52 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



find it most difficult to restrain an almost un- 

 controllable impulse to leave off casting in 

 the one spot in order to place his fly over the 

 swirl made by some other fish. If he gives 

 way to that impulse he courts failure and 

 down comes the house he is building. It is 

 quite likely that a trout is preparing to investi- 

 gate the "hatch" at the very moment the angler 

 changes his water, and, of course, will be fright- 

 ened away by seeing the rod or the line which 

 is thrown over it to the other fish. The method 

 usually employed by the novice is productive of 

 nothing. Because many feeding fish are seen, 

 he hurriedly casts over this one, then over that 

 one, in the hope that his fly will be taken, and 

 finally gives up in despair when his hope is not 

 realised. 



If a mistake unfortunately occurs the dan- 

 ger of which naturally increases in proportion 

 to the number of casts made it is quite useless 

 to carry the attempt further. The angler should 

 retire for a few moments or continue a bit far- 

 ther up or down stream, selecting a spot some 

 distance from where he began, and always 

 bearing in mind the necessity for throwing 

 above and to the near side of the swirl. If no 

 mistake is made the chances are at least even 



