BLAGDON 293 



these I caught one, two and three-quarter pounds, and 

 rose the other, both with the Wickham fished dry. 

 The second took me unawares as I was lighting a 

 cigarette, the fly meanwhile resting placidly on the 

 water, and the first intimation I had of it was seeing 

 the line drawn out. Of course I missed him. The 

 rest either did not see my fly, or, probably, would have 

 none of it, but it was a fascinating business, as some of 

 them were undoubtedly very big fish ; the distance 

 between their heads and tails seemed very spacious. It 

 was purely a local rise, for when M. turned up at dusk 

 he reported that he had scarcely seen a fish move. 

 The bank-fisher at Blagdon must, I think, expect to 

 find the rise generally rather local. The sheltered 

 shore is usually the best to make for, but this evening 

 it was not so. 



The morrow was Sunday, and, of course, a perfect 

 day, and fish were rising well, some of them close in 

 shore. Monday, when we resumed the rod, was horrid, 

 a day of gloom and occasional rain. M. got a brace of 

 rainbows in the morning (best, two pounds two ounces), 

 both on a small green-bodied fly that he had tied to 

 imitate a gnat which the fish were taking on Saturday, 

 and which he fished wet. I got nothing till the even- 

 ing, when I found three or four rainbows rising in a 

 sheltered bay, rose three of them with a Greenwell's 

 glory, No. 3 hook, sparsely dressed, fished wet, but 

 only landed one, one and three-quarter pounds. About 

 6.30 p.m. what rise there was stopped altogether, and 

 M. went home. I put on a tiny Silver Doctor, the 

 smallest I possessed, and followed him slowly, keeping 

 a lookout for minnowing fish. Two such were dis- 



