AMONG THE HILLS 275 



Some anglers use this type exclusively, but we 

 obtain, or imagine we obtain, the best sport by using 

 hackled flies on calm or gently-flowing water and the 

 winged varieties on the rougher streams. 



Preparations completed, we fish carefully up the 

 long stream right in the teeth of the freshening 

 wind. At times the cast flies out beautifully straight, 

 and lightly enough, it seems to us, to bring up a 

 trout ; now and then an error in timing causes it to 

 be blown back, but the result is always the same. 

 Not a fish honours us with the slightest attention, 

 so far as we can see, and we begin to wonder if the 

 river has been completely cleaned out. 



This is a really fine stream, which used to yield 

 good sport ; in fact, we do not remember drawing it 

 blank, and we persevere. Almost at the top the 

 Olive raises and hooks a trout, but it is undersized 

 and is returned. As soon as the line is lengthened 

 out again the same fly brings up another, a bright 

 little fellow rather less than a quarter, but good 

 enough for a start on this inauspicious day. 



Now we have a stroke of luck. The wind suddenly 

 fades away altogether, and almost immediately 

 comes again, but out of the North-west. It blows 

 with just the right strength directly against the 

 stream, and we hail the change with delight. Such 

 good fortune does not often follow us, and we hurry 

 on to a favourite flat, a beautiful stretch with a fine 

 glide deep and slow down the far side. An eddy 

 here and there breaks its smooth expanse, betraying 

 the existence of a current ; the bank is built up 

 with stones and branches, so that there is provided 

 adequate shelter for many trout, while the glide 

 affords them a happy hunting-ground. 



