90 OUR HOLIDAY IN CORNWALL 



peregrinate more than half-a-mile of the head 

 waters of the pool. I saw no rises, except an 

 occasional splash away out in the centre of the 

 lake. I used only one fly the Red Palmer and 

 tried to apply the dry floating fly system in which 

 I had been educated, and to which I believe Loe 

 trout are quite unused. In a few minutes the 

 unusual sight of a floating fly attracted the attention 

 of a fine trout, which, after a little display of 

 energy on his part, came nicely into my net and 

 thence into my basket, adding over a pound to its 

 weight. \ 



" Now," said I, " if I can get one nice companion 

 for you, my friend, I will go home, for here, 

 surrounded by nothing but wild and lovely, lonely 

 scenery, not a house to be seen, hungry and 

 thirsty, and unprovided with food or drink, and a 

 threatening storm overhead, I perish if I much 

 longer stay." 



I met a solitary angler an old hand who had 

 fished all day and caught nothing who, with 

 envious though generous eyes, saw me deftly 

 land my first trout ; he congratulated me on my 

 success, which I attributed to the floating fly 

 system. This one success, however, was hardly 

 sufficient to justify a claim for its superiority 

 over the wet fly, and it was only the night before 

 that by the latter system he told me he had in 

 an hour or two caught four trout which collectively 

 weighed 9 Ibs. This day and up to this time 

 no success had attended his efforts. I told him 



