Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

angling.
r.gling. with black silk, with the feathers of a black cock hanging
dangling on his sides next his tail: \th. For June, a green¬
ish fly, the body made of black wool, with a yellow list
on either side, the wings taken off the wing of a buzzard,
bound with black broken hemp : bth, The moorish fly, the
body made of dusky wool, and the wings of the blackish
mail of a drake: 6^/<, The tawny fly, in great repute till
the middle of June; the body made of tawny wool, the
wings contrary, one against another, composed of the
whitish mail of a white drake: lih, For July, the wasp
fly, the body made of black wool, cast about with yellow
silk, and the wings of drakes’ feathers: 8^, The steel fly,
approved in the middle of July; the body made with
greenish wool, cast about with the feathers of a peacock’s
tail, and the wings made of those of a buzzard: 9^, For
August, the drake fly, the body made with black wool
cast about with black silk, the wings of the mail of a
black drake, with a black head.
When rivers are very low and clear, from a long conti¬
nuance of summer drought, it has been recommended to
use a pair of wings made from the feather of a landrail,
or the mottled feather of a teal, with a well-cleaned gen¬
tle fixed upon the hook. During a similar condition of
the water, even when no wind is stirring, and the sun
shining in its greatest lustre, trouts may be taken with a
small wren's tail, grouse, smoky dun, or black hackles, the
angler fishing straight down the water, by the sides of
streams and banks, and keeping well out of sight, with as
long a line as can be neatly managed, and the foot-lengths
very fine. At these times the fish may be often seen with
their dorsal fins above water, and with skilful manage¬
ment may be made to snap at the above-named flies.
When one is hooked, the rest dart off; but if the angler
keeps concealed, they will return again in a very short
time; and thus several fish may be taken even in summer
from the clearest pools. Another plan has also been re¬
commended as likely to prove successful when the wea¬
ther is bright and the water low: Take a line of about a
yard in length, and fix it to a short, stiff rod, and having
baited the hook with a natural fly, such as the stonefly,
or the gray or green drake (Ephemerae), drop it between
bushes over steep hollow banks, or under the projecting
roots of trees.
In fishing a river with which the angler has no previous
acquaintance, the most approved practice is to try the
eddies which are frequent at the corners of streams, and
where the circular movement of the current throws out a
frequent sustenance for the finny race. There the larger
trout often lie; and it must consist with the experience
of every angler, that an excellent capture is sometimes
made repeatedly from some small spot behind or beside a
particular stone, where from day to day one well-sized
fish seems to succeed another in the favourite feeding
ground. In this knowledge of peculiar localities consists
the chief advantage of a previous acquaintance with the
water. The smaller fish are found in most abundance in
the widely spread and shallow streams, as well as in the
extended parts of pools of no great depth. As a general
rule, the angler may be advised to fish with the wind on
his back and the sun in front, which not only gives him
a greater command of his line, but prevents himself or
his shadow from being so distinctly perceived. A strict
adherence, however, to this plan is by no means advisable,
as the angler’s position in relation to sun and wind must
frequently vary with the natural course of the river, the
obstruction of overhanging wood, and the greater or less
commanu of pool and stream presented by the varying
form of the adjoining shore.
As bait-fishing for trout, though regularly followed by
some, is less generally admired and practised than the
155
more elegant use of the artificial fly, fewer words will suf- Angling,
flee. When the streams are swollen and discoloured, fine
trout may be taken with a running line without float, and
so leaded that it shall touch the ground without resisting
the force of the stream. The lead should be fixed about
eight or ten inches above the hook'; and the best baits are
well-scomed earthworms. The dew, the garden, and the
lob worms are one and the same in species, although they
vary considerably in form, size, and colour, according to
age, and season, and the nature of the soils. The lob¬
worm, according to Daniel, is of two sorts, the old, knotted,
the young, without knots, which some for distinction call
maiden lobs, and others red worms. The latter kind, with
a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, are
the most esteemed. By some they are called squirrel-
tails. These and other worms, it need scarcely be ob¬
served, are easily obtained in fields and gardens, espe¬
cially where there has been any recent mixture of veget¬
able or animal remains. They may be preserved for a
considerable period, and even improved in their texture
and condition, by being kept in damp moss, changed
from time to time, and occasionally wetted with a little
new milk. In dry weather, when worms are difficult to
be obtained, they may be procured by emptying a few
buckets of water in situations where they were known to
occur during a moister season. The brandling worm is
streaked from head to tail in alternate circles of a red and
yellow hue, and is darker at its anterior than posterior
portion. They occur in old dunghills, in heaps of rich
vegetable mould, and among rotten tan bark. They have
this advantage over the others, that they may be used
without preparation or scouring. Though the choice of
worms does not seem a very suitable subject for poetry,
it has been thus versified by Mr Gay in the Rural Sports:
You must not every worm promiscuous use,
Judgment will tell thee proper baits to choose :
The worm that draws a long immod’rate size,
The trout abhors, and the rank morsel flies;
And if too small, the naked fraud’s in sight,
And fear forbids, while hunger does invite.
Those baits will best reward the fisher’s pains,
Whose polish’d tails a shining yellow stains;
Cleanse them from filth, to give a tempting gloss
Cherish the sullied reptile race with moss ;
Amid the verdant bed they twine, they toil,
And from their bodies wipe their native soil.
The preceding rhymes apply chiefly to the kind called
gilt-tails. Gentles are the larvae of different kinds of car¬
nivorous winged flies. They may be kept in a mixture
of oatmeal and bran, and are readily produced in a piece
of liver, or any other flesh or fish, exposed in an earthen
vessel to prevent their escape when grown to a proper
size. All kinds of maggots, as well as those called gen¬
tles, serve admirably for the more delicate kinds of bait¬
fishing. The caddis worms, before alluded to as the larvae
of the Phryganea or stonefly, when taken out of their
cases, are a favourite bait for trout; and different kinds of
grasshoppers are likewise used with great success. The
creeper or water cricket, an aquatic larva, found under
stones within the water-mark, ought also to be attended
to by the natural bait-fisher.
The palmer worms or wool beds are the hairy caterpil¬
lars of certain nocturnal moths. Though refused by al¬
most all birds except the cuckoo, they are swallowed by
trouts, and may be preserved alive for many weeks in a
box with damp earth, strewed over with the leaves of the
tree or bush on which the species was observed naturally
to feed.
The young brood of wasps and bees are useful to the
angler; and for eight or ten days after their first appear¬
ance in summer there is no better or more killing bait