94 Dry-Fly Fishing. 



therefore I approached him and ascertained that he 

 intended to go some distance further on, and after 

 a little chat, during which I gained some informa- 

 tion about Scotch rivers that he had often fished, 

 "but never with a dry-fly (he did not believe in its 

 efficacy as compared with the sunken lure, he said), 

 I turned and faced up-stream, intently watching 

 and waiting for the rise. To a fine 2-J- yd. collar 

 with 4x drawn-gut point I tied a gold-ribbed hare's 

 ear dressed on a No. 1 hook, which looked about 

 the size of the dark natural flies floating on the 

 water. It was about 8.30 p.m. when I first saw 

 one taken, but after that, more or less continuously : 

 the lingering light of a summer night (June 29th) 

 enabled me to see exactly where my fly fell before 

 the nose of a feeding fish, and when to strike by a 

 gentle turn of the wrist. By ten o'clock one and a 

 half brace of trout were killed, and when strung 

 together (for I had brought no creel) and suspended 

 from a steelyard weighed over 41b. On my way 

 back to the hotel I fortunately met the angler 

 referred to above, and presented them to him. He 

 had had no further sport. 



I was highly delighted by this, my first success 

 on a river I had never even seen before. I dreamed 

 of it that night, and on the morrow, in reverie, 

 while on my way to Elvanfoot, hoped that my 

 introduction to the Clyde would be as good. My 



