78 FLY FISHING 



but as each one only rose about once in ten 

 minutes fishing with the dry fly was very inter- 

 mittent, and up till one o'clock nothing had been 

 landed. It seemed that nothing more was to 

 be done, and I sat gazing listlessly at the water. 

 A fairly broad straight bit of river was before 

 me, smooth in places, but with small ripples 

 of stream here and there. The thoughts of 

 other rivers and of salmon fishing came into 

 my mind, till at last in a state of sheer despair 

 and idleness it occurred to me that I would try 

 a wet fly, and in salmon-fishing phrase "put it 

 over " the piece of water before me. The black 

 hackle, a very favourite north country fly, was 

 chosen and used as a salmon fly, that is to say 

 it was cast across and down the stream at an 

 angle and kept moving gently, till the action 

 of the stream brought it round to my own 

 bank. The trout took it like salmon take a 

 fly, sometimes under water, sometimes with a 

 fair head and tail rise, sometimes with a plunge, 

 but nearly always either when the fly was 

 midway across the stream, or when it had come 

 well round and was nearly straight below me; 

 and the fish that rose took firm hold, hardly 



