lor 



It is satisfactory to find that the trout have recovered 

 their appetites, after the May-flj' gorge, and what splendid 

 fighting trim they are in, as the result of their late high 

 feeding ! iVot that the hatch of " ephemera, vulgata " was 

 at all a heavy one, or at all equal to those we can remember 

 in years gone by, but there was enough to put the big fish 

 into good condition. The long drought has reduced our 

 sparkling merry little river to so low an ebb that the trout 

 are as sh}- as trout can be, and it is lost labour to try for 

 them in the shallows ; they are off like scared sheep the 

 moment a line goes over them, no matter how deftly you 

 cast. The day is dull and cloudy the wind has chopped 

 round to the south after a long spell in the north-east ; 

 which has sorely tried the proverbial patience of the dis- 

 ciples of the gentle craft, and sent them home -uath light 

 creels for weeks past. To-day, however, things look better, 

 there are a good few flies upon the water, and occasional 

 rises of fat blue-winged duns — favourite morsels those — 

 make the big trout jump and souse about in a manner quite 

 refreshing, after their long sulk and steadfast refusal to 

 be tempted to the surface. If the rain will only hold ofP 

 we may possibly score as good a record as we got upon the 

 same date last year — in a steady downpour of rain which 

 lasted the live-long day. But horror of horrors ! I cannot 

 find any blue duns in my fly-box, and the more I hunt fruit- 

 lessly, the more miserable I become from the inward con- 

 viction that the only flies these trout will take to-day have^ 

 been lost out of my box ! Let us, at any rate, do our level 

 best, and it may be that these olive duns will serve as a 

 make-shift because they match the body colour of these 

 luscious " ephemera " upon the water, and we may make 

 up by industry for the imperfections in our lure — it is your 

 lazy fishermen who fail to catch trout, and always rail 

 against their luck. There are a couple of fine fellows under 

 that bough sucking in the duns with a zest which shows that 

 they will not care much about the colour of the wings and 

 here goes my little olive a foot in front of the speckled 

 beauty's nose. She has got it in an instant, and is racing 

 do^vn stream in a manner which admits of no denial, tug- 



