TROUT-STALKING 149 



fish ; the second may solve itself. One single 

 success might conceivably convert a forbidding 

 place into a favourite cast. 



In some waters there are long smooth flats only 

 a few inches deep which yet contain very fine 

 trout. To take a specimen from the inflowing 

 stream is an easy matter, almost a foregone con- 

 clusion, if a rise is in progress ; but to lure one 

 from the tail of the flat, where the surface is as 

 glass and the current barely perceptible, is a worthy 

 ambition, and not at all impossible of realisation. 

 Some of the older authorities on angling advise 

 the fisher to pass over such places as being utterly 

 hopeless ; but no one should accept defeat with- 

 out a trial. A rising fish can be caught by any- 

 one possessed of the necessary skill, and that skill 

 will never be acquired, unless it is developed by 

 careful attempts to capture trout from unpromis- 

 ing places. The angler who will accept that as 

 true, and refuses to be discouraged even by many 

 defeats, will in time find himself enjoying most 

 glorious sport in water which he used to consider 

 could not yield a trout to the greatest expert. 



It is admittedly difficult to lay a fly on shallow, 

 flat water with delicacy sufficient to bring forth 

 agreeable response ; but frequent practice will 

 make it possible. The fact that the water is always 

 to some extent disturbed by a rising fish assists 

 the angler, who should place his fly at once and 

 exactly on the rise, not some distance beyond it, 

 as he would in a deep or fast-flowing stretch. The 

 answering rise, if it comes at all, is instantaneous ; 

 the strike should follow as quickly. 



There is another difficulty. If the angler blun- 



