An Angler's Hours |
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Amaryllis angler angling artificial fly bait bank barbel basket bite boat brace breakfast bream bridge brook brook trout brook-fishing brother bush capture carp cast catch caught chalk stream chub coarse fish corner creel dace dark deep down-stream dry fly eddy Exmoor fact feed feet fisherman five pounds flick flies float fly-fishing fly-rod grass grayling half head heavy hook hour indomitable keeper Lady Maud land landing-net lobworm look main brook March brown May-fly meadow mile mill-pool morning never Norfolk jacket Old Billy once ounces Pebbleville perch pike Polycrates pool rainbow trout reason rise river roach round running rush salmon salmon fly seems seen shallow sport spot stream strike tackle tench Thames thing trees trout trout-fishing turn unconquerable hope up-stream waders water-meadows weeds weight weir weir-pool willows wind worm yards
Popular passages
Page 191 - COME not, when I am dead, To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave, To trample round my fallen head, And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save. There let the wind sweep and the plover cry ; But thou, go by. Child, if it were thine error or thy crime I care no longer, being all unblest : Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time, And I desire to rest. Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie : Go by, go by.
Page 4 - ... shooting costume ; a loose Norfolk jacket, under which we catch a glimpse of a woollen jersey, does not look like the raiment of a burglar. He seems to have been expected too, for on the table in the middle of the room is a fair white cloth, and on the cloth are the materials for a meal. There are the goodly proportions of an uncut ham, a loaf of sweet white bread, a butter-dish, a teapot, cup and saucer, and other aids to breakfast. The man turns towards the fender, where stands a kettle on...
Page 217 - When, O stranger, thou hast reached a burn where the shepherd asks thee for the newspaper wrapped round thy sandwiches, that he may read the news, then erect an altar to Priapus, god of fishermen, and begin to angle boldly.
Page 78 - I dare venture to assure you, 'tis a Grayling, who is one of the deadest-hearted fishes in the world, and the bigger he is, the more easily taken. Look you, now you see him plain; I told you what he was; bring hither that landing-net, Boy; and now. Sir, he is your own; and believe me a good one, sixteen inches long I warrant him; I have taken none such this year.
Page 248 - Nor do they hesitate to speak of ten and even twelve - pounders, and sometimes, as they lean upon the bridge and give rein to their fancy, you may hear darkling hints as to what they would catch could they only find themselves standing in their waders on the shelf of that great tumultuous hole with their trusty spinning-rod in hand, and of course the card of invitation in pocket. But prophecy is somewhat akin to faith, as explained for us by the Sunday scholar ; it consists principally in asserting...
Page 46 - ... chance. As a rule where Exe runs deep, it delights to pretend that it is a sheet of glass, which is not good for fishing. At the tail of this pool Nature has providently put a convenient bush standing a little back from the water, round which a man may very comfortably throw his flies, seeing and unseen. To this bush our friend goes, cautiously stooping, until he is kneeling behind it. On his cast are three flies. He uses a large March Brown with yellow twist as leader, a small Hare's Ear as...
Page 241 - But even those of us who are fondest of our stretch of river do not call it trout-fishing. We merely admit, on being pressed, that there are trout in it. We even admit that they are sometimes to be caught, but we are reticent as to the manner of the catching. And yet it is hard to see why we should be, for our trout are highly civilised and seen in all arts and cunning, as is but natural when you reflect that they live within fifteen miles of the Marble Arch, know what a London fog looks like, and...
Page 48 - Struck too hard," he murmurs, and pulls his line in hand-over-hand to see the extent of the damage. As he suspected, the second dropper is gone, but he consoles himself with the thought that he is a little out of practice, and that he must expect to strike off a few flies on the first day. He opens his fly-book and takes out another blue upright, moistening the gut in his mouth before he fastens it to his cast. Here let it be said that for the Exe and streams like it I prefer flies tied on gut, to...
Page 256 - I have longed for a field of golden corn on the other side of the stream, but golden corn is rapidly losing its honoured place in the Englishman's scheme of things, and in many a district where the harvest-song once resounded it is heard no more ; and the nation's cheap bread is made of bone-dust or some such nourishing material. The progress of civilisation, which has modified so many of our great thoughts, has had its effect on the proverb, too. We knew of old the dubious character of much that...
Page 32 - Mayfly in streams much nearer home ; it is all in vain ; he will shake his head, admit the force of your arguments, and say that he is going down to the West Country by the first train to-morrow. Opinions differ as to which part of the country offers most attractions to the troutfisher in spring. Many a tempting adviser would tell us to go north. By the negative process (than which is none more insidious), Mr. Andrew Lang has almost made up my mind more than once to start for Clearburn Loch, for...