BLAGDON 289 



about luncheon-time the waves at the upper end of the 

 lake were running mountains high and foam-crested. 

 Carr's manful work with the sculls and my diligent 

 casting with the flies resulted in exactly one short rise. 

 All we could do was to hope for a cessation of wind 

 and a warmer time towards evening. Meanwhile, I 

 left the -boat and tried casting a small fly-spoon from 

 the shore. Result one two-year-old returned, and 

 one better fish hooked and lost. After that tea in the 

 fishing-hut, and then to ship again. The wind really 

 did begin to drop about 5 p.m., and I began to hope 

 once more ; but a long, long drift yielded not so much 

 as a rise, and we exchanged gloomy views as to the 

 weight of the bag. Then all of a sudden the trout 

 began to show themselves, practically for the first time 

 in four days. All round the boat great fish were 

 coming up with a quiet swirl or roll, some of them 

 showing head and shoulders, others only a broad tail. 

 It was really a wonderful sight for the three-quarters 

 of an hour it lasted, and I felt quite certain that I was 

 going to make up for lost time. I worked tremendously 

 hard, got wonderfully excited, tried fly after fly, great 

 and small moderately small, that is covered fish 

 after fish, and caught nothing. I never saw so many 

 big fish moving in my life as on that evening, but I 

 touched not a single one of them. It was tantalization 

 of the worst kind. I then and there registered a vow 

 never to go near Blagdon again. 



Of course one does not keep that sort of vow, and I 



have since in a very modest way had improved sport, 



but by an alteration of method. The sight of those big 



fish that evening, all of them apparently feeding on 



19 



