192 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



ments, with the nucleus in his creel, the vision 

 he has had of the one great day's catch begins 

 to take tangible form. But how rudely the vi- 

 sion is dissipated in the next four or five hours, 

 during which time he gets not a single rise! 



There are other anglers in whom entirely dif- 

 ferent emotions are aroused when they are suc- 

 cessful in taking fish soon after their arrival at 

 the stream. To them this incident spells utter 

 failure for the rest of the day. It seems to 

 me that these men neglect to analyse the 

 situation, permitting superstition to run riot 

 with reason, and, to my mind, their troubles 

 may be ascribed to any one of three causes: 

 (i) At the time the angler first steps into 

 the stream he may be arriving at the top or 

 at the end of a rise that started fifteen, 

 twenty, or thirty minutes before, which short 

 space of time may be responsible for the differ- 

 ence between two fish and a possible half dozen. 

 If the angler meets with this experience during 

 the season when the water is very low and clear, 

 and the day hot and bright, he may be satisfied 

 that, to a great extent, such is the explanation. 

 But, if he is not a principal to cause number two, 

 he should be able to continue taking some trout, 

 even under these trying conditions. (2) The 



