160 AN OPEN CREEL 



enthusiasts about fish), and there were other matters 

 of importance to be attended to. But such things 

 must yield to the claims of the Mayfly, and very soon, 

 rod in hand and flies in pocket, I was hastening down 

 to the bottom of the water, while R. progressed 

 towards the top. 



In the lower stretch the stream is quite a little one, 

 in places not more than eight feet or ten feet wide, 

 with alternate pools and ripples ; its trout are elusive, 

 and naturally the big ones are not numerous. They 

 live in the deep holes under willow roots and hollow 

 banks, coming out on to the shallows to feed. At 

 meal-times they may be found in very thin water so 

 thin, indeed, that there is scarcely enough to cover 

 them. This is bad for the angler, because, approach- 

 ing incautiously, he finds he has put down or turned 

 off two or three good fish which might have risen if 

 they had had the chance. Another trouble is the 

 dace, insignificant as individuals, but to be reckoned 

 with in bulk. One sees a trout rise upstream, ap- 

 proaches the bank at a casting distance below, kneels, 

 and begins to lengthen line ; but ere the fly has fallen 

 a big wave has gone upstream before it, and the trout 

 is alarmed. The shoal of dace has become aware of 

 the angler, and migrated in a body. At certain places 

 the only method is to stand or kneel well back in the 

 meadow and cast across the grass at right angles to 

 the trout, and then it is ten to one that if he rises 

 the line will be hitched up in nettles and the strike 

 ineffectual. 



For a couple of hours I wrestled with troubles of 

 this kind, and by the time I got to the footbridge 



