SALMON AND FLIES. 87 



over the first line I signalled that he had got the length ; there was, 

 however, no movement among the fish. I then signalled to cast again 

 with the same length of line. As the fly worked over the fish for the 

 second time they all seemed to shun it, dropping down stream a foot 

 or so, with the exception of one fish, which, separating from the others, 

 came up some three feet to follow the fly, eventually leaving it and 

 dropping back into his former position. A third passage of the fly 

 produced similar results, the same fish moving again. He made a 

 break in the water, which my friend saw, but he had come short. A 

 fourth cast secured him. 



I could come to no other conclusion but that the fish had been 

 bored into taking that fly. His curiosity had been excited at first, 

 and in ordinary circumstances the fisherman would have known nothing 

 and passed on. Does not this tend to show that many a fish may 

 be moved without our knowledge, and that a subsequent fly might 

 secure him ? 



It is often thought that the first fly over a pool stands the best 

 chance, provided, of course, that it is properly offered. Personally, I 

 would just as soon follow a good angler down a pool as precede him. 

 Unless a fish breaks the water in his rise, the fisherman can tell little 

 of what is happening below the water level, except when, by chance, 

 a glimpse of a silver flash is accorded him. But he may have moved 

 a fish with his fly, and, knowing nothing, will have moved a yard 

 down stream, his next cast being a yard below the fish. The next 

 fly, suitably offered, if it be about the same size, may lure our friend 

 to his destruction. Could we all know exactly what is going on under 

 the water out of our sight, many more fish would doubtless be brought 

 to bank. Of course, on those days when the temperature of both air 

 and water have attained that precise relative proportion that seems to 

 cause a simultaneous rise of fish in every pool, the first fly will pay 

 best, for on such happy occasions that fly, however ill delivered, may 

 secure the best fish. And what fisherman cannot recall instances of 

 "duffers luck," the veriest tyro catching, perhaps, the fish of the season? 

 I remember once trying to teach a would be angler how to cast, and 

 in a most unlikely spot — the river being dead low — was endeavouring to 

 instil into him the rhythm of the cast, and trying to make him get his 



