WEATHER AND WIND 255 



would never detect any sign of movement. The 

 trout that you stalk, therefore, may well be rising 

 fish though you would not know it without actually 

 seeing them. It is hardly necessary to dwell on 

 the fascination of trying to catch such visible fish. 

 To watch a big mouth opening and shutting on one's 

 fly is a sensation of blissful terror. 



Exactly the same kind of fishing is possible on 

 wet-fly streams in certain conditions, of which low 

 water is one. The still pools and flats always have 

 a number of trout which cruise at the edge of the 

 bushes or near the banks, and when the light is 

 favourable you can see and fish for them. But 

 stalking them is not quite the same thing as stalking 

 chalk stream fish. There is less movement about 

 it. You get better results by standing still in a 

 likely place than by patrolling the banks. For the 

 trout themselves are moving, in and out, up and 

 down, round and round, and sooner or later one, 

 two, or even more will come into view. A single 

 fly accurately delivered will generally get a rise 

 from one of these fish, and I do not mind whether 

 it floats or sinks. Some of the items which fall 

 from bushes float, some probably sink, and the 

 trout are ready for either proceeding. 



Sometimes, of course, the sun makes too much of 

 himself for his most cordial admirer. There are 

 days on which the heat in the open meadows is too 



