42 TROUT-FISHING IN BROOKS 



up-stream, can pick and choose for himself, and he 

 will soon acquire a full knowledge of his limita- 

 tions. 



Where a brook is well known, the parts lending 

 themselves to dry-fly work are of course readily 

 picked up. But the difficulties of environment 

 only give a certain zest to one's operations, and 

 the tactics necessary to stalk and cover a riser 

 that persists in putting up his neb within two 

 inches of a dog-rose shoot puts a man upon his 

 mettle. 



It is rare to see much of a general rise of trout 

 in brooks as compared with wider waters, but at 

 times there is sure to be sufficient for the purpose. 

 The casting will be with a comparatively short 

 line, but what of that ? It is dry-fly craft in 

 miniature, and if the artist be not out for big 

 game, and can content himself with what the 

 brook has to offer, I think that the very ingenuity 

 he will be obliged to exercise, together with the 

 continual changes of the water, will only add to 

 the attractions of his fishing. It is only of late 

 years that the more rapid brooks of the mountain 

 and moor have been exploited by the dry-fly 

 man, yet even here he has conclusively proved 

 that his lure will kill trout in low summer water 

 when wet fly would avail little. As I have 



