202 TROUT FISHING 



only ; (/) fly floats beautifully over fine possible of at 

 least four pounds, and is taken without hesitation. 

 Battle less strenuous than was expected. Reason 

 apparent later when possible turns out to be one and 

 a quarter pounds, which is a quarter of a pound under 

 the size limit; (g) another sixpenny fly left in 

 another three-pound mouth; and so on. 



All this happens amid a scene of general turmoil, 

 which adds to the angler's naturally overwrought 

 condition of mind. Finally, he is reduced to a wild 

 state in which he rushes from place to place and fish 

 to fish, thrashes the unoffending air with his pro- 

 testing rod, and generally does his best to prove 

 that he is as a fact a duffer engaged in his fortnight. 

 He returns home in the cool of night with a solitary 

 two-pounder, which he caught on a sedge after the 

 Mayfly hatch was over for the day, and wonders 

 why things should be ordered as they are. 



They say — and, of course, many of us know that 

 it is true — ^that the duffer's fortnight is not all like 

 this. Provided you are able to see the head and 

 body and tail of it, you may get a true Mayfly day, 

 a day on which big fish are in the mood and on 

 which you can pick and choose, as is the delightful 

 theory of Mayfly fishing, and come home with one 

 or two really fine specimens, which you have 

 besieged and conqviered in the approved style. You 



