STEWAHT'S NEW METHOD. 29 



this position you can throw your fly above him, so that 

 he can catch it, as he does that of which it is " the 

 counterfeit presentment, " as it comes down with the 

 secondary result of your catching him. A repetition 

 of the process fills your creel. It is not to be under- 

 stood from this, however, that the cast is always to be 

 made straight up stream. By a straight-up cast the 

 whole of your flies must pass over the trout as well 

 as the line probably to the excitement of suspicion or 

 alarm, while they cover only a mere strip of water. On 

 approaching a pool, therefore, at the foot, the first cast 

 may be made straight up the side of the bank on which 

 you stand (or crouch, or kneel, which are preferable 

 attitudes), but the succeeding ones should be more and 

 more diagonal, until you throw across to the opposite 

 bank, or in the direction of it, if the river is too broad 

 for that. It is at the opposite bank that you are to 

 expect most fish, and if you are fishing a stream which 

 you cannot command from one bank to the other, the 

 best plan is to wade into the middle, and cast across 

 and upwards to the sides. In places where the water 

 does not run into the bank, and where it is shallow 

 at the edges, deepening towards the middle, trout do 

 not lie at the side ; and to the middle, therefore, espe- 

 cially to the eddy behind every large stone, the angler 

 should address his efforts : but these are hardly the 

 most favourable places for fly-fishing. 



A bad angler, however, usually chooses some such 

 smooth and equable stream, and keeps casting away 

 over and over the same spot, for hours together. He 

 has been told to fish his water inch by inch, and he 

 thinks it necessary to give every parr half-a-dozeu 



