28 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



But we have even heard the system of 

 down-stream fishing defended by men who 

 were not only educated men, but by some 

 who rank high as scientific thinkers, and 

 whose abilities as anglers are often praised. 

 It seems strange to us at least to hear the 

 reasons they give. How, for instance, can 

 they affirm that 'more water is covered in 

 down-stream fishing than in up-stream 

 fishing ' ? We admit the fact, but it is 

 covered by the line, not by the flies, and the 

 mileage is certainly, as we have shown, longer. 

 In other words, the river-bank is covered by 

 strides and the water by shadows, and clear 

 against the sky behind ' the man with the 

 pole ' is silhouetted, to the horror of every 

 trout within fifty yards. The streams are 

 'covered' by hops, skips, and jumps, and 

 unnatural jerks of an insect imitation. A 

 salmon-fisher must reach the lie of the fish, 

 and then hang his lure over it if he expects 

 to ' bring him up/ and that by casting down- 

 stream. But a trout-fisher, by 'covering' 

 a large extent of water ' fine and far off/ does 

 so with his line, not his flies, and passes over 

 feeding fish, frightens many ten times more 



