24 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



We will now give him a rest, and try somewhere else ; as 

 the fish are not on the shallows yet, let us try the opposite 

 side just by the bank. The water is deep and dark, and if 

 one is there he will be a big one. You see that I now stoop 

 well down, as much out of sight as possible, when I cast, 

 because from here I am more noticeable to the fish opposite 

 than to the one we have just missed (see " Vision of Trout," 

 p. 88). I have three tries, but no luck. If one is there he 

 is not to be tempted. We will try our first friend again. 

 I can stand upright again, being almost directly behind him. 



I dry my line and fly by three preliminary switches, 

 and again the fly alights just above the opening and floats 

 down, but this time I get no notice at all from the trout. 

 Once more failure again ! Well, as I don't like to leave 

 a rising fish, we will try another fly, and this time one of a 

 warmer tint. Often it is a good plan, when the fish have not 

 started really feeding on the fly of yesterday, to try a fly 

 with red hackles. So you see this fly in my cap that I am 

 going to use ; it is called the Red Quill. It has double 

 starling wings, red hackle, and quill body. I now press the 

 spear of the rod into the turf again, and my hands are free. 

 You see these small but sharp scissors in my knife, which 

 I have secured by a chain and keep in my right-hand coat 

 pocket ; I snip off the gut with them close to the eye of the 

 hook, cutting the knot if possible, and, after clearing out 

 the gut from the eye of the hook with the pricker in the 

 knife, stick the fly into my cap, just where you see two or three 

 more flies of the same colour. I place the end of the gut in 

 my mouth to soften while I detach the Red Quill by taking 

 it firmly between the finger and thumb, and by working it 

 gently, it readily comes free from the rough material of 

 my cap. I now slip the end of the softened gut through the 

 eye of the fly, passing it round the cast above the eye in an 

 overhand knot. I then draw this knot taut, and by 



