124 TROUT FISHING 



In fact, when one comes to consider all the possi- 

 bilities of the downstream method, it is clear that 

 deliberate rejection of it would be to inflict a volun- 

 tary handicap on one's efficiency. There are occa- 

 sions on which it is not only just as good as, but 

 even better than, the upstream plan. One of these 

 occasions which has impressed me forcibly of late 

 years is the period when trout are not definitely 

 taking. If you have been fishing up for some time 

 without stirring a fin, it is always worth while to 

 turn round and fish down. Cast your flies under 

 the bushes or bank and work them out and across- 

 stream with short draws of the rod-top, and it will 

 be odd if you do not get a rise or two, and very 

 likely in the same spots where the upstream method 

 scored nothing. The movement of a fly fished in 

 this manner may be unnatural, as some maintain, 

 but it certainly has an effect on the trout, arousing 

 curiosity at least, if nothing else. I do not know 

 if wet-fly men at all commonly work their flies in 

 this way — I rather think not — but the plan is well 

 worth a trial by any one to whom it is new. I 

 have owed to it many a brace of trout before the 

 take has come on or after it has ended, which I 

 am sure I should not have had if I had gone on 

 plodding upstream. 



One of the principal arguments of the supporters 

 of the upstream method, as against the other, 



