262 THE TROUT ARE RISING 



1899. The trout in the Bushman's have certainly 

 gone up-stream, towards the great 'Berg ; they have 

 also gone down- stream, but not in the same num- 

 bers. Bushman's trout are grand fighters, which, 

 in such wholesome, lively water, is not surprising. 



Apart from the actual fishing, the scenery is 

 often majestic Tabamhlope (an isolated peak), 

 for instance. On the upward journey, by Cape 

 cart, from Estcourt, the 'Berg was tipped with 

 snow, and it was curious later on to have warm, 

 sunny days and still to see that lining of snow on 

 the Drakensberg. With snow in the water it 

 was some little time before the river fined ; in the 

 process, though, occasional sport was to be had, 

 generally in a rapid. As a matter of fact, with 

 the river still swollen, the first visit yielded a nice 

 trout. He had advertised himself by rising to a 

 natural fly, was seen, and succumbed to a coach- 

 man, a fly found effective for the evening rise, and, 

 if a south wind blew, in the daytime, too. Each 

 succeeding day saw the water clearer the visit 

 covered the latter part of August and beginning 

 of September and sport steadily improved. 



One surprise was that in certain ideal-looking 

 rapids, here and there, not a rise to the artificial 

 fly could be won. Some of these rapids seemed 

 to be regarded traditionally as blank places. 

 Other rapids rarely failed to yield a trout. With 

 such a frequency of rapids there was not only the 

 sharp water to fish, but also plenty of those choice 

 spots beloved of every wet-fly man, where the 

 foaming rush tails off into the pool ; 



