Science and Angling

Abstract

IT is doubtful whether much real progress has been made in the art of angling since the time of Walton, whose “Complete Angler” was published in 1653. A great improvement has taken place in fishing-tackle and implements, and we have much better rods, reels, lines, and lures now, than could have been got in old Isaac's time. Of late years the number of rod-fishers has enormously increased, and there is quite a plethora of popular treatises on the art of fishing. Bat in all the books we have seen, including the one whose title is at the head of this notice, there is a striking absence of any guiding principles to go by; and notwithstanding the marked improvement in the mechanical appliances referred to, and the increased number and activity of anglers, we repeat that it may be fairly doubted whether the latter are more successful fishers than their representatives 200 years ago. The cause of this is probably owing to the fact that hitherto attention has been almost exclusively directed to the mere practice of the art, and that angling as a science has been all but completely ignored. We have ad nauseam, empiric and dogmatic rules for the guidance of the tyro, but few of these are based on sufficient data, and most of them are quite untrustworthy. There is no statement for example, more frequently made in books on angling than that if the wind be from the east trout will not rise to the fly; and yet there are lakes (notably Loch Leven, Kinross-shire, probably the best trouting lake in Great Britain), in which the fish take best when the wind blows from that quarter. Another generally accepted canon is that fish will not rise freely during a thunderstorm, or when “there is thunder in the air;” but in our own not very large experience, we have again and again proved the falsity of this rule. It would be easy to multiply examples of the worthlessness of such empiric directions. What is wanted is a scientific treatise on angling. A principle in Science, some one has said, is a rule in art; and it is such rules that are desiderated. The object of this paper is rather to indicate this want than to supply it; and we have little hopes of much progress being made in the “gentle art” until it is carefully studied and treated scientifically. Until this is dne there are many difficult problems connected with angling which must, we fear, remain unsolved. One day, for example, fish will take greedily any fly that is offered them, for an hour or two and before or after this, their feeding time, the most skilful angler will practise all his wiles in vain. Another day, only flies of a particular colour or shape have any chance of taking. Again, it does happen occasionally that a veteran Waltonian will return front his favourite stream or lake, under the most auspicious influences of sky, wind, and water, with a very light basket, or it may be, an empty one. It is also a fact that the most successful day's fishing is sometimes achieved by going dead against all recognised rules and imitations of Nature. These are only a few of the things that require to be explained, and in the explanation of which a careful study of the nature and habits of fishes—how they are affected by atmospheric influences, &c.—would probably greatly assist. Of course, there are scientific anglers who have picked up their science under difficulties, and as they best could; and their number might be indefinitely increased if greater facilities were afforded for acquiring scientific knowledge. Such anglers will be sure to have the indispensable qualities of patience and perseverance; but they must also be careful observers of Nature, of the conditions of the water, of the appearance of the sky, and of meteorological phenomena in general; and in addition to all these they will be found to possess an intimate acquaintance with some special branch of Natural History.

Flies and Fly Fishing, with Hints on Minnow and Grasshopper Fishing.

By Capt. St. John Dick. (Hardwicke.)