W.C.

26 A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

SbOOKD Edition. /» Three Pan*, large pott 89<K, price &t^ dy pott fit. 4dl., each.
THE

FARM, GARDEN. AND STABLE.

By I. E. B. C.

Editor of " The Oamekeeper't and Game Preaenrer's Aooonnt Book and Diary."

C025ra7Ei5rTS.

Part I.— The Farm.

Cattle— Crojpa—Dairy— Diseases— Fencing— Food for Stock— Manures—

MlsoeUaneoas— Pigs-Sheep— Soils— Weeds— Woods.

Part II.— The Garden.

Flowers— Frait-Hooses— Lawns— Manoree—Hiscellaneoas— Seeds— Trees and
Shmbs—VflVetables— Vermin— Weeds.

Part lil.-The Stable.
OmtIi— — Diseaf FeediBg— Hameaa, *&— MlaoeUaneons— SUble Management

PuBiasHSD Annually. Demy 4fo., jMric« U., 6y poH Is. 2^d.

THE RURAL ALMAMAC

AND SPORTSMAN'S ILLUSTRATED CALENDAR FOR 1883.

CONTENTS.
▲NOUVO.— Bam* laportant Lagal DmUom ■AMttof FIsheriM-Alxtnot of Prixusip«a

BT»-lawa ai>d«r thm Satanoa AcU-FlshTy DIsUloiiilB Bnriaixl and Wales, their Coart

Lbaita, *o.— Oom 8— om for SaliDoa. Tnmt, sad other Vlali-Oost of Bod Lioenoes for

Salman and Trooi.
ATHX<BTIC8.— Saramarr at the 8 won MBS.
CATTI.B.-OatUe YahMa In UBI; Hotaa on Sales. *«.-PartraiUi of Aberdeen POQed and Jersey

OatUe— Liatof Herd Books and 8tad Bo(d(»-Ltat of Falra. abowlnff where the different

Bleeds of CatUa, Bheep, and Pin mi^ be porohaaed.
OOACHIirO.-A BatnMpeoitve Medley.

CmiCKXT.— AnAaUan CMokatera In ■nnland-Bn^iah Cricket in 1882.
DOOA.— A Twehre Months' Oanlne Dotnoa-FieldTriala in ISSa-Portraito of Clumber and

niiMBT 8panlela.B«idHn»ton and Airedale Tetrlet*— Kennel Notea, Ac.
FAIB8 AinSllAUUTS.-^UiA of Falra and Markets. ahowin« where the different Breeds of

Honea and Ponlea, Oattto, Sheep, and Pisa may bepomhaned
HOB8B8.— Hone Showa in U»— Uatof Stud Booka, Co.— Longest Jump on Beoord— Lirt. of

Fkira, ahowlnr when the dlAvent Dreeda of Honea and Ponlea may be purcbaaed.
HUKTlliO.— The Kmpreaa of Aostrla at Home : Meet In the Park at OOdOlUV— Channa and

Pruapeuts in Hnnonr Coontrtoa— Paoks of Hoonda ; their Mastera, Hontemen, whips,

XaBndB|Ae —Hints for Hanttny Man.
LAWN TBNNIS.— Motaa on the Toamaments of im, with Lista of Winners of the varloas

aAraunBANDTBNNIS.- Besnlts of the Oxford snd Csmbridee Matohes, and the PubUc
Suioola BaoqoetB Challengs Cop, fMm their Commenoement to the Preaent Time.

BOWntO.— Boat-ractof in Un— Beanlta of the Oxford and Cambridge Matohes from the

Commenoement to the Pnaent Time.
SHOOTDfO.— The Legal Oeaanni for Killing Game, WildTowl, fto.— Mems for Shooting Men.
THX TUBF.— Notea on Baeing In UBS— The Past and Future of Steeplechasing— A Betroepeo-

tHe Medley— Baoe and Steeplechase Firtores of 1863.
TACHTIHO.— Taoht Baeing in IMB— List of Winners, with amount ot Prizes, &c.— Notes on

the Tide Tsblea.
MI8CBLLANBOU8.— Bookeriea and bow to form them— Sleighs or Snow Ploughs— Hints on

Batcatching— Insect Pests at Home snd Abrosd-Cslendsr of the Month, Ac., Ac.

"THE FIELD" OFFICE, 346, 8TBAND, W.C.

PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX. 27

Published Half-Ybablt. Fcap. 8vo., price 10s. 6d., hy post
10s. 6d.

THE COURSING CALENDAR.

IT CONTAINS

BETUBNS OP ALL THE PUBLIC OOUESES RUN IN GREAT BRITAIN

AND IRELAND, REVISED LIST OF ADDRESSES OF COURSING

SECRETARIES, JUDGES, SLIPPERS, AND TRAINERS;

List of Members of the National Club, Reports of the Meetings

AND

A COMPLETE LIST OF WATERLOO CUP WINNERS.

Edited by "STONEHENGE,"

Editor of ^ The Field," Author of " Dogs of the BritiBh Islands."

Published Annually. In large post Svo.
THE

KENNEL CLUB STUD BOOK:

CONTAININO A COMPLKTB

RECORD OF DOG SHOWS AND FIELD TRIALS,

WITH

Pedigrees of Sporting and Non-Sporting Dogs.

Vol. I., from 1859 to 1873, price 128. 6d., by post 138.

Peick IDs. 6d., by Post lOa. lOd. each —

Vol. IL, 1874; Vol. m., 1875; Vol. IV., 187G ; Vol. V., 1877;

VoL VL, 1878 ; Vol. VH., 1879 ; Vol. VIII., 1880 ; Vol. IX., 1881 ;

Vol. X., 1882.

Vols. Vin. to X. are also published in Four Parts.

Fourth Edition. Large post 8vo., price Is. 6d., hy post Is. 6d.
By H. F. WILKINSON, of the London Athletic Club,

I. — Ancient Athletics.
II.— The Rise of Modem Athletics.
III.— The Management of Athletic

Meetings.
IV.— Training,
v.— Wallting.
VI.— Running.

CONTENTS
Chai

ftp.
Vll. — Jumping.
VIII.— Hammer Throwing and Weight
Putting.
DL— The Laws of Athletics.
X.— Statistics.

XI.— The best Performances on Re-
cord.

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A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

Thud Edition. Price It. 6rf., 6y pott It. lOrf.

FIGURE SKATING;

BEING

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE ART AS DEVELOPED
IN ENGLAND.

WITH

A OUNCE AT ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY.

Bt H. 0. YANDEBYELL and T. MAXWELL WITHAM
{Mm^btn ^ tkt Lmim SkaHng CTui).

Th«r* are thooMuida of akAtera who attain a small amount of skill in Figure
WkattWf, and th«re atop^ baeaoae they neither know what to do or how to do it. A
nUnuM to thla, the admowledged Text Book on Figare Skating, will solve any
diflkvl^ that maj have slopped progreaa for years.

FOUBIB Eomox. /a pott 8n>., Ump doth, gtit, priet it. M., 6y pott it. M.

THE ART OF SKATING;

ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS, AND PLAIN DIRECTIONS FOR THE

ACQUIREMENT OF THE MOST DIFFICULT AND GRACEFUL

MOVEMENTS.

By GEOSOE ANDEB80H ("Cyelot"),

▼lee-PrwidaBt of th* CrTctal P»teoe 8k»Unc aab. and for many yean Preaident
of the OUfl«ow SkaUoc Club.

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.uuuwwM, Sept. 11, 1883. Diagrams of the combined figures in the first and second
elaas tests of the National Skiving Association are included.

By Montagu S. F. Monier-Wiluams and Stanley P. Monier-Williams

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29

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OR,

THE ARTS OF ROWING AND TRAINING.

EDWIN DAMPIER BRICKWOOD

(EX-AMATEUR CHAMPION OF THE THAMES).

CONTENTS.

ROWING.
Chap.
I.— Introduction : Past and Present
Condition of Boat- racing.
II.— Bacing Boats: Their History and

Fittings,
m.— The Sliding Seat: Its Invention,

Adoption, and Theory,
rv.— How to Use an Oar. and Sculls.
V. — Faults and Errors: What to avoid.
VI. — Steering: Coxswain and Non-
coxswain.
VII. — Teaching Beginners.
VIII. — Coaching for Baces, and Selec-
tion of Crews.
IX.— The Varieties and Conduct of j
Boat-races.
X.— The Laws of Boat-racing. |

Chap.
XI.— The Qoaliflcations of Ama-
teurs.

XII.— Boat Clubs : Their Orgaaiaatlon
and Administration.

XIII.— Historical Kecords, A.D. 1716 to
1838.

XIV.— Historical Eecords, A.D. 1889 to

1855.
XV.— Historical Becords, AJ>. 1856 to
1876.

TRAINING.
XVI.— Its Principles.
XVII.— Its Practice.
XVIII.— Prohibitions, AUments, Ac
APPENDIX.— Eules for Betting.
Index.

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