76 BROOK AND RIVER TROUTING 



Imagine a bright day towards the end of June on 

 the banks of a typical North Country river. The gate 

 just passed through brings one to the tail end of a 

 rapid stream some fifty yards in length, broken here 

 and there by boulders, some submerged and others 

 just showing their dark mossy heads above the surface 

 of the water. At the head of the stream there is a 

 line of submerged stepping stones which no doubt 

 many years ago, before the bed of the river changed, 

 served a useful purpose. 



This stretch of river from bank to bank is nowhere 

 more than two feet deep, except in the middle a few yards 

 below the stepping stones, where the current is strongest 

 and where it has dug out a deeper channel. The 

 beginner looking at this stream immediately notices 

 the darker tone of water denoting the deeper channel 

 and concludes that, of all places in the reach, that is 

 the most likely to hold a good fish. Let him not be 

 misled ; the deeper channel holds many good fish, 

 but of all parts of the stream, that channel is the 

 least likely place from which to basket one. 



Often have the writers seen men enter this stream, 

 and wade straight out to the deeper water, unwittingly 

 driving scores of trout in consternation before them. 

 They fish the deeper rush of water, are rather surprised 

 that it does not yield a fish, and then move up the 

 river to the next stream, splashing right through the 

 best water as they go. These men, more often than 



