2io AN OPEN CREEL 



taken as high as this, but Lechlade, a good deal lower 

 down, is the first point where the fish becomes a 

 calculable possibility. Beyond regretting this fact, 

 therefore, I took no thought of trout, but looked up- 

 stream for a sign of rising chub. Above the sharp 

 water at the bridge is a long, quiet pool, and in its 

 lower corner, on the left bank, is a clump of bushes 

 growing right down into the water, and forming a 

 splendid harbour. A rise was soon seen just below 

 the bushes, and then another, and presently it became 

 evident that the fish were moving. Leaving the bridge, 

 I got into the meadow opposite, from which it was 

 possible to attain a small strip of shingle below, and 

 within casting distance of the bushes. Before the 

 edge was approached, however, some twenty yards of 

 line were pulled off the reel and anointed with deer's 

 fat. Since the chub were rising, they might just as 

 well be attacked with a dry fly. This is, perhaps, an 

 unnecessary refinement for chub ; and, indeed, it is not 

 by any means always that they will take a floating fly 

 properly, but when they do the sport is not to be 

 despised. 



Preparations complete, and a biggish coachman 

 oiled and attached to a cast that tapered to the finest 

 undrawn gut, the river was approached, and the attack 

 begun. The strip of shingle was about fifteen yards 

 from the last bush, and the distance was soon found. 

 Then the fly dropped close to the submerged twigs. 

 There was no delay on the part of the chub, for a 

 heavy fish plunged at the coachman the instant it 

 touched the water. So sudden was the response that 

 the line was not released by the fingers holding it 



