Part 3

The “Complete Angler” has passed through several editions; and, although the art has greatly improved since Walton’s day, its perusal will afford much information and amusement, as well to the sportsman as the general reader; for, in the words of one of the editors, “let no man imagine, that a work on such a subject, must necessarily be unentertaining, or trifling, or even uninstructive; for the contrary will most evidently appear, from a perusal of this excellent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the style; the ease, and unaffected humour of the dialogue; the lovely scenes which it delineates; the enchanting pastoral poetry which it contains; or, the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates; has hardly its fellow in any of the modern languages.”

These remarks are very applicable to other treatises which have appeared on the same subject, more especially those of Shaw, Scrope, and Sir H. Davie; indeed, there are few works more beautifully written than “Salmonia,” wherein the talented author thus alludes to his favorite recreation.

“The search after food, is an instinct belonging to our nature; and from the savage in his rudest and most primitive state, who destroys a piece of game, or a fish, with a club or spear--to man in the most cultivated state of society, who employs artifice, machinery, and the resources of various other animals to secure his object, the origin of the pleasure is similar, and its object the same; but that kind of it requiring most art, may be said to characterise man in his highest or intellectual state; and the fisher for salmon or trout with the fly, employs not only machinery to assist his physical powers, but applies sagacity to conquer difficulties; and the pleasure derived from ingenious resources and devices, as well as from active pursuit, belongs to this amusement. Then as to his philosophical tendency; it is a pursuit of moral discipline--requiring patience, forbearance and command of temper. As connected with natural science, it may be vaunted as demanding a knowledge of the habits of a considerable tribe of created beings--fishes, and the animals that they prey upon; and an acquaintance with the signs and tokens of the weather and its changes, the nature of waters and of the atmosphere. As to its poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild and beautiful scenery of nature; amongst the mountain lakes, and the clear and lovely streams that gush from the higher ranges of elevated hills--or that make their way through the cavities of calcareous strata.

“How delightful in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear, and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, or scent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy;--to wander upon the fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the music of the bee,--and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright and beautiful trout is watching them from below;--to hear the twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your approach, rapidly hide themselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the water-lily;--and as the season advances, to find all these objects changed for others of the same kind, but better and brighter, till the swallow and the trout contend as it were for the gaudy May fly, and till, in pursuing your amusement in the calm and balmy evening, you are serenaded by the songs of the cheerful thrush and the melodious nightingale, performing the offices of maternal love, in thickets ornamented with the rose and the woodbine.”

Sir H. Davie’s researches in natural history, are exhibited in many parts of this interesting work, and his suggestions with reference to the migration of animals, will account for those phenomena, which direct the operations of the sportsman whether armed with gun or rod. He is of opinion that the two great causes of the change of place of animals is the providing of food for themselves and resting places and food for their young. The great supposed migrations of herrings from the poles to the temperate zone, he considers to be only the approach of successive shoals from deep to shallow water, for the purpose of spawning.

The migrations of salmon and trout are evidently for the purpose of depositing their ova--or of finding food after they have spawned.

Swallows and bee-eaters, decidedly pursue flies half the globe over; the snipe tribe in like manner, search for worms and larvæ--flying from those countries where either frost or dryness prevents them from boring--making generally small flights at a time, and resting on their travels where they find food. A journey from England to Africa is no more for an animal that can fly with the wind one hundred miles in an hour, than a journey for a Londoner to his seat in a distant province.

The migration of smaller fishes or birds always occasions the migration of larger ones, that prey on them:--thus, the seal follows the salmon in summer, to the mouths of rivers--the hake follows the herring and pilchard--hawks are seen in great quantities in the month of May, coming into the east of Europe after quails and landrails--and locusts are followed by numerous birds, that fortunately for the agriculturists, make them their prey.

The reason of the migration of sea-gulls to the land is their security of finding food. They may be observed, at this time, feeding greedily on the earth worms and larvæ, driven out of the ground by severe floods, and the fish, on which they prey in fine weather in the sea, leave the surface when storms prevail, and go deeper.

The different tribes of the wading birds always migrate, when rain is about to take place. The vulture, upon the same principle, follows armies, and there is little doubt, that the augury of the ancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instinct of birds. There are many superstitions of the vulgar, owing to the same cause.

For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favorable omen; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the young ones; but when two go out together, the weather is warm and mild, and thus favorable to fishing.

I shall dismiss Sir H. Davie for the present, with the following remarks which he offers on the whale, as they may be interesting to those who have remarked the comparatively easy capture of an animal, possessed of such enormous strength and activity.

The whale, having no air-bladder, can sink to the lowest depths of the ocean; and mistaking the harpoon for the teeth of the sword fish or a shark, he instantly descends, this being his manner of freeing himself from these enemies, who cannot bear the pressure of a deep ocean: and from ascending and descending, in a small space, he puts himself in the power of the whaler; whereas, if he knew his force, and were to swim on the surface in a straight line, he would break or destroy the machinery by which he is arrested, as easily as a salmon breaks the single gut of a fisher, whose reel is entangled.

Mr. Scrope’s work entitled “Days and Nights of Salmon fishing,” is most interesting; his description of this enticing sport is so vivid, and given with such spirit, that even those who never saw a rod, except that in Oxford-street with a golden perch hanging from its point and for ever turning on its axis; or whose knowledge of fish is confined to the unfortunate inmates of a glass globe, are led to take a lively interest in his various piscatory adventures, and cease to wonder that some of the wisest and best of men have been enthusiastic admirers of the art. His apology for fly fishing is ingenious, and may be quoted when the angler is rallied by his tender-hearted neighbour.

“I take a little wool and feather, and tying it in a particular manner on a hook, make an imitation of a fly; then I throw it across the river, and let it sweep round the stream with a lively motion. This I have an undoubted right to do; for the river belongs to me or my friend,--but mark what follows. Up starts a monster fish, with his murderous jaws, and makes a dash at my little Andromeda. Thus he is the aggressor, not I; his intention is evidently to commit murder. He is caught in the act of putting that intention into execution. Having wantonly intruded himself on my hook, which I contend he had no right to do, he darts about in various directions, evidently surprised to find that the fly, which he hoped to make an easy conquest of, is much stronger than himself. I naturally attempt to regain this fly, unjustly withheld from me. The fish gets tired and weak, in his lawless attempts to deprive me of it. I take advantage of his weakness, I own, and drag him, somewhat loth, to the shore; where one rap at the back of the head ends him in an instant. If he is a trout, I find his stomach distended with flies. That beautiful one called the May fly, who is by nature almost ephemeral--who rises up from the bottom of the shallows, spreads its light wings, and flits in the sunbeam, in enjoyment of its new existence--no sooner descends to the surface of the water to deposit its eggs, than the unfeeling fish, at one fell spring, numbers him prematurely with the dead. You see, then, what a wretch a fish is; no ogre is more blood thirsty, for he will devour his nephews, nieces, and even his own children, when he can catch them, and I take some credit for having shown him up. What a bitter fright must the smaller fry live in! They crowd to the shallows, lie hid among the weeds, and dare not say the river is their own, I relieve them of their apprehensions, and thus become popular with the small shoals.”

I must now hasten to offer those suggestions which I deem so requisite for the attainment of that popularity to which Mr. SCROPE alludes; and although I may in some respects appear tedious, I beg to assure the novice that a good day’s fishing is often lost for lack of some trifling appendage, and many a leviathan has escaped from the neglect of some simple rule.

The dress of a fisherman should be as sombre as possible--a darkish grey or lightish brown is probably the best, as these colours assimilate with that of the bark of trees, and the mosses and lichens which encrust the rocks. Shining metal buttons must be avoided. Laced boots or shoes and stout leather gaiters are needed, as vipers resort to the rivers in warm weather, and their teeth readily penetrate the unprotected stocking. By the bye, if the sportsman should unfortunately be bitten, a little carbonate of soda, or sweet oil should be applied to the part as speedily as possible. I have found the former most efficacious when my dogs have been bitten by those reptiles. Our moors abound with them in August and September; it is well therefore to be provided with a bottle of these simple antidotes, if a lengthened excursion is contemplated by the angler or shot. A drab hat is preferable to black, especially in hot weather, when the latter will be found to heat the head considerably more than the former. Worsted socks are less apt to chafe the feet than cotton, and a small portion of yellow soap rubbed on the instep and heel will keep the feet in good order during the longest day’s fag.

The next question is, what is the fitting time for adopting this costume? Fishing may be pursued from the first week in March until the last week in October. During the months of March, April, September, and October, from ten to three or four, will be found the most profitable hours; during the intervening months it is necessary, to ensure sport, to be early on the banks--from six to eleven, and from three till dusk, are generally the best hours. Before starting, be careful that your tackle is complete and in good order. The rod, the fly-book, the reel, the basket, must be examined, that nothing be left behind. It is justly considered one of the greatest miseries of life to find oneself, after a long ride or walk, minus either the above articles. These necessary appendages should be of the best quality, to ensure which, purchase them from a maker of known celebrity. In the first place, procure a twelve-foot rod, which has a uniform even play; avoid a cheap, second rate article, nine times out of ten it will be found to warp, crack, or snap off; or if it escapes these calamities, the ferrels will become loose, or the rings through which the line passes will check or chafe it at every throw. Let your reel and line be of the best workmanship, the size of the former and length of the latter the maker will inform you; the twelve-foot rod indicates a narrow river, requiring the other articles in proportion. The casting lines should be seven or even eight feet long, made of round gut, small by degrees, and beautifully less to the end, where the stream-fly is attached. They must be stained light blue, for clear; brown, for red or pale ale coloured water: our rivers are frequently of this colour, occasioned by the rain percolating through the bogs with which our moors abound. Never use more than two flies, one at the end of the collar, called the “stream-fly,” the other about three feet from it, called “the bob.” It may be as well to observe that when our rivers present the beerish appearance above described, and the day is fine, with occasional clouds, a good day’s sport may generally be depended on. The wind however must be consulted as well as the water--if the weathercock indicates any portion of East wind, relinquish the rod, and seek some other occupation. Fish have a peculiar aversion to cold wind, and will not be tempted to expose their noses within some distance of the surface; the fly, therefore, though thrown with skill and judgment, will sport on the water in profitless gambols. A Southerly wind and a cloudy sky are as welcome to the fisherman as the fox-hunter: indeed the wind in that quarter generally promises well for all field sports. West, if the weather is settled, is also good; but from W. by N. to N. by E. it becomes less and less favorable.

The choice of flies is the next consideration: as a general rule, when the day is bright, use a dark fly, when gloomy, a bright one. The Devonshire and Cornish fish are particular in their food--preferring simple, plain viands; hence I have often seen sportsmen unsuccessful in their efforts to move our trout--they present them with food which instinct tells them is not congenial; they rise probably, look at the monster, and depart to rise no more.

Neither do our fish desire much change of diet: the flies enumerated on the annexed leaves are sufficient for all their wants, and if thrown with skill, will surely repay the labour.

Purchase a Russia leather fishing book for the reception of these gay deceivers. I recommend this material, because the moths will not intrude within its folds. Let the article be no larger than sufficient to carry a small collection of flies, four casting lines, a penknife, and scissors to repair damages, a skein of strong black silk, and forget not a small piece of Indian rubber, with a piece of white tape attached thereto; the former to pass your casting line over, twice or thrice, which immediately straightens it, the latter enables you to recover the former, if through carelessness it falls to the ground.

Immediately above the flies, when placed in their respective loops, write their numbers and the period when they are to be used; this will save you much trouble, and your friend also should he borrow the book.

Each fly is entitled to a distinct appellation, but it frequently happens that the dun of Mr. A. differs materially from that of Mr. B.; thus the sportsman is disappointed in his application--when the packet arrives he scarcely recognises one of his old acquaintances. To avoid this inconvenience, I have adopted figures, and have furnished Mr. W. H. ALFRED, No. 54, Moorgate Street, and 41, Coleman Street; Messrs. BEN. CHEVALIER and Co. Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London; and Mr. J. N. HEARDER, 28, Buckwell Street, Plymouth; with full particulars. Those persons have engaged to keep a good stock on hand, so by sending to either of them for any No. required, no mistake can arise.

No. 1.

FEBRUARY, MARCH, and APRIL, at all times; after rain, at any time throughout the season.

No. 2.

FEBRUARY, MARCH, and APRIL.

No. 3.