WET-FLY FISHING 49 



A goodly dish of trout hardly come by is a great 

 satisfaction to a man who has to fit in his fishing days 

 when he can, but perhaps the greatest pleasure to the 

 true disciple of Walton is the capture, after many 

 failures and disappointments and under difficult 

 conditions, of some wily old trout whose education, 

 by the constant bombardment of his stronghold, has 

 been brought to a high degree of finish. What memories 

 of his capture crowd the mind when some chance word 

 stirs the chords ! Perhaps he came from out a moorland 

 stream when the snell wind flung back the spray from 

 every sounding fall, or may be he stubbornly gave up 

 his virile life on some sun-steeped day when first the 

 daffodils proclaimed that laggard Spring had come to 

 a waking country side. Whatever the memory, it is 

 wholly delightful. 



The charm of fly fishing is never ending and a great 

 part lies in the infinite field for experiment open to 

 him who runs. Every day some new feature is revealed ; 

 and, even in this twentieth century, he who wiU leave 

 the beaten track, bent on exploration, will always 

 discover new ground for investigation. The truth of 

 this was brought home to one of the writers most 

 forcibly when on a fishing expedition one July some 

 years ago. 



Rain on the previous day had left the river slightly 

 coloured, and in magnificent condition, and as the sun 

 was some little way above, though nearing the horizon. 



