EASTER FLY FISHING ON THE ITCH EN 7 



spun out so many jack would spin on in the top 

 of the old oak for ever ; but the Major was of a 

 different opinion. For want of a better lure, he 

 ingeniously fastened two corks together and cut 

 them into a shapely minnow. He then peeled off 

 the gold leaf from the neck of a champagne bottle ; 

 this he gummed neatly round the cork, and 

 varnished it. Here was as glittering a gold fish 

 as ever swam in a glass bowl. To this he added a 

 strip of red stuff and affixed the tackle, and the 

 gold spinner was perfect. Necessity is the mother 

 of invention. Fly fishing on Easter Monday in a 

 sou'-westerly gale is not attractive, so he sallied 

 forth with his new impromptu invention, and 

 caught three jack before lunch. I followed after 

 with my rod and my flies, but really it was a 

 disheartening task. I never saw a rise from one 

 end of the water to the other, and I said I would 

 not come here again on Easter Monday. After 

 lunch, not feeling inclined to give in, I put on 

 a small Coachman, after failing to attract any 

 attention with Olive Dun and various other flies. 

 It is pain and grief to a dry-fly fisherman to 

 wander along by the waterside in a howling wind, 

 and to see absolutely nothing over which to cast ; 

 and it so happens that a south-westerly wind, 

 when it is blowing half a gale, is almost the worst 

 wind we can have on our side of the water, for 

 it is only at certain corners and twists and turns 

 in the river that one can have even a decent 

 chance, though I can manage to get through a 



