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Caddis, or cad-bait, is another kind of larvæ, inhabiting pieces of straw, or adhering to bits of stick or sand at the sides of rivers. Daniel has some interesting observations on this species of bait "The several kinds of cadews in their nympha or maggot state, thus house themselves: one sort in straw, thence called straw-worms; others in two or more parallel sticks, creeping at the bottom of brooks; a third in a small bundle of pieces of rushes, duck-weed, &c., glued together, therewith they float on the surface, and can row themselves about the water with the help of their feet; both these are called cad-bait. It is a curious faculty that these creatures possess of gathering such bodies as are fittest for their purpose, and then so glueing them together, some to be heavier than water, that the animal may remain at bottom where its food is, and others to be so buoyant as to float, and there collect its sustenance; these houses are coarse, and show no outward art, but are within well tunnelled, and have a tough hard paste, into which the hinder part of the maggot is so fixed that its cell can be drawn after it without danger of leaving it behind, and it can also thrust out its body to reach the needful supplies, or withdraw into its covering for protection and safety. These insects inhabit pits, ponds, low running rivers, or ditches, in cases of different forms, and composed of various materials; some of them enclosed in a very rough shell, found among weeds in standing waters, are generally tinged green; others are bigger than a gentle, and of a yellowish hue, with a black head; they are an excellent bait, and are found in most plenty in gravelly and stony rivulets, and by the sides of streams, in large rivers among stones.

To collect them, turn up the stones, and the best will adhere to them; when the quantity wanted is obtained, put them into a linen bag for five or six days, dip them, together with the bag, into water once a-day, and hang them up; they will then turn yellow, become tough, and fitter for angling than when first got from the brook. If meant to be kept long, they must be put into a thick woollen bag, with some of the moist gravel or sand from the same rivulet whence they are taken; they must be wetted twice a-day, but oftener in very hot weather; when you carry them abroad, fill the bag with water, and holding the mouth of it close, let the water run from them; in this way they may be kept three weeks. Another way of preserving them is by placing them in an earthen pot full of river water, with some of the gravel they were bred in at the bottom; but the preceding method is preferable. Some use bait pans of different sizes for insects, the tops punched full of holes, not so large as to admit of their escaping when placed in the river, which not only keeps them cool, but supplies them with aliment in the fresh water; some keep them in moss in a woollen bag on a damp floor, taking care that the bag retains a proper moisture. Another mode of preserving caddis, and also grasshoppers, caterpillars, oak-worms, or natural flies, is to take the green withy bark from a bough six or seven inches round, and about a foot in length; turn both ends into the form of a hoop, and fasten them with a large needle and thread; stop up the bottom with cork, and bore the bark full of holes with a red-hot wire; tie over it a colewort leaf, and lay it in the grass every night. In this manner caddis may be preserved until they turn to flies. When grasshoppers are to be preserved in the case, some grass must be put into it. In angling with caddis, the line, when all out, should be as long as the rod, for three lengths next the hook, of single hairs, with the smallest float, and the least weight of lead that the swiftness of the stream will allow to sink; and that may be aided by avoiding the violence of the current, and angling in the returns of a stream, or in the eddies betwixt two; which are also the most likely places wherein to kill fish, either at the top or bottom. The caddis may be at times, with very good effect, joined to a worm, and sometimes to an artificial fly, to cover the point of a hook, and also two or three together may be put in upon the hook;

but it is always to be angled with at the bottom, espe cially when by itself, with the finest tackle, and at all seasons is a most holding bait for trout and grayling." Minnow bait.-Minnows are a small fish, from an inch to two inches in length; they swim in flocks, and may be captured by a hoop-net on the end of a staff, or more simply by a crooked pin baited with a small worm. Anglers generally hire a boy to catch a quantity of them. The tackles used for minnow bait are various in their formation; some are single hooks; others a pair of hooks dressed back to back; and a third kind are a series of pairs, one above another. We cannot do better than give Mr Stoddart's description of these deadly instruments, and the mode of baiting them. He alludes to Kendal hooks :

"The most simple, and in some places the most deadly, is a common single bait hook. This we insert through the back of the minnow, and drawing it out, run below the gill, allowing the barb to protrude from the mouth; we then tie up the tail along the gut, either with a piece of silk thread, or more expeditiously with the gut itself, hitched over the part. This is angled with in the same manner as the worm, allowing plenty of time for the fish to gorge. A tackle similar to it may be used in standing pools or lochs. Here, however, the shank of the hook (a long one) is loaded, and the bait allowed to descend rapidly towards the bot tom. Large cautious fish are sometimes taken by this method of angling. Of all minnow tackles, that with swivels is the commonest and most agreeable to em ploy. There are many ways of constructing it. Two of these we shall mention as preferable to all others. One is simply a large hook, No. 11, fastened to good round gut with two smaller ones, No. 7, tied back to back above, and looped in the dressing, so as to slide along, and shorten or lengthen the tackle to the dimersions of the bait. In using it, enter the lowermost hook through the mouth, and bring it out near the tail of the minnow; insert one of the hooks on the slider through its lips, noticing that the fish be slightly curved so as to spin properly. The other tackle is composed of six hooks, No. 7, dressed in pairs, and is angled with only when the trout are in a taking mood. Two of more swivels are required for both of these contriv ances-the lowermost fastened about two feet or so above the bait. Leaden pellets may also be used, but many think them unnecessary. Some anglers attach behind the whole apparatus an extra hook, No. 12 or 13, dressed upon a hog's bristle, which, should the trout miss the minnow, is apt to catch him, when retiring, by the middle or other part of the body. This is a superfluity, and, like many superfluities, does more harm than good, alarming the fish without securing them. Tackle for trolling with par or small treat ought to be constructed on the same principles as the minnow-tackle; only the hooks should be larger and dressed upon gimp instead of gut. Snap-hooks, al are in use for this kind of angling. Small silk card oiled will be found the best trolling-line."

Insects. The insects used for baits are grasshoppers, crickets, day-flies, spring-flies, May-flies, humble bees, and various others. The ephemere, or those fragh creatures that live but for a day or even a few hours, and therefore called day-flies, are found sporting by the low banks of rivers in warm weather, and form a taking bait for trout and some other fish.

Salmon Roe.-The efficient use of this as a bat modern discovery, and has added largely to the angler » means of capturing the fishy tribes. The roe is alr from a salmon a fortnight before spawning, at which time it is best for the purpose. Some prepare tr use by salting it a little, and drying it to a stale which it will keep; others cure it with sugar instal salt. Blaine recommends the following as a method by which it may be kept good for two years in a cool suma tion:-"A pound of spawn is immersed in water as as the hands can bear it, and is then picked from men branous films, &c. It is now to be rinsed with r water, and hung up to drain for twenty-four hou

after which put to it two ounces of rock or bay salt, and | a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre, and again hang it up for twenty-four hours more. Now spread it on a dish, and gently dry it before the fire or in the sun, and when it becomes stiff pot it down. We should, however, recommend that the potting be not in one mass, but, like the shrimp paste sold at the fish-sauce shops, that it be divided into small pots, pouring over each some melted suet, by which method a pot can be opened when wanted, instead of disturbing the general store. It forms an additional security to cover each over with a moistened skin or bladder. Trout roe is also said to make a good bait, but we have no personal experience of its efficacy; in fact, we never tried it; but it has been 80 strongly recommended, that it would be but fair to give credence to its value until numerous trials have proclaimed it as totally inert.

To bait with salmon roe, first put on the hook (which should be sized according to the fish intended to be tried for) a mass which shall fill up the hollow of the bend and hide the steel. On the point put two or more firm large grains of it, both to conceal the snare and tempt the fish. In this way it is said to be principally a winter and a spring bait, but we know no reason why it may not be advantageously used at other times, for spawn of some kind is almost always to be found."" Pastes made of shrimps, of cheese, of bread crumbs mixed with honey, and of other materials, are also employed, according to the fancy of the angler, and the nature of waters and sport he intends to pursue; our limited space, however, obliges us to refer those who are curious in the subject of baits to the Encyclopædia of Blaine, where there is a vast body of highly interesting matter on angling. Those who are disinclined to prepare roe and pastes, or have not the means of doing so, may be supplied by the principal dealers in fishingtackle.

Artificial Flies.

Hooks dressed up so as to bear something like a resemblance to actual live flies, are by far the most important lures employed by the angler. The principal materials employed in dressing are light portions of cock's hackle or other feathers, to form wings, the fur of a hare's ear or some other substance to make the body, and waxed silk thread by which the whole is tied in an artful manner on the shank of the hook. A whole sheet might easily be filled with descriptions of artificial flies suitable to different fish, waters, and seasons; but the bulk of what has been written by Walton, Daniel, and many others, is now considered superfluous, experienced fishers having arrived at the conclusion that fishes in general are such eager and heedless fools as to be satisfied with a very limited choice of deceptions. The author of the article Angling, in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"* has some clever remarks on this branch of the art :

"As simulation," says he, "consists in the adoption or affectation of what is not, while dissimulation consists in the careful concealment of what really is the one being a positive, the other a negative act so the great object of the fly-fisher is to dissimulate in such a manner as to prevent his expected prey from detecting the artificial nature of his lure, without troubling himself by a vain effort to simulate or assume with his fly the appearance of any individual or specific form of insect life. There is, in truth, little or no connexion between the art of angling and the science of entomology; and therefore the success of the angler, in by far the greater proportion of cases, does not depend on the resemblance which subsists between his artificial fly and the natural insect. This statement is no doubt greatly at variance with the expressed principles of all who have deemed fishing worthy of consideration, from the days of Isaiah and Theocritus, to those of Carrol and Bainbridge. But we are not the

* Republished in the handsome volume, "The Rod and the Gun." A. and C. Black, Edinburgh.

less decidedly of opinion, that in nine instances out of ten a fish seizes upon an artificial fly as upon an insect or moving creature sui generis, and not on account of its exact and successful resemblance to any accustomed and familiar object.

If it is not so, let us request to be informed upon what principle of imitative art the different varieties of salmon-fly can be supposed to bear the most distant resemblance to any species of dragon-fly, to imitate which we are frequently told they are intended? Certainly no perceptible similarity in form or aspect exists between them, all the species of dragon-fly, with the exception of one or two of the sub-genus Calepterix, being characterised by clear lace-like pellucid wings, entirely unadorned by those fantastic gaudy colours, borrowed from the peacock and other birds of gayest plume,' which are made to distinguish the supposed resemblance. Besides, the finest salmon-fishing is frequently in mild weather during the cooler seasons of the year, in autumn and early spring, several months either before or after any dragon-fly has become visible on the face of the waters, as it is a summer insect, and rarely makes its appearance in the perfect state until the month of June. If they bear no resemblance to each other in form or colour, how much more unlike must they seem when, instead of being swept like lightning down the current, as a real one would be, the artificial fly is seen crossing and recrossing every stream and torrent with the agility of an otter and the strength of an alligator! Or darting with regular jerks, and often many inches under water, up smooth continuous flows, where all the dragon-flies on earth, with St George to boot, could not maintain their place a single second! Now, as it is demonstrable that the artificial fly generally used for salmon bears no resemblance except in size to any living one-that the only tribe which, from their respective dimensions, it may be supposed to represent does not exist in the winged state during the period when the imitation is most generally and most successfully practised-and if they did, that their habits and natural powers totally disenable them from being at any time seen under such circumstances as would give a colour to the supposition of the one being ever mistaken for the other-may we not fairly conclude that, in this instance at least, the fish proceed upon other grounds, and are deceived by an appearance of life and motion, rather than by a specific resemblance to any thing which they had previously been in the habit of capturing? What natural insect do the large flies, at which sea-trout rise so readily, resemble? These, as well as gilse and salmon, frequently take the lure far within the bounds of the salt-water mark; and yet naturalists know that no such thing as a salt-water fly exists, or at least has ever been discovered by their researches. Indeed, no true insect inhabits the sea. What species are imitated by the palmer, or by three-fourths of the dressed flies in common use? An artificial fly can, at the best, be considered only as the representative of a natural one which has been drowned, as it is impossible to imitate the dancing or hovering flight of the real insect over the surface of the stream; and even with that restricted idea of its resemblance to nature, the likeness must be scarcely perceptible, owing to the difference of motion and the great variety of directions in which the angler drags his flies, according to the nature and special localities of the current, and the prevailing direction of the wind.

We are therefore of opinion that all or a great proportion of what has been so often and sometimes so well said about the great variety of flies necessary to an angler-about the necessity of changing his tackle according to each particular month throughout the season-about one fly being adapted solely to the morning, another to noonday, and a third to the evening-and about every river having its own particular flies, &c., is, if not altogether erroneous, at least greatly exaggerated and misconceived. That determinate relations exist between flies of a certain colour and particular condi

tions of a river, is, we doubt not, true; but these are rather connected with angling as an artificial science, and have but little to do with any analogous relations in nature. The great object, by whatever means to be accomplished, is to render the fly deceptive; and this, from the very nature of things, is continually effected by fishing with flies which differ in colour and appearance from those which prevail upon the water; because, in truth, as we shall afterwards have occasion to show, none else can be purchased or procured. Even admitting for a moment the theory of representation, when a particular fly prevails upon a river, an artificial one in imitation of it will never resemble it so closely as to appear the same to those below (that is, the fish); on the contrary, a certain degree of resemblance, without any thing like an exact similitude, will only render the finny tribe the more cautious through suspicion, while a different shape and colour, by exciting no minute or invidious comparisons, might probably be swallowed without examination. Indeed, it seems sufficiently plain that where means of comparison are allowed, and where exact imitation is at the same time impossible, it is much better to have recourse to a general idea than to an awkward and bungling individual representation."

Mr Stoddart, one of our most experienced anglers, entertains a similar opinion:-"The colours of water and sky," he observes," are the only indicators which can lead us to select the most killing hook, and even these are often deceptive. We have fished in one stream where dark, and, in the next, red flies took the lead. There is no trusting to the fancy in certain places. On Tweed, we have seen it veer about, like the wind, in one moment, without a note of preparation. Most rivers, however, are more steady; and when the water is of a moderate size, may be relied on with at most two sorts of flies all the year round. For ourselves, our maximum in every Scottish stream is reduced to only four descriptions of artificial flies, with one or other of which we engage to catch trout over all the kingdom. Knowledge and practice have convinced us of the needlessness of storing up endless and perplexing varieties, which some do, to look knowing and scientific." The following, according to these and other trustworthy authorities, form a very serviceable set of lures for fly-fishing:-First, there is a fly which has been called the professor, after Professor Wilson of Edinburgh. The wings are formed of a mottled brown feather, taken from the mallard or wilddrake, the body being composed of yellow flos silk, rather long, and wound about close to the head with a fine red or black hackle.

The Professor.

Fifth, a fly with wings of the starling or fieldfare, and having a body made of mouse or water-rat fur, Sixth, a plain hackle, black or red, without wings, and commonly called palmer.

Seventh, a red hackle, with wings of the starling, and a body formed of light-red mohair, and a red cock's hackle.

To these may be added any other variety of fly that the fancy suggests as being suitable to the time or place of fishing. Flies for salmon-fishing must be of a much more large and powerful kind, as representing insects

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of larger proportions. In the adjoining figure, a spe cimen is given of a powerful spring lure, with wings of variegated turkey feather, a body of orange camlet, mixed with mohair, and a brown cock's hackle. A thread of gold may be wound round the body for sum mer fishing. We refer to the work, the "Rod and the Gun," for further information on salmon-flies, which in all cases require to be dressed on double gut.

From dealers in fishing-tackle all sorts of artifical flies may be obtained at a reasonable advance upon the raw material; persons, however, who intend to make themselves masters of the art of angling, should not be dependent on tradesmen for their supplies, but learn to dress hooks for themselves. Mr Stoddart offers the following explicit directions on fly-dressing:

"Our materials for the making up of flies are as follow:-Hooks, and small round gut; a pair of brass nippers for twisting hackles; a point for dividing the wings; a pair of fine scissors; orange, yellow, and green silk thread of all sizes; good cobblers' wax e closed in a piece of soft leather; a hare's ear; some brown wild-rake, teal, and pheasant feathers; the fer of a mouse, squirrel, and water-rat; a few wings of lark, snipe, landrail, and starling; and lastly, red and black hackles, taken from the neck and head of an old cock at Christmas; these should be fully formed and

This simulated fly has a tight clever aspect, and is a free from softness. Plovers' herls, and those of the

powerful killer.

Second, a fly which

differs from the above only by being a little shorter, more thick, and with a body made of pale green instead of yellow silk. Green worsted may be used. Third, a rough powerful hackle, with wings of white and black marked feather, a bristling body of dark green wound about with grey or mottled hackle, to which is given a pointed tail.

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Fly with Green body.

Rough Hackle.

Fourth, a fly of a sombre cast, the wings formed of woodcock, snipe, or lark feather, and the body of hare's ear, darker or lighter, according to fancy.

peacock, are used by some, yet we deem them superfluous, as also tinsel, except for large flies.

Commencing your operations, the first step is to lay out the intended wings and body before you; wax your silk, and applying one end of it to the gut and hoo together, wrap them both round four or five times, commencing a little below the end of the shark, and proceeding downwards; you then fasten, by drawing the disengaged end of the thread through under the last turn of the wrapping. Work the silk upwards to where you commenced, then take your wings, whe are still unseparated, and lay them along your book, so that their extremity or tips shall reach its curve; twirl the thread twice round the upper part, which lies along the shank top; then, taking it under, press fir, and clip off the unnecessary portion of the feather, divide with your point or penknife, so as to form the two wings; take up the silk betwixt them, and wrap ping again round at the head, bring it back crosswise; then lift your hackle, and lay the root of it down along your hook; whip the thread over, as far as your firs fastening; seize the top of the hackle with your p pers, and whirl it round in the same manner; fasten

and lengthen the body to your liking with fresh floss silk; fasten once more, and your fly is made. This last fastening ought, in our opinion, to be the same as that used in arming bait-hooks, for which we quote Hawkins's directions: When you are in about four turns of the bend of the hook, take the shank between the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, and place the silk close by it, holding them both tight, and leaving the end to hang down; then draw the other part of the silk into a large loop, and with your right hand turning backwards, continue the whipping for four turns, and draw the end of the silk (which has all this while hung down under the root of your left thumb) close, and twitch it off.' When the body of your fly is required to be of hare's ear or mouse skin, pull out a small quantity of the fur, and lay it along the silk, after the wings are formed; twist together, and then wrap as if the thread were bare, and fasten as above. In making flies, keep all tight, guard against heavy wings and much dubbing; the fibres of your hackle ought to be short and lie near the head of the fly; they are intended to resemble legs, which in the real insect are always so placed. Such is our method of fly-dressing, commendable both for its simplicity and expedition. It differs, we find, somewhat from that generally practised, being in a manner self-taught, and not encumbered with any unnecessary display."

Having now described the various parts of the angler's apparatus, and the lures which he generally employs, we proceed to show how he is to practise his craft when fully equipped for the purpose.

PRACTICE OF ANGLING.

There are two distinct kinds of angling-bait-fishing and fly-fishing, and these are variously practised according to the depth or nature of the water, or the fish that are to be caught.

Bait-Fishing.

This kind of angling is practised to a great extent in the Thames, the Lea, and other deep and somewhat dall rivers of England. The fish usually sought for in these waters are gudgeon, dace, roach, bream, chub, barbel, tench, carp, perch, and pike; all are sometimes taken by fly, but a bait of worms, gentles, roe, or some other material, is commonly employed. The angler in these rivers usually stands on the shore while fishing, but in some instances he fishes from a punt, or small flat-bottomed boat, in which his chief occupation is to sit watching his float, and pulling in his line when a fish appears to be hooked. Among the apparatus of this order of deep-water fishers, a plummet and line is carried, in order to sound the depth of the river, which having ascertained, the angler puts his float upon the line, at that point which will allow the bait to trail on the bottom, while the float swims on the surface.

The first thing the bait-fisher has to learn is the art of baiting his hooks. Taking the hook in his right hand and the bait between his fingers in the left, let him enter the hook at the head of the worm, and carry it through the animal to near the tail, covering the entire hook and its tying. The worm should be broken or mangled as little as possible; and the more life-like it appears, the greater the probability of its proving an effectual lure. There must not, however, be too much spare worm left dangling from the hook, otherwise the fish will keep nibbling it away without biting at the bait bodily, and taking it into its mouth, the thing which the angler desires.

In throwing the line with bait, take care not to splash the water, but let the bait fall gently on the surface, and sink slowly in the water to the required depth. After sinking, the rod and line should be very slowly moved in a direction against the stream, or in some other way to give motion to the bait, which the fish perceiving to glide through the water, will hasten to seize upon.

Occasionally the angler will feel a nibble, but he

must not be in a hurry to strike, that is, to draw the fish from the water. Perhaps it is no more than a nibble, and it is well to allow the fish time to get the hook in his mouth. If drawn too quickly, you may actually pull away the hook after it is half gulped. Experience and dexterity are required in this ticklish part of the craft. As a general rule, do not strike till the line has been distinctly tugged; then strike by a slow side motion at first, then a more quick jerk, so as to cause the hook to catch in the jaws of the animal. Supposing the fish to be hooked, do not draw it violently out of the water as if in a transport of delight, but wind up part of your loose line if necessary, and holding up your rod, retire gradually backward, by which the fish may be landed on the shore. A good fisher does not lay aside his rod to take a fish from the hook, unless it be of great size, requiring two hands; if small, hold the rod in the right hand while you catch the fish with the left; unhook it carefully, place it in the basket, put on a new bait, and once more proceed to your sport.

The gudgeon, a fine large fish of the trout shape, affords a favourite amusement to anglers in the Lea, a river near London, and also in the Thames. Blaine thus speaks of this branch of angling :-" Fishing for gudgeons in the Thames is usually practised by means of a punt, which is fixed across the stream part of the river just above a tolerably sharp scower, running over a fine gravelly bottom, free from weeds, at depths varying from five to eight or ten feet. As the eddy is greater generally, and the water deeper in these scowers than in those of the Lea, so the tackle used is commonly somewhat stronger, and a fine gut line is more frequently met with there than one of single hair. Fine tackle, however, in a good hand, is to be always preferred; and we have seen many hundred dozens of gudgeons taken in the sharpest currents of this river also with a single hair only for the two bottom links. Punt fishing for gudgeon in the Thames is a delightful amusement, particularly to the luxurious angler who is not inclined to take much trouble. The scenery, the quietude and safety from interruption, the cleanliness of the practice, where the bait is put on the hook by the attendant fisherman, and where even the prize it gains is removed by the same hand, all tend to make it epicurean in the extreme. But the thorough-bred fisher is soon tired with it after this method, for the very reason that there is actually too much luxury in it to constitute true sporting, which must of necessity present some labour to keep up the attention, and some difficulty to enhance the value of the prey. In the Thames, so many as fifty dozen of gudgeons have been taken in a day; but in the Lea seldom half that number are caught. Yet the Lea angler has the best scope for his sport, for he can commence it in March, whereas in all that part of the Thames within the liberties of the city of London, it must not be attempted until the beginning of June, at which time the gudgeons have spawned, and continue for some time afterwards inferior in point of their gastronomic, worth. Gudgeon fishing seems to have varied little from the ancient practice, and the angler who has aught of the antiquarian about him, will be amused probably at the close parallel between the present method and the gudgeon-fishing of early times, as it is described by John Davers or John Dennys, Esq., for it is a disputed point to which of these worthies the 'Secrets of Angling,' in which it is contained, owes its birth. Walton ascribes it to Davers, and gives the name at full length in the fifth edition of The Complete Angler :'

Loe, in a little boat where one doth stand,
That to a willow bough the while is tied,
And with a pole doth stir and raise the sand,
Whereat the gentle streame doth softly slide;
And then with slender line and rod in hand,
The eager bite not long he doth abide.
Well loaded is his line, his hooke but small,
A good big cork to bear the stream with all.

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