40 ANGLING IN GREA T BRITAIN. 



with such a will at your flies, fight so gamely to the very 

 end, and look so handsome in their brilliant vesture, that 

 you linger in admiration over them in the landing-net. 

 One or two streams in private hands are reserved for May- 

 day, but as a rule the British trout streams from John 

 o'Groat's to Land's End, and from Lough Foyle to Bantry 

 Bay, are in the prime of trout fishing in April. 



Whether up-stream or down-stream fishing be the correct 

 thing ; whether gossamer casts are profitable in the long 

 run ; whether one, two or three flies should be used ; 

 whether the Alexandra fly is orthodox — these are amongst 

 the topics the assembled fishermen discuss as they sit 

 around on the spot to which the frugal luncheon has been 

 brought, under shelter of the golden-blossomed gorse, their 

 rods spiked hard by, and the flies streaming out before the 

 breeze. If there are more than two present there is not 

 likely to be unanimity upon any of these points. 



It is well for the tackle makers that new notions — heresies 

 in the eyes of anglers of the last generation — are so freely 

 promulgated. I know some successful fishermen who habi- 

 tually fish down-stream, and who use medium gut for their 

 casts. In very rapid water, free from weeds (the Derby- 

 shire rivers, and Welsh streams, for example,) a third fly 

 may be added to the stretcher and dropper, but, on the 

 whole, little good comes of more than two flics on the 

 cast. In trout water where the fish do not rise well at the 

 usual flies the Alexandra is as much in place as a spun 

 minnow, but it spoils the fish for the artificial fly pure and 

 simple. Upon all these matters the angler must form his 

 own judgments from experience, and then I fancy he will 

 take a delight, when wading, in casting straight up-stream 

 with a short line ; will always, otherwise, aim at casting 

 across and allowing the flies to drift down without worrying 



