CHAPTER II. 



CHALK-STREAM TROUT. 



Sdbits and Haunts — Bod and TacJcle for Dry-fly Fishing — 

 Eyed Hoolcs and Knots — Flies with Divided Wings — Casting 

 the Fly — Playing the Fish — Fishing with the Floating Fly 

 — The May-fly Season — Fishing with the Sunk or Wet Fly — 

 — Blow-line Fishing — Minnow and Worm Fishing. 



NDER the term " chalk- stream " trout I 

 find myself obliged to include all trout 

 dwelling in slow-flowing rivers, almost or 

 quite untenanted by coarse fish, for in 

 nearly all such streams, whether traversing 

 a chalk district or not, the methods by 

 which the fish may be taken are 

 almost identical. 

 The two principal chalk streams in the South of England 

 are the Test and the Itchen ; and there are many minor 

 streams well stocked with fish. These rivers wind through 

 pastoral country, are dammed up at intervals by mills, are 

 nearly always crystal-clear, and contain abundance of food 

 for the trout. They are, for the most part, well preserved. 

 Jack and other coarse fish are netted out. In streams which 

 abound in coarse fish, such as the Thames, and some por- 

 tions of the Kennet and Colne, trout never rise well to 

 a fly except (on the two last-mentioned streams) during the 

 annual rise of the May-fly. 



