220 DRY-FLY FISHING 



stones and rocks, seen and submerged, weed-masses 

 and projecting banks, there is not the slightest 

 indication that one single trout awaits below. 

 Yet up the bank we quietly proceed, casting as we 

 go, not at random as might appear, but laying 

 the fly on the likely spots, places where trout are 

 sure to be. 



We may continue for an hour or often more 

 without the least result, when suddenly without a 

 warning the water breaks in a great swirl. First 

 we have to realise its meaning, which takes some 

 time if the monotony of useless effort has dulled 

 the senses, and then we have to strike. We know 

 not which is the greater pleasure, but we would 

 dispense with neither. Fishing the stream demands 

 a knowledge of the lower waters and the ways of 

 a trout, and its pursuit provides many startling 

 awakenings from semi-consciousness to activity, 

 while it requires quite as much neatness and skill 

 as does fishing the rise where the target is clearly 

 indicated. Practice in one or other will come on 

 any July morning, and [seldom indeed will the creel 

 fail to open. 



Not all days of July are difficult. There will be 

 a few days of cool East wind, when even the Iron- 

 Blue may arrive, and then the Black Spider is ex- 

 tremely deadly. There may be wet, blustery days, 

 especially on the Uplands, when even the wet-fly 

 is not altogether unprofitable, and there may 

 occur a flood to clean out the streams. If so, good 

 fishing conditions may be the rule for many succes- 

 sive days. 



After the flood begins to subside, the water 

 assumes a rich blackness ; for a few hours the 



