ON THE MOOI OF NATAL 245 



Above the Falls there are no scalies, and there 

 the trout reigns supreme. The scaly of Natal 

 reminds me of the dace of England. The trout 

 above the Falls, where there are no scalies, have 

 smaller, more refined heads than the trout below. 



Really, when you come to look at the tiny 

 hook concealed by the dainty dressing called a 

 fly, and when you examine the fine cast of gut, 

 what a lot of luck there seems about the business. 

 Sometimes the hook holds ; sometimes the trout 

 in his dash at the fly misses the business part. 

 One morning on the Mooi I missed four trout, 

 straight ofF. The next rise resulted in the trout 

 being hooked so firmly that he would have stayed 

 on until Doomsday. No doubt the luckiest man 

 is he who always keeps his tackle in order. But 

 even with sound tackle there are sorrows as well 

 as joys in the game. One afternoon I played a 

 trout for fifteen minutes, timed faithfully by a 

 friend on the bank, and lost the fish. On the 

 cast were two flies, to the other of which a scaly 

 had attached himself. It was pull devil, pull 

 baker. Only the scaly was landed ! Another 

 time, after the usual hard play, what appeared to 

 be a pound and a half trout was being coaxed to 

 the landing net, when the hook gave. 



But on two occasions my luck was beyond 

 dispute. One grey morning, with a clouded sky 

 through which no sun penetrated, the fly was 

 smartly seized on a rapid. Line was freely taken, 

 and five minutes fairly flew by, without even a 

 glimpse of the fish to show what-like he was. 



