You may take Trout in February with the worm if the weather is mild,
and continue to do so until the end of October. It is a most alluring
and destructive bait, and requires more skill to fish it properly than
is generally supposed. After rain, when rivers or brooks are somewhat
beyond their usual bounds, a well scoured lob worm will take the best
of fish. For worm fishing you must have a yard of good gut attached to
your cast line, which line ought to be of the same thickness from the
gut to the loop of your reel line, your hooks may be a trifle larger in
the Spring than in the Summer, and should be tied on to the gut with
good strong red silk; two No. 4 or 5 shot corns, partially split, and
then fastened upon the gut about five or six inches from the hooks, and
from two to three from each other, are generally sufficient in a strong
water to sink your worm to the requisite depth, but in low and fine
waters, use two of No. 6, and sometimes one will be sufficient. In worm
fishing never attempt to fish down, but always up a stream, and when
you are aware that you have a bite, slacken your line a little in order
to give time to the fish to gorge, then strike quickly, but not too
hard, and land your prize without delay; you need not make more than
two or three casts in one place, because if there is a fish he will in
those casts either take or refuse your bait. In summer when the water
is low and fine, and the thermometer about seventy-five Farenheit,
capital sport may be had with well scoured Brandlings, perhaps this
sort of fishing is _nulli secundus_, inferior to none in the exercise
of skill and ingenuity. The immortal Shakespeare, must surely have
fished the worm in clear waters, for he says, "the finest angling 'tis
of all to see the fish with his golden fins, cleave the golden flood,
and greedily devour the treacherous hook." In the Spring you must give
your fish more time before you strike them than in the Summer; because
having been sickly and altogether out of order, and not yet having
recovered his usual strength and activity, he bites but languidly, and
does not gorge so quickly as when in prime condition. When you find
Trout pulling or snatching at the worm, which may be termed runaway
bites, and when in fact they neither take it nor let it alone, it is a
sign they are full, and the best plan to effect a capture under such
circumstance is to strike that moment they touch your bait, for if you
do not succeed by a snap, but allow them time, they will only play with
it for a few moments, and then finally leave you in the lurch. In
concluding my observations on worm fishing, I can with confidence
affirm that it is, as a bait for Trout, the most destructive and
certain agent the angler (taking the season through) can make use of.
The author of Don Juan certainly did not flatter a worm fisher, one
part of his assertion however is undoubtedly true, the worm was at one
end, but it did not necessarily follow, that a fool was at the other.
His poetic and satirical lordship probably never saw Trout taken with
the worm in a clear stream, if he had I think he would have been
satisfied that there was nothing foolish about it. Osbaldiston in his
_British Field Sports_, under the head of _Allurements for Fish_,
recommends the gum of ivy, he says, "take gum ivy and put a good deal
of it into a box made of oak, and rub the inside of it with this gum;
when you angle, put three or four worms into it, but they must not
remain long, for if they do, it will kill them, then take them and fish
with them, putting more into the worm-bag as you want them. Gum ivy
flows from the ivy tree when injured by driving nails into it,
wriggling them about and letting them remain for some time; about
Michaelmas is the best time to procure it. Gum ivy is of a red colour,
of a strong scent, and sharp pungent taste." When fish are disposed to
feed, you need not use gum ivy; the attractions of a bright and clear
scoured worm are quite sufficient without any such adjunct.