TROUT-STALKING 151 



anyone is able to execute this cast sufficiently 

 well if he will assist his left hand by supporting 

 the extreme end of the rod with his right. If he 

 does not care to try this, a lucky back-handed 

 switch may land the fly where it is wanted, and 

 bring him fortune. 



In stalking trout in deeper and also faster water, 

 there is another matter of paramount import- 

 ance, one which might not occur to the angler, 

 and that is the moment which he should select 

 for presenting his fly. Many consider that the 

 sooner the fly reaches the mark the greater is 

 the prospect of success, and that is certainly some- 

 times true, as seen above, but more usually no 

 greater mistake in tactics can be made. This 

 unreasoning haste is the direct, though often un- 

 suspected, cause of many defeats, not that it results 

 in a clumsy cast, which is not unlikely, but 

 because the fly alights where the trout is not, 

 or when it is not engaged in watching the sur- 

 face. 



Few, who have even an inconsiderable experience 

 of Loch Leven, can have failed to discover that the 

 trout there frequently behave in a manner which at 

 first may prove rather disconcerting, but which, 

 after it is understood, adds largely to the interest 

 of their capture. Indulgence in the habit is mani- 

 fested principally when surface food is present in 

 fair, not superabundant, quantity. The trout 

 travel quickly, not directly against the wind but 

 diagonally up and across it ; they rise at intervals 

 on their route, and as a rule are easy to lure. They 

 do not select calm weather for the display, as some 

 might suppose ; it is more likely to be seen while 



