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Dareutli. Mounting one of these small flies, on tlie finest 

 of treble-drawn gut (of doubtful strengtli), we put the 

 temjjting morsel in front of an old stager. But he will 

 have none of it, although the fly passed directly over his 

 nose. He is a war}- old trout, lying close under the bank, 

 "behind a clump of water- valerien ; and I have spent hours 

 over that old rascal on many previous occasions. Whilst 

 meditating what to substitute for the red-quill gnat, I see 

 a fly coming down over him, which looks in the distance 

 very much like a small sedge. He snapped it up without 

 a second's hesitation, and thereupon I changed my lure to 

 a golden-tinselled bodied fly, with a red hackle and sedge 

 wings. Dropping this tempting morsel a foot above his 

 stronghold, the eddj' carried it round ; there was a dimple, 

 a turn of the wrist, and in a twinkling the hooked fish was 

 dashing up stream, fighting for life. Holding him all I 

 ■dare, to prevent him disturbing the water above, he stopped 

 short, flung himself out of the water, and returned, with a 

 wild rush to his old quarters. But the automatic self- 

 winding reel gave him no breathing time, and the cruel 

 pressure of the rod compelled him to abandon his haven of 

 rest. Down stream he goes, with a dash, passing close to my' 

 legs, and I follow as best I can, ^-ith my little finger on the 

 trigger of the reel, and the rod bent double. Will that 

 wretched drawn gut — as fine as human hair — stand this 

 strain? is the thought which fills me with fear. But the 

 trout turns and heads up stream, doggedly boring to the 

 bottom and working round in circles, vainly seeking' some 

 friendly weed to aid him in the unequal struggle. But he 

 presently rolls to the surface, and in the twinkling of an 

 eye he is scooped out and thrown out on the bank. The 

 spring balance shows him to be a trifle over 21bs., and 

 having given him a merciful tap on the head, I admire liim 

 for a few minutes and then re-enter the river. Wading up- 

 wards, a good fish in mid-stream takes a natural fly, and, at 

 the first cast, I am fast in him. After a game fight he 

 comes to net, a beauty of fully l^lb. To avoid disturbing 

 the water, I proceed to extract the fly in mid-stream. The 

 fish slipped through my fingers, and in falling snapped the 



