Ill 



the sight of stubble fields and corn in " shocks," to the fly- 

 fisherman they bring very sad reminders that his rod and 

 flies will in a few short days have to be laid aside, because 

 the close season upon the Darenth commences with the 

 opening day of partridge shooting. 



Saturday's trout fishing in the Darenth was a capital 

 wind-up to a bad season, and I had our length of the river 

 to myself. There was a blazing sun and an easterly wind, 

 and these are my favourite conditions. It not only gives, 

 you an up-stream wind, but it ahvays produces more insect 

 life from the Darenth than any other state of affairs. AVhat 

 Avith mooninjT about after mushrooms and cooking some of 

 them together with a chop, in our hut by the river side, the 

 sun had got sufficiently westward to put the best length o£ 

 our water in shade from overhanging willows when I began 

 fishing. It was hopeless to attempt to fish this stretch of 

 the river from the bank, so, getting into a pair of long 

 boots, I entered the stream at the extreme end of our beat, 

 and waited to catch some of the natural flies as they came 

 down upon the surface. It is a curious fact that the water 

 bred flies which are common during the early spring 

 months, and disappear during the summer, always put in 

 an appearance again as the autumn advances. Whether 

 these late hatched whirling blue-duns, and dark olives, are 

 the produce of the spring flies, or of those hatched twelve 

 months ago, is a debateable point, but I incline to the latter 

 theory. Some students of minute insect life declare that 

 the members of the '"' ephemera " family take two years from 

 the dropping of the egg on the water until they rise to the 

 surface, burst their case, and take flight. My own observa- 

 tions lead me to believe that twelve months elapse between 

 the deposit of the egg and the flight of the perfect fly. But 

 to return to our fishing. There were a few fitful rises ahead 

 of us, and a few scattered flies of various kinds came down 

 at intervals. But they varied from big olives to sherry 

 spinners, and the "fisherman's curse" — a midge begotten 

 of east winds and hot suns. When in doubt play a trump, 

 is a golden maxim in whist, and when in doubt put on a 

 red-quill gnat, is equally sound advice, when fishing the 



