1 20 Fly Fishing for Trout, 



not) ; he has to all appearance made up his mind 

 that the lure is a wrong one. But at the 

 right fly he certainly will come twice, and that 

 even after he has been hooked. Fishing in the 

 Test at Laverstock last summer, after changing 

 my fly several times over a large trout which 

 was actively feeding under the opposite bank, I 

 put on a little yellow one and hooked him, and 

 then, after a good struggle against stream, when 

 just pulling him in the net — he got off. " Why, sir," 

 said the keeper, "he has gone back again and is 

 feeding again." " So he is, and in the same spot, 

 too. But you will see he will not look at me 

 again ;" and out went the fly, just to see what he 

 would do. To the astonishment of both of us he 

 took it, and to his own, no doubt, when he found 

 himself engaged in a second struggle for his life 

 all within the space of five minutes, and this 

 time in vain, for he was soon in my basket. 

 On the same stream, and only a few days pre- 

 viously, the keeper saw Sir Maurice Duff-Gordon 

 (a first-rate fisherman) lose a fish by his line 

 breaking, and on the same afternoon with a similar 

 fly catch him — the first hook being well-embedded 

 in his tongue. So much for the sensibility of 

 fish, and for their not coming a second time at the 

 fly they approve of." This is not at all an un- 

 frequent occurrence and must happen to all fly- 



