[TROUT AND OTHER FLY FISHING.]
This subject far from being treated exhaustively, or even with any attempt at fulness, will, on the contrary, only be written of, so as to give a few hints to those who love to wield the rod. Bottom fishing, with the paraphernalia necessary to that branch of the sport, has objections at least from a woman's point of view, but to fishing with the fly there is no drawback, unless indeed you happen to be one of those who hold that you should never pit your skill against one of the lower animals in a struggle for life. Of all sports indeed there is none more entirely suited to the powers of woman than fly-fishing. The nicety, the quickness, the light-handedness, and care as to details, and I think I may add thoroughness in any pursuit they really take to, in which women generally excel are all points in her favour the moment she takes a rod in hand. Great strength is not needed, unless indeed she choose to go after one of the leviathans of the deep, but only constant and exhaustless patience. Yet it is the mention of the last that will make many who know only of the sport by hearsay, look scornful and say they see no fun in standing watching and waiting for the bite that often never comes, and that they prefer something more active. As it is no use arguing with people who are persuaded they view the subject from a vastly superior standpoint, the only answer to this is, "If you do not change your opinion after a week's—or even a day's—experience—well, fly-fishing is not for you."
What I am anxious to impress upon all is, that fly-fishing is not necessarily an expensive sport. For the best of salmon-fishing and the right to try for trout in their choicest waters you must indeed pay, but for the right to fish for their less thought of brethren there need be but small demands on your purse.
My own experience one summer may be of some use to those who would fain do likewise. My lot was cast in a part of Sussex where under the Downs flowed a tiny but most beautiful little river. "No trout," had been the answer given when I enquired as to the prospect of sport from its banks, so sadly I made up my mind that beyond an occasional visit to a trout stream, owned by some friends in the same county, my rod would be idle that summer.
"If only it was stocked with trout," was my frequent reflection as I wandered along its banks and noted the swift flowing current and the tempting stickles that looked a perfect paradise from a trouting point of view. One evening as I stood watching the clear waters as they rushed round and over some opposing rocks into a large pool, I caught sight of a silvery, most graceful fish dart through the water at the side of the eddy. Then when my eye became accustomed to the curious light, as the rays of the setting sun fell slantways over the pool, through the branches of a mighty oak tree that rose from the banks, I saw another, and another. "Dace," was my verdict, and forthwith dismissed them from my mind. But I had not reached home before the thought of trying for those dace with fly came to me, and the next day, trout rod in hand, and with a Black Palmer and Alder on the cast, I made my first venture in what was to me quite a new branch of sport.
Method of fastening Dropper to Cast.
As the line flew out for the second time and the flies fell gently and lightly on the water, I had but to wait a second before a faint thrill ran through my hand and told me something had touched the fly. Could it be a bite? So different was it to the sudden onslaught of a trout, that I hesitated whether or not to strike, and contrary to the usual fate of the waverer, it was the momentary pause which gave me the fish. A slight movement of the wrist and I had him fast, and then a delicious few minutes followed while I played as game a dace as I ever wish to measure skill with. Indeed I should not have been surprised when at last my prize was safely caught in the landing net, to see the spotted scales of a trout. But no, the slender, silvery, beautiful-headed fish could be no other than a dace, and his captor at least was content with the gallant bid he had made for his life.