Various

“ Coming out of the region of controversy it is a safe generalization to say that the general rule is: big flies for spring fishing when rivers are probably high, small flies for summer and low water, and flies medium or small in autumn according to the conditions. Spring fishing is considered the cream of the sport. Though salmon are not as a rule so numerous or so heavy as during the autumn run, and though kelts are often a nuisance in the early months, yet the clean-run fish of February, March or April amply repays patience and disappointment by its fighting powers and its beauty. ”

“ The pectoral and ventral fins are so articulated as to perform the functions of feet, the fish being enabled to move, or rather to walk, on the bottom of the sea, where it generally hides itself in the sand or amongst sea-weed. All round its head and also along the body the skin bears fringed appendages resembling short fronds of sea-weed, a structure which, combined with the extraordinary faculty of assimilating the colour of the body to its surroundings, assists this fish greatly in concealing itself in places which it selects on account of the abundance of prey. ”

“ Whether salmon come up rivers, and, if so, spawn, every year, why some fish are much heavier than others of the same age, what their mode of life is in the sea, why some run up in spring and summer when the breeding season is not till about November or December, whether they were originally sea-fish or river-fish—these and other similar questions await a conclusive answer. ”

“ One is a corresponding increase in the difficulty of obtaining fishing, and a notable rise in the value of rivers, especially those which are famed for salmon and trout. Salmon-fishing now may be said to have become a pastime of the rich, and there are signs that trout-fishing will before long have to be placed in the same exclusive category, while even the right to angle for less-esteemed fish will eventually be a thing of price. The development is natural, and it has naturally led to efforts on the part of the angling majority to counteract, if possible, the growing difficulty. ”

“ Eel.—The eel (Anguilla vulgaris) is regarded by the angler more as a nuisance than a sporting fish, but when of considerable size (and it often reaches a weight of 8 lb or more) it is a splendid fighter and stronger than almost any fish that swims. Its life history has long been disputed, but it is now accepted that it breeds in the sea and ascends rivers in its youth. It is found practically everywhere, and its occurrence in isolated ponds to which it has never been introduced by human agency has given rise to a theory that it travels overland as well as by water. ”

“ Spinning is usually practised when the water is too high or too coloured for the fly; trolling is seldom employed, but is useful for exploring pools which cannot be fished by spinning or with the fly; the prawn is a valuable lure in low water and when fish are unwilling to rise; while the worm is killing at all states of the river, but except as a last resource is not much in favour. There are a few waters where salmon have the reputation of not taking a fly at all; in them spinning or prawning are the usual modes of fishing. But most anglers, wherever possible, prefer to use the fly. ”

“ Fishing for mullet is more akin to fresh-water fishing than any branch of sea-angling, and indeed can be carried on in almost fresh water, for the fish frequent harbours, estuaries and tidal pools. They can be caught close to the surface, at mid-water and at the bottom, and as a rule vegetable baits, such as boiled macaroni, or ragworms are found to answer best. Usually ground-baiting is necessary, and the finer the tackle used the greater is the chance of sport. Not a few anglers fish with a float as if for river fish. The fish runs up to about 8 lb in weight. ”

“ In lake-fishing chance has a greater share in bringing about success, but here too the right fly and the right place are important; the actual management of rod, line and flies, of course, is easier, for there is no stream to be reckoned with. Though there is little left to be said about wet-fly fishing where the fly is an imitation more or less exact of a natural insect, there is another branch of the art which has been stimulated by modern developments. This is the use of salmon-flies for big trout much in the same way as for salmon. ”

“ Bottom-Fishing.—Bottom-fishing is the branch of angling which is the most general. There is practically no fresh-water fish that will not take some one or more of the baits on the angler's list if they are properly presented to it when it is hungry. Usually the baited hook is on or near the bottom of the water, but the rule suggested by the name "bottom-fishing" is not invariable and often the bait is best used in mid-water; similarly, in "mid-water fishing" the bait must sometimes be used as close to the bottom as possible. ”

“ Bottom-fishing is roughly divisible into two kinds, float-fishing, in which a bite is detected by the aid of a float fastened to the line above the hook and so balanced that its tip is visible above the water, and hand-fishing, in which no float is used and the angler trusts to his hand to feel the bite of a fish. In most cases either method can be adopted and it is a matter of taste, but broadly speaking the float-tackle is more suited to water which is not very deep and is either still or not rapid. In great depths or strong streams a float is difficult to manage. ”

“ When a muscle does work it also gives rise to heat, and if this is estimated it can be shown that the muscles alone during their contractions provide far more heat than the whole amount given out by the body. Also it must be remembered that the heart—also a muscle,—never resting, does in the 24 hours no inconsiderable amount of work, and hence must give rise to no inconsiderable amount of heat. From this it is clear that the larger proportion of total heat of the body is supplied by the muscles. ”

“ The great forest-tree has a shoot, which in the course perhaps of hundreds of years, has developed a wide-spreading system of trunk and branches, bearing on the ultimate twigs or branchlets innumerable leaves, while beneath the soil a widely-branching root-system covers an area of corresponding extent. Between these two extremes is every conceivable gradation, embracing aquatic and terrestrial herbs, creeping, erect or climbing in habit, shrubs and trees, and representing a much greater variety than is to be found in the other subdivision of seed-plants, the Gymnosperms. ”

“ The simple offering of food or shedding of blood at the grave develops into an elaborate system of sacrifice; even where ancestor-worship is not found, the desire to provide the dead with comforts in the future life may lead to the sacrifice of wives, slaves, animals, &c., to the breaking or burning of objects at the grave or to the provision of the ferryman's toll, a coin put in the mouth of the corpse to pay the travelling expenses of the soul. But all is not finished with the passage of the soul to the land of the dead ”

“ As the black bass is a fly-taking fish and a strong fighter, it is as valuable to the angler as a trout and is highly esteemed. Bass-flies are sui generis, but incline more to the nature of salmon-flies than trout-flies. An artificial frog cast with a fly-rod or very light spinning-rod is also a favourite lure. For the rest the fish will take almost anything in the nature of worms or small fish, like its cousin the perch. A 4 lb bass is a good fish, but five-pounders are not uncommon. ”

“ Frequently the influence of fertilization is felt beyond the ovary, and other parts of the flower take part in the formation of the fruit, as the floral receptacle in the apple, strawberry and others. The character of the seed-coat bears a definite relation to that of the fruit. Their function is the twofold one of protecting the embryo and of aiding in dissemination; they may also directly promote germination. If the fruit is a dehiscent one and the seed is therefore soon exposed, the seed-coat has to provide for the protection of the embryo and may also have to secure dissemination. ”

“ Whether salmon feed in fresh water is another question of peculiar interest to anglers, for it would seem that if they do not then the whole practice of taking them must be an anomaly. Champions have arisen on both sides of the argument, some, scientists, asserting that salmon (parr and kelts excluded, for both feed greedily as opportunity occurs) do not feed, others, mostly anglers, maintaining strongly that they do, and bringing as evidence their undoubted and customary capture by rod and line, not only with the fly, but also with such obvious food-stuffs as dead baits, worms and prawns. ”

“ ANIMAL WORSHIP, an ill-defined term, covering facts ranging from the worship of the real divine animal, commonly conceived as a "god-body," at one end of the scale, to respect for the bones of a slain animal or even the use of a respectful name for the living animal at the other end. ”

“ Having hooked his fish, the angler must be guided by circumstances as to what he does; the salmon will usually decide that for him. But it is a sound rule to give a well-hooked fish no unnecessary advantage and to hold on as hard as the tackle will allow. Good tackle will stand an immense strain, and with this "a minute a pound" is a fair estimate of the time in which a fish should be landed. A foul-hooked salmon (no uncommon thing, for a fish not infrequently misses the fly and gets hooked somewhere in the body) takes much longer to land. ”

“ The more air that passes in and out of the lungs in a given time, the greater the loss of heat. And in such animals as the dog, who do not perspire easily by the skin, respiration becomes far more important.
But for man the great heat regulator is undoubtedly the skin, which regulates heat loss by its vasomotor mechanism, and also by the nervous mechanism of perspiration. Dilatation of the cutaneous vascular areas leads to a larger flow of blood through the skin, and so tends to cool the body, and vice versa. ”

“ Angling now divides itself into two main divisions, fishing in fresh water and fishing in the sea. The two branches of the sport have much in common, and sea-angling is really little more than an adaptation of fresh-water methods to salt-water conditions. Therefore it will not be necessary to deal with it at great length and it naturally comes in the second place. Angling in fresh water is again divisible into three principal parts, fishing on the surface, i.e. with the fly; in mid-water, i.e. with a bait simulating the movements of a small fish or with the small fish itself ”

“ More familiar to the Anglo-Saxon race is the connexion between the soul and the breath; this identification is found both in Aryan and Semitic languages; in Latin we have spiritus, in Greek pneuma, in Hebrew ruach; and the idea is found extending downwards to the lowest planes of culture in Australia, America and Asia. For some of the Red Indians the Roman custom of receiving the breath of a dying man was no mere pious duty but a means of ensuring that his soul was transferred to a new body. ”

“ The use of the drop-minnow, which is trolling on a lesser scale, is a killing method employed more in the north of England than elsewhere. The worm is mostly deadly in thick water, so deadly that it is looked on askance. But there is a highly artistic mode of fishing known as "clear-water worming." This is most successful when rivers are low and weather hot, and it needs an expert angler to succeed in it. The worm has to be cast up-stream rather like a fly, and the method is little inferior to fly-fishing in delicacy and difficulty. ”

“ Literary History.—From prehistoric times down to comparatively late in the days of chronicles, angling appears to have remained a practice; its development into an art or sport is a modern idea. In the earliest literature references to angling are not very numerous, but there are passages in the Old Testament which show that fish-taking with hook as well as net was one of the common industries in the East, and that fish, where it was obtainable, formed an important article of diet. ”

“ But, as with salmon-fishers so with sea-trout-fishers, experience forms belief and success governs selection. Among the small salmon-flies and loch-flies which will fill his book, the angler will do well to have a store of very small trout-flies at hand, while experience has shown that even the dry fly will kill sea-trout on occasion, a thing that is worth remembering where rivers are low and fish shy. July, August and September are in general the best months for sea-trout, and as they are dry months the angler often has to put up with indifferent sport. ”

“ Occasional exceptions, such as the consecration by Archbishop Plunket of Dublin of a bishop for the reformed church in Spain, raised so strong a protest as to prove the rule. In the main, then, the expansion of the Anglican Church has followed that of the British empire, or, as in America, of its daughter states; its claim, so far as rights of jurisdiction are concerned, is to be the Church of England and the English race, while recognizing its special duties towards the non-Christian populations subject to the empire or brought within the reach of its influence. ”

“ Education has brought with it a sense of the great gulf between man and animals; but in the lower stages of culture this distinction is not adequately recognized, if indeed it is recognized at all. The savage attributes to animals the same ideas, the same mental processes as himself, and at the same time vastly greater power and cunning. The dead animal is credited with a knowledge of how its remains are treated and sometimes with a power of taking vengeance on the fortunate hunter. Powers of reasoning are not denied to animals nor even speech ”

“ Spinning, &c.—Mid-water fishing, as has been said, broadly consists in the use of a small fish, or something that simulates it, and its devices are aimed almost entirely at those fish which prey on their fellows. ”

“ There are few varieties of fish which may not either consistently or occasionally be taken with the sunk fly in one of its two forms. The large and gaudy bunch of feathers, silk and tinsel with which salmon, very large trout, black bass and occasionally other predaceous fish are taken is not, strictly speaking, a fly at all. It rather represents, if anything, some small fish or subaqueous creature on which the big fish is accustomed to feed and it may conveniently receive the generic name of salmon-fly. ”

“ If the wind blows into the mouth of a tube it causes an increase of pressure inside and also of course an equal increase in all closed vessels with which the mouth is in airtight communication. If it blows horizontally over the open end of a vertical tube it causes a decrease of pressure, but this fact is not of any practical use in anemometry, because the magnitude of the decrease depends on the wind striking the tube exactly at right angles to its axis, the most trifling departure from the true direction causing great variations in the magnitude. ”

“ This indicates that angling had already, in a highly civilized country, taken its place among the methods of diversion at the disposal of the wealthy, though from the uncompromising nature of the tackle depicted and the apparent simplicity of the fish it would scarcely be safe to assume that in Egypt angling arrived at the dignity of becoming an "art." In Europe it took very much longer for the taking of fish to be regarded even as an [v.02 p.0022] amusement, and the earliest references to it in the Greek and Latin classics are not very satisfying to the sportsman. ”

“ The endosperm-nucleus divides rapidly to produce a cellular tissue which fills up the interior of the rapidly-growing embryo-sac, and forms a tissue, known as endosperm, in which is stored a supply of nourishment for the use later on of the embryo. It has long been known that after fertilization of the egg has taken place, the formation of endosperm begins from the endosperm nucleus, and this had come to be regarded as the recommencement of the development of a prothallium after a pause following the reinvigorating union of the polar nuclei. ”

“ The smaller lures, however, which are used to catch smaller trout and other fish that habitually feed on insect food are in most cases intended to represent that food in one of its forms and are entitled to the name of "artificial flies." The dry or floating fly is simply a development of the imitation theory, and has been evolved from the wet fly in course of closer observation of the habits of flies and fish in certain waters. Both wet and dry fly methods are really a substitute for the third and [v.02 p.0025] oldest kind of surface-fishing, the use of a natural insect as a bait. ”

“ There are greater difficulties in the exact determination in the amount of heat produced, but there are certain well-known facts in connexion with it. A larger living body naturally produces more heat than a smaller one of the same nature, but the surface of the smaller, being greater in proportion to its bulk than that of the larger, loses heat at a more rapid rate. Hence to maintain the same constant bodily temperature, the smaller animal must produce a relatively larger amount of heat. ”

“ Distribution by seed appears to satisfy so well the requirements of Angiosperms that distribution by vegetative buds is only an occasional process. At the same time every bud on a shoot has the capacity to form a new plant if placed in suitable conditions, as the horticultural practice of propagation by cuttings shows; in nature we see plants spreading by the rooting of their shoots, and buds we know may be freely formed not only on stems but on leaves and on roots. ”

“ Fly-fishing for sea-trout is not a thing apart. A three-pounder that will impale itself on a big salmon-fly, might equally well have taken a tiny trout-fly. Many anglers, when fishing a sea-trout river where they run large, 5 lb or more, and where there is also a chance of a salmon, effect a compromise by using a light 13 ft. or 14 ft. double-handed rod, and tackle not so slender as to make hooking a salmon a certain disaster. But undoubtedly to get the full pleasure out of sea-trout-fishing a single-handed rod of 10 ft. ”

“ One more modern feature, which is also a result of the increase of anglers, is the great advance made in fish-culture, fish-stocking and fish-acclimatization during the last half-century. Fish-culture is now a recognized industry; every trout-stream of note and value is restocked from time to time as a matter of course; salmon-hatcheries are numerous, though their practical utility is still a debated matter, in Great Britain at any rate; coarse fish are also bred for purposes of restocking ”

“ The developing embryo at the end of the suspensor grows out to a varying extent into the forming endosperm, from which by surface absorption it derives good material for growth; at the same time the suspensor plays a direct part as a carrier of nutrition, and may even develop, where perhaps no endosperm is formed, special absorptive "suspensor roots" which invest the developing embryo, or pass out into the body and coats of the ovule, or even into the placenta. In some cases the embryo or the embryo-sac sends out suckers into the nucellus and ovular integument. ”

“ It is a deadly way of fishing small overgrown brooks. A stiff rod and strong gut are necessary, and a grasshopper or almost any large fly will serve for bait.
Other Methods.—The other methods of taking trout principally employed are spinning, live-baiting and worming. For big river trout such as those of the Thames a gudgeon or bleak makes the best spinning or live bait, for great lake trout (Jerox) a small fish of their own species and for smaller trout a minnow. There are numberless artificial spinning-baits which kill well at times, the Devon being perhaps the favourite. ”

“ Some authorities hold that a great variety of patterns with very minute differences in colour and shades of colour is essential to complete success; others contend that salmon do not differentiate between nice shades of colour, that they only draw distinctions between flies broadly as being light, medium or dark in general appearance, and that the size of a fly rather than its colour is the important point for the angler's consideration. ”

“ Salmon Tackle and Methods.—It is when the drought breaks up and the long-awaited rain has come that the angler has his chance and makes ready his tackle, against the period of a few days (on some short streams only a few hours) during which the water will be right; right is a very exact term on some rivers, meaning not only that the colour of the water is suitable to the fly, but that its height shall be within an inch or two of a given mark, prescribed by experience. As to the tackle which is made ready, [v.02 p.0026] there is, as in most angling matters, divergence of opinion. ”