4 EASTER FLY FISHING ON THE ITCH EN 



ever since. It seems to me to be a very remark- 

 able thing that fly and hook should have been in 

 that fish for more than nine months, and now as 

 perfect and fresh as if it had been in my pocket- 

 book all the time ; the gut is rather rotten. The 

 gold tinsel round the body is as bright as ever it 

 was, one wing is slightly mangled, as if other envi- 

 ous trout had tried to nibble it. I fully believe that 

 fly is mine, that I lost that fish on that particular 

 spot last June ; the only doubt I have about it is 

 that I then estimated the fish I lost as at least 

 \\ lb., whereas this one, after nine months' growth, 

 now weighs only ij lb. ; on the other hand, you 

 know how much larger are always the fish you lose 

 than those you take ! The fly is distinctly a G.O.M. 

 of Mrs. Ogden Smith's make. 



Saturday, April 9, I may fairly call hurricane 

 day. Fly fishing, dry or wet, was hopeless, and 

 to have attempted to cast a fly over the billows 

 quite useless, because firstly, it could not be 

 done with any degree of accuracy ; and, secondly, 

 because there was nothing over which to cast. 



We had too jauntily concluded, because many 

 months ago our nets had captured a large number 

 of big pike and little jack, that we had cleared 

 the river of these destructive pests ; but we ought 

 to have remembered that what were mighty little 

 jack then, and so escaped the net, have been all 

 the while growing, till now they have become fair- 

 sized pike. 



" This windy weather," said " Piscator," " is just 



