WANDERING FISH 225 



this is the case, it is better to remain quite still, 

 of course keeping out of sight as much as possible, 

 and, if there is no other fish rising near at hand, 

 to wait until they have quite made up their minds 

 where they intend to dine or sup, before putting a 

 fly over them. I have known fish travel twenty 

 to thirty yards up-stream before they settle down 

 to feed ; these are but wending their way from 

 their homes to their club. They are generally 

 good fish, too, and worth the expenditure of a 

 little patience. 



Wherever a big trout may elect to take up his 

 quarters, it may safely be assumed that there is 

 nearly always another, a smaller one, waiting about. 

 The reader can make proof of this for himself; 

 for if he succeeds in catching a trout in a certain 

 place one day a fish, we will say, of two pounds 

 weight the next day he will be almost certain to 

 find another rising in the same place, and if he 

 catches this also, it will be found to be smaller 

 than the other. With fish, as with mankind, there 

 is ever someone waiting to fill the vacant 

 shoes, no matter how old and worn the latter 

 may be. 



One evening on the Test I caught a trout 

 weighing two pounds ; the next day I caught one 

 weighing about ^a pound and a half, and the day 

 following a third of a little over a pound, all three 

 being taken in exactly the same spot. I knew 



15 



