STEWART AND THE UPSTREAM SCHOOL. 109 



why many fishermen, who want to catch fish and 

 are not fools, continue to fish down, is worth 

 understanding. It is not for want of being 

 preached at. 



All logic favours upstream fishing, at least in 

 clear water, and nothing else is worth talking 

 about. There are not two sides to the argu- 

 ment. And the immense majority of fishing 

 books say the same. But a history of fly fishing 

 would not be complete if it left the matter 

 there. Future students, reading the printed 

 word, would imagine that from Stewart to now 

 everyone fished upstream except some obscure 

 individuals fishing untried waters. But that 

 is historically untrue. Good fishermen, on the 

 shyest of waters, fish downstream and kill fish. 

 Their practice differs from theory, as it often 

 does. Downstream fishing, here and now, in 

 this twentieth century, is better for certain 

 persons and certain occasions. You avoid many 

 difficulties. Wading is easier, and casting less 

 incessant. Your line is always taut and you 

 are more likely to hook your fish. Also, as it is 

 always taut you know where your fly is and 

 know where to look for rises. This is a great 

 difficulty of upstream fishing, especially in 

 quick or broken water. You lose touch with 

 your flies, as Lord Grey says; a rise comes, you 

 see it too late and miss the fish. Or else you see 

 nothing and do not even know a fish has risen. 

 It is a far greater difficulty than the inexperi- 

 enced imagine : the power of knowing when a 



