58 DON'T DISTURB THE WATER 



determine the probable position of the trout ; we have 

 only to notice the rise, and try for rising fish. 



There goes a fish again by our bank, just ahead. 

 You can locate the exact place of the rise by that sedge 

 on the bank ; therise is just opposite it, and three feet 

 from the bank. If you do not take some landmark, 

 your eye will follow the ripple as it comes down with 

 the stream, and you will probably cast your fly below 

 the fish. 



When a trout has risen, the sooner the fly is placed 

 above him the better. His appetite has just been 

 whetted by a tasty morsel he has probably just re- 

 turned to his stand, and therefore the swirl of the 

 water, his own motion, and the alteration of his posi- 

 tion will probably have prevented a too analytical 

 scrutiny of the fall and the appearance of the fly you 

 have just presented to him. 



Take the rod, and when you have found the dis- 

 tance cast the fly lightly, just two feet above the posi- 

 tion we have marked. No ! no ! What a mess you 

 have made of it ! You are again forgetting your lessons 

 in your eagerness, and have smashed your line on the 

 water, and probably put the fish down. In making 

 your cast, instead of finishing the switch when the 

 rod was at an angle of about 40 degrees, and then 

 lowering your rod as the line travelled forward, you 

 brought your rod right down almost to the water, and 

 consequently the direction of your line was down- 

 ward instead of horizontal. It's no good trying for 

 that fish again ! This time try for the one in the 



