EQUIPMENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA 219 



it ! Twice, in England, did I have this joy. In 

 the one instance, Dr. Clapham handed me his 

 excellent dry-fly rod, "just to try it," when we 

 were on the Colne at Thorney Weir, and he 

 kindly put me on to a rising trout, which I 

 succeeded in catching. In the other instance 

 my good friend the Major asked me to " have 

 a chuck" with his light little 8 ft. rod on 

 the Teme, and I got a good grayling. The 

 Major has already enough impedimenta to stock 

 a fishing-tackle shop, but I was not a bit surprised 

 when he told me the other day in London that he 

 had just bought another fly-rod. 



One hint may here be given to the youthful 

 fly-fisher : watch, for all you are worth, the 

 experienced fly-fisherman : study his easy, 

 finished methods. His performance will make 

 you wonder how it is done ; you will wish you 

 could only throw a fly like that, and also strike 

 your fish so imperceptibly but so effectively. 

 Take heart. He was once a beginner, like you. 

 Watching another fly-fisherman at work is fasci- 

 nating and often educative. Once when I was 

 fly-fishing in East Griqualand with my friend 

 Mr. W. Stuart Barclay, of the Johannesburg 

 Stock Exchange, we came, on the river Pot, to 

 a pool where the water was quite clear, and where 

 the trout were rising. He said: "I'm going to 

 watch you." 1 promptly missed a trout. He 

 reported, " I could see everything ! I saw the 

 trout come, and you struck too late." The on- 

 looker was able, as it happened, to keep concealed, 



