284 THE TROUT ARE RISING 



But not many of us, I'm thinking, need order 

 a glass case in advance for pike and trout of 

 these dimensions, to be caught under such 

 circumstances ! 



One of the avenues through which memory 

 works is the mind's eye, and among sportsmen 

 to whom are given rich opportunities to enjoy 

 visual memory the angler holds high place. The 

 quietness of the scenes in which the contemplative 

 man's recreation is followed invites him to take 

 in his surroundings, and willingly does he accept 

 the invitation. However concentrated his atten- 

 tion on a rising fish, however keen he be on 

 dropping the fly just on the desired spot, there 

 come moments when he looks around him, satisfied 

 that everything is very good. Then it is that the 

 impression is made, then it is that Nature in her 

 own way causes a mental snapshot to be taken ; 

 and months, it may be years, afterwards, that 

 particular scene suddenly leaps to life again, 

 through the mind's eye visual memory. No 

 doubt the mental photograph is best taken when 

 the angler is at his happiest. For instance, he 

 may have had to work hard for a 2-lb. trout, 

 have had to change his fly three times before 

 getting on terms with his fish ; and what with 

 weeds, and what with occasional leaps out of the 

 water, there may have been crises during which 

 he feared the worst ; but the angler's skill prevails : 

 and then, in the lush meadow grass, the river 

 gliding, here and there an ancient tree towering 



