Lines in Pleasant Places | Page 6

rapture in the stream as in
the pathless woods.
In the foregoing remarks upon heavy rods I had possibly in my mind
the angler whose life is not entirely devoted to the open air. The
increase to which reference has been made has been chiefly from the
class of professional men, merchants, and others who have duties
which allow of only occasional relaxation devoted to the river. To such
the donning of wading gear for the first time in the season, the entrance
into the clear running water, the cautious advance upon the amber
gravel or solid rock, the swirl of the rushing stream around the knees,
the sensation of cold through the waterproofing, the arrival at length at

the point where the head of the pool is within range--these are a keen
delight. The pulses fly again when the hooked salmon is felt, and the
tightening line curves the rod from point to hand. Exercise, indeed!
Half an hour's battle with a fighting salmon, including a race in brogues
of a hundred yards or more over shingle or boulders will, when the fish
is gaffed and laid on the strand, find the best of men well breathed and
not sorry to sit him down till his excitement has cooled and his nerves
are once more steady.
Next in order, as a form of healthy exercise, comes pike fishing, as
practised by the spinner with small dead fish, the artificial imitations of
them, or the endless variations of the spoon, invented, it is claimed, by
an angler in the United States. Live baiting in a river with float requires
sufficient energy to walk at the same speed as the current flows; by still
water or in a boat the angler comes, of course, fairly into the
comprehension of the lady who was introduced on another page. He
watches and waits, and the more closely he imitates the heron in his
motionless patience the better for his chances. The troller of olden
times was at any rate always moving, and finer exercise for a winter
day than trolling four or five miles of river could not be prescribed. But
the gorge hook has gone out of fashion and is discountenanced.
Spinning is for pike what the artificial fly is for salmon, the most
scientific method, and followed perseveringly it is downright hard work,
bringing, as the use of the salmon rod does, all the muscles of the body
into play. The degree of exercise depends upon the style adopted.
Casting direct from the Nottingham winch is less trying than the
ordinary and more familiar custom of working the incoming line
dropped upon the grass or floor of the boat, or gathered in the left hand
in coils after the manner of Thames fishermen. Few anglers are masters
of the Nottingham style, which has many distinct recommendations,
such as freedom from the entanglements of undergrowth and rough
ground.
The recovery of the spinning bait by regular revolutions of the winch is
not always a gain, since, with all his shark-like voracity, the pike has
his little caprices, and sometimes suspects the lure which is moving

evenly on a straight course through the water. The bait spun home by
the left hand manipulating the line while the right gives the proper
motion to the rod top is considered best for pike if not for salmon. One
of the good points about spinning for pike is that it is a recreative
exercise to be followed after the fly-rod is laid by after autumn.
November, December, and January are indeed the months to be
preferred before all the rest, and when pike fall out of season the
salmon and trout rivers are open again.
Trout fishing is the sport of the many amongst fly-fishermen, and the
exercise required in the methods which are recognised as quite
orthodox is probably the happy medium, yielding pleasure with the
least penalty of toil. The members of the most recent school of trout
fishers are believers in the floating fly, but it is wrong to assume that
there is any burning question in the matter. The best angler is the man
who is master of all the legitimate devices for beguiling fish into his
landing net, and I am not now concerned with any controversial aspects
of the dry-fly question. The spectacle of an angler upon a chalk stream,
where this style is to all intents and purposes Hobson's choice, is not at
all suggestive of bodily activity should he happen to be "waiting for a
rise." The trout will only heed an artificial fly that is dropped in front of
them with upstanding wings, and in form of body and appendages, as in
the manner of its progress on the surface of the stream, this counterfeit
presentment must strictly imitate