120 THE TROUT ARE RISING 



fisherman he is, he now found the benefit of the 

 habit, for while the rest of us were still finishing 

 details, we heard his cheery announcement, " I'm 

 in him ! " His little eight-foot rod, kept well 

 up and busy, was bending double, and we were 

 uncommonly pleased to see him land a good- 

 sized glittering grayling. It promised well. 



Long experience has shown that, grateful as 

 it is, a trout or a grayling, risen, struck, played, 

 and landed to your very first cast of the day, is 

 not a sure forerunner of sport. But you always 

 hope that it will be. The omens on this occasion 

 were only in part propitious. 



It was not a blank by any means on the Lugg 

 that day. Fish were caught in fair numbers. 

 But there was one angler who had nothing to 

 show for it. And here is the said angler 

 audaciously writing a book connected with the 

 subject ! It served me right. Our kind hostess 

 had given definite instructions : " If the grayling 

 are rising, put the dry fly on ; if they are not, 

 then fish wet." The grayling were not rising. 

 The three others faithfully followed the hostess's 

 injunctions, and profited. I alone disobeyed and 

 had an empty bag. The reason, I suppose, of 

 my unwisdom was that fair success with the dry 

 fly on the Teme had cast a glamour over me. I 

 could not do without the amusement and pleasure 

 of watching the dry fly sail along, with the 

 succeeding fascination of tightening on a rising 

 grayling at the right moment. 1 saw my fly sail 

 along all right on the Lugg, but that was all. I 



