66 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



time we took the left bank of the stream, 

 which is bordered all the way to Fischen by a 

 thick pine-wood, rich in delicate mosses and 

 graceful ferns, and through which the small 

 mountain cattle wander. A rough cart-road 

 skirts the stream. The trout taken were some- 

 what better in size, and again a basket of 

 thirteen was the result of our fishing, consist- 

 ing of two small grayling, each about a quarter 

 of a pound, and eleven trout, from an eighth 

 to a quarter of a pound. A small dun with a 

 yellow body was "quite the favourite fly on 

 both days, though a March brown and a red- 

 bodied dun also took one or two fish. Probably 

 in May and June much better sport would be 

 had with the trout, since many are certainly 

 taken by the fishermen in the course of the 

 summer with nets ; and more continuous fish- 

 ing than we gave to the Iller would in the 

 autumn certainly reward the angler with some 

 fair sport with the grayling. 



But Sonthofen would really be the best spot 

 to fish from ; for the Iller there, though swift, 

 is yet a more tranquil stream, and the trout 

 would certainly be larger and the grayling 

 more numerous. On the other hand, Oberst- 



