242 DRY-FLY FISHING 



we might see a rise forty yards ahead, but we would 

 certainly not hurry to put ourselves within casting 

 distance. Too much labour all at once would be 

 thereby entailed, besides which only a short period 

 of time will elapse before we see a trout rising much 

 nearer at hand ; in the intervals of waiting for a 

 mark we " fish the stream." 



Imagine us crawling along the face of the bank, 

 sometimes pulling ourselves round a projection, 

 while all the time the rod switches the flies ahead 

 or, by way of variety, stretches them across the 

 current. If they do not fall exactly where we 

 desire them, there is no harm done, for, when a 

 number of trout are rising in a pool, it simply means 

 that the other inhabitants are refraining from doing 

 so from necessity, not choice, that they will rise 

 when there is a fly to rise to, and that fly may be 

 ours. 



For a time there is no response, and we are busy 

 considering whether a change to another pattern 

 would be effective a change would involve much 

 trouble when suddenly, as the cast falls parallel 

 to the bank, two trout rise almost simultaneously 

 and both are hooked. Now we have something to 

 keep us really busy, and we shuffle into a firm 

 foothold, with back pressed against the bank. We 

 must play the fish from where we stand, hold them 

 with an easy pressure, and allow them to exhaust 

 one another. 



It is a lengthy struggle and uncertain ; the victim 

 of the dropper is the first to turn over, and after 

 what seems an hour, though in reality it is but a 

 few minutes, the other follows. Gently we bring 

 them within reach, luckily they drift close together, 



