8o TROUT-FISHING IN BROOKS 



let go on the strike. What they seize and how 

 they disengage in these circumstances is still a 

 matter of conjecture. The off-chance a poor 

 one of paying some of them out is to strike like 

 lightning when the angler is sure that this taking 

 short is beyond doubt. 



In returning to normal conditions, I have 

 already said that at certain places upstream 

 fishing would be impossible, and very many such 

 parts will be found. For instance, a run un- 

 approachable from below from scrub, etc., may 

 go rippling down beneath bushes, or a bank swirl 

 is often so protected by brambles drooping over 

 as to preclude all idea of fishing up, and other 

 cases may occur. In these circumstances, ob- 

 serving all caution, enter the bait at or as near as 

 possible to the head of the run, and let it go down, 

 slightly undulating the rod-top to prevent it 

 catching on the bottom and to help its travelling. 

 In doing this, pull out some slack and ease out 

 line by degrees. The upper part of such a place 

 should be tried first, and then the worm can be 

 worked down lower and lower. In this manoeuvre 

 the bait may be held steady occasionally, and, 

 however paradoxical it may seem, even pulled a 

 little against the current, and let down again. 

 Here the bite may be a hard grab, upon which 



