EARLY EXPERIENCES n 



however, and I waded boldly out to a posi- 

 tion some forty feet below and to the right of 

 the pool. My first cast amazed me. The fly 

 alighted as gently as a natural insect upon the 

 surface, and, watching it as it floated down 

 toward the spot where a fish had been rising, I 

 saw it disappear, a little bubble being left in 

 its place. Instinctively I struck, and to my 

 astonishment found that I was fast in a solid 

 fish that leaped clear of the water. The leaping 

 of this fish was a new experience, as I had never 

 seen a trout jump as cleanly from the water. 

 After a few flights and a determined rush or 

 two I netted him a rainbow trout just over a 

 foot long and the first I had ever taken. This 

 variety of trout had been placed in the stream 

 a few years before as an experiment, and few 

 had been caught. Stowing my prize in my creel, 

 I prepared for another attempt as soon as the 

 excitement in the pool had subsided. The fly 

 I had used was bedraggled and slimy and would 

 not float, so I knotted on another. My second 

 attempt was as successful as the first, and I 

 finally netted, after a tussle, a beautiful native 

 trout that weighed a little over one pound. 

 Four fine fish fell to my rod that evening, all 

 within half an hour, and the fly was taken on 



