192 DRY-FLY FISHING 



If he observes a trout rising, he should endeavour 

 to float a fly down to it, while he himself remains 

 stationary. 



In a high wind fish seldom rise quietly, but usually 

 hurl themselves upon the fly, taking no time to 

 scrutinise it and accepting it greedily if its behaviour 

 is above reproach. Sport is therefore sometimes 

 surprisingly good, though conditions are all unfavour- 

 able to accurate placing. 



Even the early writers on angling paid some 

 attention to the direction of the wind as well as to 

 its strength. Dame Juliana Berners in her Treatise 

 on Fishing with an Angle enumerates several impedi- 

 ments which cause men to take no fish, and of these 

 the last may be translated as follows : " If the 

 wind be from the North or North-east or South-east, 

 fish will not commonly bite nor stir ; the West and 

 the South are very good, but of the two the South 

 is the better." 



The Master, in his Epistle to the Reader, hopes 

 that if he be an honest angler, the East wind may 

 never blow when he goes a-fishing. The Book of 

 St. Albans gives the East wind as the worst of all. 

 In addition, we have sundry old rhymes which 

 proclaim the beneficial qualities of the South and 

 West winds, and declare the East wind fatal to the 

 angler's sport. 



There are many anglers in Scotland who will 

 disagree with these statements, or at least will 

 accept them only with qualifications, and old Izaak 

 himself, had he known Loch Leven, would probably 

 have made a special exception of that water, which, 

 it is generally agreed, fishes best in an East wind. 

 Even yet the belief is very prevalent that trout will 



