WHERE AND WHEN TO FISH 109 



Fishing the "edge of the circle" will fre- 

 quently be found to be more effective than the 

 accepted practice of searching the intricate 

 tangles and openings, and is advocated as sup- 

 plemental thereto. 



A rift, properly speaking, is a shallow part 

 -of the stream where the current is quite rapid 

 and more or less broken, and may be from ten 

 yards in length to a mile or more. Where such 

 water is spread from bank to bank and is very 

 shallow, with but slight change in depth, little 

 sport may be looked for. Random casts may 

 bring a fish or two, but it is difficult to determine 

 closely the positions in which trout may be; 

 and, even if it were always possible to deter- 

 mine their position, the size of the fish would 

 not induce the angler to waste much effort 

 upon them. A strong rift of fair depth, how- 

 ever, probably harbours as many trout and will 

 prove as productive to the average angler as 

 any half dozen selected pools. 



The character of these rifts changes so fre- 

 quently that it would be useless to attempt to 

 describe where trout may be found in them when 

 the water is high. Furthermore, a cast here and 

 there is quite as likely to fall within sight of 

 roving fish that are not averse to travelling some 



