62 FLY FISHING 



he hooks a trout, is hidden from him, and he 

 has in the end to rely more upon force, and less 

 upon skill to land the fish. All this takes away 

 much of the pleasure, and if the day has been a 

 fairly good one, I would rather forego the last 

 brace than kill them under inferior conditions. 

 On the other hand, if luck has been very bad, 

 or the trout have been particularly exasperating 

 and successful in defeating the angler, or have 

 refused to rise all day, then the sedge fly in 

 the last half-hour of perceptible twilight gives 

 a very satisfactory opportunity of trying to get 

 even with them. After a fair day, however, it 

 seems to me better to leave off when I cease to 

 be able to see a medium-sized quill gnat upon 

 the water at a reasonable distance. 



Very pleasant the evening is after a success- 

 ful day in hot, bright weather in June. Let us 

 suppose that the angler has caught some three 

 brace of trout in the day, and a brace and a 

 half in the evening on good water. He will 

 then have had plenty of interest and excitement, 

 moments of anxiety and even of disappoint- 

 ment, but all contributing at the end to give 

 a delightful satisfactory feeling of successful 



