ny books, from Isaak Walton downwards. For
ourselves, when it comes to bait-fishing--except in running water, when
worm-fishing is an art--we prefer catching whitings and haddocks in some
of our beautiful salt-water lochs, to all the perch, roach, chub, and
such-like, that ever swam. But in this please note that we are only
expressing our own opinion, and with all respect to the opinions of many
worthy anglers. We may say this, however, with all safety, that in
angling, as in most other things, if one aims at the highest point of
the art he is not at all likely to condescend to the lowest.

CHAPTER XI.

AFTER A DAY'S FISHING.

What a pleasant fatigue succeeds a day's fishing! There is not, or
should not be, a feeling of weariness, but just the satisfaction one
feels after enjoying a health-giving recreation. Health-giving it
certainly is to the body, and we have no hesitation in saying to the
mind also. It makes one forget for the time being all the evils to which
flesh is heir, and braces up the whole system to meet them when the
necessity arises. But we must not go in for more sentiment than is
actually needful. The practical duties after a day's fishing are these.
If the weather has been damp, change all wet garments _at once_, and if
at all practicable have a hot bath before sitting down to dinner. We say
dinner advisedly, for the angler should always have a good sound dinner
after a day's fishing, as however pleasant the work may have been, still
it is exhausting to the body, and a rough tea, though good in itself,
cannot pretend to have the reviving elements in it that a substantial
dinner has. A glass of whisky, or even two, in cold water, will be found
a very safe accompaniment. A good plan is to order your whisky by the
bottle, and put your card in a nick made in the cork: the ordering of
whisky in glasses is expensive and unsatisfactory. Your dinner over,
turn your attention to your tackle. Unwind your lines, so far as they
have been wet, from the reels, and lay them out on your bedroom floor; if
any chance of being interfered with, wind them round the backs of chairs
instead. They will be dry by the morning. Dry your reels thoroughly, and
put in a little oil wherever you think they would be the better of it;
and this should be done to any other article--spring-balance, gaff,
&c.--that is liable to rust. Your creel or fishing-bag should be washed
out and hung up to dry by the servants of the house im