46 TROUT-FISHING IN BROOKS 



has been marked with whatever current there may 

 be. Bearing in mind that fly, gut-collar and 

 line are all coming down towards the fisherman's 

 position, the rod-point is raised as the fly cocks 

 and commences to descend, and slack line is 

 taken in by the left hand between the jeel and the 

 first ring to obviate coils in the water and preserve 

 as near an approach to touch with a taking fish as 

 may be. This must be done without moving the 

 portion of reel-line floating with the collar as 

 explained re drag. If the trout tried for re- 

 sponds, strike promptly though not violently 

 downstream from the wrist. If the fly is refused 

 after travelling a little lower, pick it off, and make 

 a few false casts in the air to dry it, but in a 

 direction contrary to the trout's locality, and try 

 another cast. If still refused, and the trout is 

 not put down, it would be as well to try another 

 pattern, even if entirely unlike the natural flies 

 on the water. So strange are the ways of trout 

 that a fancy fly as Green well's Glory or Tup's 

 Indispensable, etc., will occasionally score in 

 defiance of orthodoxy. 



When a trout is noticed coming up beneath a 

 bank (termed ' a banker '), if the ground appear 

 safe, drop your fly thereon and pull it gently in a 

 little above where the rise was seen. I have so 



