DRY FLY FISHING 43 



with the utmost pressure that I dared put upon 

 the gut: then there ceased to be progress, and 

 at last within close sight of his home the trout 

 had to turn his head. The rest was easy, the 

 mill-tail being fairly clear of weeds, and both 

 time and stream being against the fish. 



In the second case the result was different. 

 I was wading in a shallow where I could see 

 the trout, which, as it turned out, was never to 

 be mine. It was a light-coloured fish feed- 

 ing actively and recklessly on the flies, which 

 were coming down freely, and it took my fly 

 at once with perfect confidence. It sometimes 

 happens, however, that these active, reckless, 

 easily hooked trout are more surprised and 

 desperate when hooked than any others. I 

 never saw anything more mad and sudden than 

 the rush of this trout. It gained a pool below 

 some hatches, where no doubt it lived, and 

 took the line under the rough main stream 

 into a fine whirling back-water : then I felt 

 the confusion of having lost touch with the 

 fish, for there was nothing but the dull sodden 

 strain of a line hopelessly drowned in the con- 

 tending currents of the hatch-hole. The trout 



