THE TOP WATER 85 



pools contained salmon, which were unable to 

 move either up or down. About noon on a 

 cloudless day, my wife and D. and I were 

 sitting on the bank idly watching some twenty 

 fish, which we knew well by sight, and which 

 doubtless knew us equally well, when it was 

 suggested that I should put a fly over them. 

 It seemed a hopeless, if harmless, proceeding, 

 for as I took my rod and crept along a short 

 pier built to facilitate casting, every fish in the 

 pool must have seen me. I threw a short line 

 with a tiny Silver Wilkinson at the end of it, 

 and almost as it touched the water, a fish came 

 up, made a huge boil on the surface, and re- 

 turned to his lair without touching it. I 

 waited a few minutes, changed to a small grey- 

 bodied Alexandra, and tried again. Again a 

 fish came up and this time took the fly ; and in 

 a few minutes I had a fine 12-pounder on the 

 bank. I have never seen such an occurrence 

 before or since, but it taught me that if there 

 are fish in the water, it is never quite impossible 

 to lure them. 



So on a fine afternoon in July, E. and I 

 take the boat which lies at the top of Second 

 Fos. She has brought a trout rod, and the 



