42 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



rewarded a few minutes later by the sight of a 

 monster tail breaking the surface just under 

 the water that trickled over the apron of the 

 dam. Having prepared a gossamer leader, pre- 

 ferring to risk a smash to not getting a rise, 

 I dropped a small Silver Sedge which I used 

 because it could be more plainly kept in sight 

 almost immediately in the swirl and was at 

 once fast in a lusty fish. After many abortive 

 attempts to lead him into the diminutive net I 

 had with me, I flung the thing, in disgust, into 

 the woods. I finally beached the fish and lifted 

 him out in my hand. He was a fine brown 

 trout, eighteen and three quarter inches in length, 

 and weighed, the next morning, two pounds 

 nine ounces. 



While I was engaged with this fish another 

 rose in practically the same spot under the 

 apron of the dam. Hurriedly replacing the be- 

 draggled fly with a new one, I waited for the 

 trout to show himself, which he did presently, 

 and again I was fast this time in one of the 

 best fish I have ever seen in these waters. It 

 seemed an interminable length of time, though 

 probably not over ten minutes, that I was en- 

 gaged with this one, and it was impossible to 

 move him; he kept alternately boring in toward 



