in which case the early fishing, which is always the best, may now be looked forward to by the angler. With the blue dun, the February red, and the March brown, I hope many baskets will be filled before I again appear in the pages of the this Magazine. When I do I shall be able to write more fully on the prospects of the coming season, for by then the “ foul torrent of the brook” will have "ebbed away," and the gladdening sun will have brought to life myriads of flies, with all their varied hues, suited to “tempt the trout.” Let me bere recommend every young angler who this year commences as a novice, and who is desirous of becoming a finished disciple of the rod, to lose no time in making himself acquainted with the art of manufacturing flies; it is an art very soon acquired if you set about learning in the right way; and the best mode is to take a few lessons from an accomplished artist, and having once obtained a start it is easy to improve. No one yet ever learned entirely from directions contained in books, which are useful enough as guides to colour, but no further. The best publication on the art of angling is “ Bowker's,” which is a practical book. Nine out of ten works of this sort publishell are mere compilations, and not worth perusal. Bowker resided at Ludlow, which is situated on the banks of the Team, a stream celebrated for its greyling; he was a noted fisherman, and in such matters an undoubted authority in the neighbourhood.

Since I have commenced this article I have learned that the fishing club at Leintwardine has been broke up; this is much to be regretted, as first-rate sport was formerly had there. It is to be hoped it may be re-established. Not only on the ground of amusement is it that fishing clubs are to be desired, but they are of advantage in keeping up the supply of fish in a river, and therefore should be encouraged by country gentlemen, especially such as have a sight of water. But, unfortunately, all are not agreeable on this head ; and when a club is proposed, it meets usually with great opposition, and many well-appointed plaus fall to the ground before reaching maturity.

The greatest error that managers of fishing clubs fall into is fixing their subscription at too high a figure, which keeps out many persons of the neighbourhood who otherwise would be of use as supporters ; an alteration of this would tend to promote the welfare of a society, and is worth the consideration of those having the management of such. I trust I shall be pardoned for offering this hint; but, should it be considered worthy of consideration, it may have the effect I desire, namely, the promotion of British field sports.

A DAY'S FISHING IN THE TRAUN.

“ Ischyl (Inns, Post: unusually dirty ; great complaints of incivility). Ischyl (Inn, Post: good).”

MURRAY'S HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHERN GERMANY, pp. 214, 316.

“ Fiat experimentum in corpore vile."

“Dont let us ascertain in person which is the more correct description," observed my friend A--, on reading the above conflicting testimony to the qualities of the said hotel, preparatory to entering the town. We determined to avoid it accordingly. Whether we pitched on the Kreutz, or Stögers (not Todger's—Mr. Dickens), or some other, I do not remember. It was probably not a first-rate house, for there was no written bill in the morning ; but the Kelner took down from dictation, after the most approved Albany dining-room fashion, the items of trout “ blanc gesokan,” “Kalb's schnittel,” &c., which had formed our evening meal. I have some notion also that our bedrooms were not unexceptionable, for I remember amongst the items dictated was “ ein sahr schleetes Yimmer,” which, with the most perfect coolness, the aforesaid Kelner converted into “ ein sahr gutes Yimmer," to the infinite delight of the laughing kelnerin. However, it was good enough ; and after the lodgings to which accident had condemned us on the previous night at Fiëschl, and a somewhat fatiguing day spent in walking thence, taking the ascent of the Schaffburg in the way, it was a paradise ; and we rose in the morning well refreshed, and ready for our projected walk to Halstadt, en route for Aussee. These names, as well as that of the Traun, will be familiar to all who have read Salmonia. We carried fishing-rods, but I do not know that we set out with any deliberate intention of using them : on the contrary, we had some vague notions of preserved fisheries and restrictive regulations, and certain wholesome fears of the Austrian police, which deterred us from indulging in the gentle craft-at least, in the vicinity of the town. And for some miles our resolution was not put to the proof. The day was not good, according to the fisher's creed : it was bright, still, and cloudless. The path which we followed conducted us at some distance from the river ; and whilst we had ample opportunity of enjoying the beauty of the morning and the landscape, we were spared any temptation to “snatch a fearful joy,” in the shape of a poached grayling. After a delightful walk of two hours, we found ourselves on the high road from Ischyl to Aussee, and on the margin of the Traun : and then began the conflict between fears and wishes, conscience and cupidity. Before us flowed the Traun, sparkling in the bright sunshine like the purest crystal : here rippling and dashing over a gravelly bed in

shallow streams, through which we could distinguish the huge grayling basking, and playing at the bottom ; there, eddying and dimpling in quiet pools, whose depths the imagination peopled with mighty trout and hucos. What a scene for two keen fishermen, who had carried rods from England, and only used them, once in all that way! Not the longings of “the pensive Selima" were more ardent; nor, to resolutions of forbearance, more fatal. Not that we yielded immediately or without a struggle : far from it. We followed the stream, looking and longing, and longing and looking, for full half a mile before our resolution gave way ; but then a turn of the road, and a corresponding bend of the river, brought us to a scene which settled the question at once. The stream at this point spread out to nearly twice its ordinary breadth, and across it stretched one of the numerous dams which have been erected at intervals, for the purpose of keeping up a sufficient supply of water to float down timber from the forests round Halstadt. This dam did not entirely interrupt the course of the water, but broke it up into numerous small streams, whose dashing rapids and quiet backwaters offered an irresistible charm to the eye of the fisherman. At all events, we could not resist it. “There can be no harm in having a few throws here." “ They will hardly send us to Spielsburg for it.” In five minutes our tackle was prepared, and we were whipping the water as intently as if we had come from England for nothing else, and as recklessly as if we had the most ample permission of lessee, proprietor, and police !

" Ye prudes in virtue, say,

Say, ye severest, what would you have done?" It was not long, however, before a slight incident occurred, which caused at the time some trifling misgivings. The appearance of the water had not deceived us : we speedily pulled out fish after fish, and having no creels, we made them over as fast as caught to some young peasants, who, with wonder in their faces, were taking perhaps their first lesson in fly-fishing. I had just handed over a trout, it might be of a quarter of a pound, to one of these boys, when a man passing along the road came up, and taking it out of his hand, with the utmost coolness chucked it into the river, at the same time addressing a remark to me as he went on, which appeared to refer to my proceedings, but the meaning of which was wholly unintelligible. My attempt to inquire whether “man must not fish there'' did not elicit any information, The only word of his reply which I could make out was the somewhat ominous one which I knew meant “ ticket.” Perhaps the wish was father to the thought ; but I nevertheless thought that he intimated that we might fish, and, at all events, he evidently did not care whether we did or not, for he went on towards Ischyl without any further interference. This was sufficient encouragement to us : possibly, too, the circumstance that the high road, from which we had hitherto been fishing, diverged at this point from the river, may have had its weight in determining us to leave the former and follow up the latter : at all events, we did so; and for the next two hours pursued our sport without any further interruption--and more delightful fishing it is difficult to imagine. The mountains which encircle the lake of Halstadt

leaving only a narrow gorge for the passage of the Traun, recede on either side almost immediately below that opening, so as to form a valley or basin which, in the widest part, may measure from a mile and a half to two miles across. The area of this basin not perfecily level, like so many others similarly situated, but broken into gentle undulations, is charmingly diversified with meadow and arable land, interspersed with groups of trees and picturesque cottages, and altogether presents to the eye a picture of quiet loveliness, the more striking by contrast with the rugged background of mountains, split and twisted into all the fantastic shapes for which a limestone formation is remarkable. Through the middle of this scene flowed the Traun, sometimes deep and still, sometimes shallow and broken, but always clear, always sparkling.

“There o'er green weeds, whose tresses waved outspread,

With silent lapse the glassy waters run;
Here in Acet motion o'er a pebbly bed

Gliding, they glance and ripple in the sun :
The stirring brecze that swept them in its flight,

Raised on the stream a shower of sparkling light." The general breadth of the stream was beyond a convenient cast, with an ordinary single-handed rod; but by wading three or four paces from the shore, which brought the water about half-way to the knee, the whole could be sufficiently covered. I used three flies : a reddishbrown body with gold ribs, and grouse-feather wings, the handiwork of Mr. George Bownes, of Bell Yard, for a stretcher ; one of Mr. A. Ronald's dung-flies for a first, and a small blue dun with a little gold twist for a second dropper. They were the first I tried, and I found no reason to change them. In truth, they were a tempting lot ; but I verily believe their excellence was thrown away, Never were fish more guileless of a hook. “ Ipse capi voluit' seemed true of all and each of them. If Sir H. Davey is correct in his theory that fish speedily acquire a hereditary dread of the artificial fly, either we were amongst the first to introduce it there, which, since Ischyl has been for some years much frequented by English, is hardly probable, or these fish are exceptions. Scarcely would the line straighten on the water, before a slight twitch would indicate that the fly had done its work. Then would ensue a lively struggle, which sometimes ended in the escape, but more frequently in the capture of one-often of two-broad-shouldered golden-finned grayling. Being desirous of carrying as little extra weight as possible in our knapsacks, we had not brought reels, but only a few yards of line wound on a stick : this not being more than sufficient for an ordinary cast, it was impossible to indulge a powerful fish with "& lengthening line ;” and as it is not very easy to move rapidly when up to the knees in a swift stream, over rather large pebbles, the only course to adopt was to give the fish the butt of the rod, and let him take his chance of breaking away. In this manner many good fish escaped. It is a fact well known to fishermen, that the fish which escape always are the heaviest ; and it is another fact that the weight and dimensions of a fish, not ascertained by actual measurement, always increase with the lapse of time. Knowing these two facts, I should wish to be cautious. We had no means of weighing ; and we did not stop to measure our spoils ; but we caught in the Itehen a few months afterwards, and weighed some grayling, certainly smaller than some of those Traunites ; and comparing the former with our recollections of the proportions of the latter, we satisfied ourselves that some which we secured must have weighed upwards of two pounds, consequently that some which escaped were even larger. Remembering the injunctions of the poet, we released the smaller fish, “ piteous of their youth," while a handkerchief knotted at the corners did duty for a pannier, until some opportunity offered of giving away the larger ones. Brother sportsmen will not blame us for killing fish for which we had no use. We at first found some difficulty in persuading those to whom we offered our fish of the sincerity of the offer : they seemed unable to comprehend that we really intended a free gift. In this way we went on until we arrived at the village of Steg, situated at the lower end of the lake ; and if we had been more prudent, and less greedy of sport, we should then have abandoned the character of Piscator, to assume that of Viator. But impunity had made us bold, and success covetous ; so we fished on up to the very batches that regulate the exit of the river from the lake.

I was standing on the bridge, watching my companion finishing off the last of the numerous streams into which the hatches divide the river, when a youth of some seventeen or eighteen years came up, and pointing alternately to my rod, to the handkerchief in which I yet retained some fish, to my companion, and to the river, evidently expressed his disapproval of our proceedings. Though his words were unintelligible, there was no mistaking his gestures, and I accordingly called to A- , who left off fishing and joined me. To leave off, however, was clearly not all that was wanted : the lad still talked and gesticulated, whilst we endeavoured to turn the conversation by inquiring if he could take us to Halstadt. Getting no satisfaction on this head from him, we went up to a group of villagers sitting at a cottage door, and partly by signs, partly by words, obtained information as to the residence of a boatman. In the meantime our young friend made piteous appeals to the villagers, pointing to the goodly show of fish, about thirty in number which we had spread on a bench, and evidently in a sad state of uncertainty as to what course he ought to adopt. His friends did not show much sympathy for him ; but as it was plain something was wrong, we intimated to him by signs that we left the fish for him, and as it did not seem probable that we should come to an understanding, we wished him good morning, and went into the little inn to get some refreshment, whilst a boat was being prepared to take us to Halstadt.

The lake is about four miles in length from north to south, rather square at the upper or southern end, narrowing to a point at the lower. A — compares its shape, not unaptly, to that of a hammer-headed shark. At the south-eastern extremity lies the village of Obertraun, from whence a road leads to Aussee. At the south-western angle is Halstadt, 80 overhung by cliffs that from October to February the sun never touches it. Steg lies at the northern extremity. There is no land communication between these places. The mountains which gird the lake rise sheer out of the water, leaving no room for a path, except between Steg and Gosau, a village on the western shore, about one mile from Steg.