162 A YEAR OF liberty; or, 



remember tearing home for another rod, whilst yon packed up the 

 wreck ; and, spite of disasters, afterwards bringing home seven good 

 fish before breakfast ? But enough of the past, for rods are glancing 

 and eager feet are hurrying down to the quay, and the tide has 

 turned an hour ago, so we, too, will get under weigh, pole up to the 

 weirs, and discourse by the way. 



Ballina for many years past has been a great favourite with our 

 countrymen, and during the summer probably there are seldom less 

 than ten or twelve English rods always hard at work on the water. 

 But even with this number the Moy'is far from being crowded, for 

 from the Flats to Foxford the distance is about twelve miles. No 

 narrow and puny stream is this, but a broad and glorious river, so 

 wide and marvellously full of fish that if a dozen rods were occupied 

 in the tideway alone there would be room for all and sport for each. 

 Fortunately, the upper waters are in as great favour as the lower, and 

 my friend, Pat Heames, never wants clients. His dominions, properly 

 speaking, extend from the weirs to Foxford ; he is the above-bridge 

 potentate, and will come into notice more correctly in another 

 chapter. 



All this time Terry is poling steadily up the stream, whilst we are 

 arranging the casting line. Compared with the gorgeous flies so 

 lately used on the Erne, those of the Moy seem only pretty dimi- 

 nutives, and altogether no tackle can be lighter than that employed 

 here. The rods generally used are slight and pliant ; the three yards 

 of single gut, backed by nearly an equal length of fine treble, 

 together with a pair of small flies, give to the angler's outfit more 

 the appearance of trout than salmon tackle ; yet with ordinary skill 

 no accidents need be feared, as the bottom is remarkably clear, and 

 wherever a fish may go, a cot can follow. 



That vigorous stroke has sent us under the bridge into the pool 

 below the cutts, and what a picture is here for the angler's contem- 

 plation. Over the broad weirs and through the gratings comes the 

 foaming rushing river, forming streams and eddies, whilst, near the 

 arches, the water fiows more smoothly and with a shallower current. 

 Twenty yards above this point our anchor was dropped, and the first 



