By keeping your tackle-book neat and tidy, you will always have your
silks, hooks, lines, flies, &c. in their proper places. When the twine
that holds your two-piece Rod together has been thoroughly wet, then
when dry, and before using it again, wax well. If any portion of a Rod
of three or more pieces is so fast at the joints that you cannot draw,
then hold over the flame of a candle or by the fire, and then try, the
result is generally satisfactory. Let your gut soften in the water
before you commence fishing. Examine old stintings of gut and hair to
see there are no flaws by wear and tear, if there are, repair, or
discard altogether, carelessness in such matters always brings
disappointment in the long run. See that the points of your hooks are
sharp, and that the hooks are all right, as broken or crooked hooks are
of course useless. Make it a rule to examine closely any place where
you have had your book out dressing flies, &c., so that you leave
nothing behind. If your flies or hooks are fast to any impediment which
you cannot reach, don't pull like a savage, but go tenderly and
cautiously to work; a release is often effected by a little time and
patience; when the case is utterly hopeless, and a breakage becomes
inevitable, then try to save as much of your tackle as possible. Never
loose your temper because you loose your fish, let hope "whisper a
flattering tale" for the next you hook. When you have hooked a fish,
don't let him run if you can possibly help it, so as to slacken your
line, if you do, you stand a chance of loosing him, as the sudden
cessation of a strain upon the line frequently disengages the hold. If
you want to discover what fish are feeding upon, open the first you
catch, and then you will be able to judge correctly. Never strike a
fish hard with the fly, either on gut or hair, if the latter, a
breakage is almost sure to follow a violent jerk. Stormy, showery days
in summer and sometimes in spring, are days on which you will generally
take the best fish with the fly. After a flood, with a rising
barometer, and not too much wind, expect good sport. If the fish do not
like the worm after you have tried a few likely places, change for the
fly, and if you do not succeed with that, wait twenty minutes or so,
and probably you may then find them disposed to feed. Whenever you find
fish shy in taking the worm, I mean when they will neither take it nor
let it alone, pulling at it but not attempting to gorge it, strike
either very quickly, as soon in fact as you perceive they have touched
it, or what will generally answer much better, exchange for the fly.
Sometimes, however, fish will take worm very well, although they may be
seen rising freely at the fly. Cold dark days are not favourable for
worm fishing, and in low water the worm is entirely useless on such
days. Put your Minnows for trolling in tin cases, with partitions for
each Minnow with a little bran in each, this method keeps them nice and
fresh. Observe, that Loaches, if you can get them are tougher than
Minnows, and quite as good if not better bait. Never buoy yourself up
with the hope of having any diversion, either at top or bottom in an
easterly wind. Also after a frosty night followed by a bright day, fly
fishing need not be attempted with any chance of success. Put your
worms when you are going to use them in a woollen bag in Spring, canvas
in Summer. In May-fly season, if there comes a flood, go at the rising
of the water and secure as many as possible, you will find them scarce
afterwards. If, when fishing up water you meet an angler coming down,
you had better wait twenty minutes before you try the stream recently
fished. Guard against your shadow falling upon the water, at least as
much as possible. If you purpose wading, be careful not to over-heat
yourself during your walk to the water side. If, when the morning has
been cloudy, and the fish have risen tolerably at the fly, should the
sun appear about noon, coming out strong and likely to continue, you
will find the fish cease to rise, and it is very probable that they
will feed no more until evening. After a white hoar frost, either in
the Spring, or further on in the season, fish rarely feed until the
afternoon of that day, and not always then. When a thick mist rises
from the water early on a Summer morning, fish will not feed until the
vapour rising from the water has passed away. On stormy days try mostly
that part of the water where there is the best shelter to be had.