Yuji Sakuma wrote:

Among things that I have learned from reading British books and magazines is
that upstream worm fishing for trout in clear streams is considered to be at
least as difficult as, and requires as much skill as, fly fishing. I
believe it is called "trotting" a worm. It is something I cannot confirm
from experience but find believable. The Brits have a much richer history of
angling than we in the colonies - Izaak Walton, who we think of as the
father of our sport, was a Brit. Some people might not know that Walton was
actually a worm fisher. Another impression I gained is that coarse fishing
as practiced in Europe is at least as technical as fly fishing is in its
practice and equipment. So much for the snobbery that some of us fly
fishers are prone to.


The most effective trout angler I ever met was a bait fisherman. He
always carried a variety of baits such as wax worms, minnows he froze in
small packs, small garden worms he raised, etc. He also used Stonefly
nymphs, Cranefly larva (rockworms) and other things he gathered at
streamside.

When I lived in the mountains, I ran into him pretty frequently as we
both liked many of the same areas. Sometimes I would just watch him but
often he would fish behind me and generally caught twice the number of
fish I did even though he was fishing water I had just fished. I learned
alot from the guy.

Willi