DRY FLY FISHING 79 



any being lost or only pricked. Now and then 

 an isolated rise would be seen some way below 

 me, and when the place was reached the fish 

 nearly always came up well to the wet black 

 hackle. At three o'clock I had six trout, and 

 four more were added in the same way during 

 the evening rise. The weather was not excep- 

 tional, being an ordinary fine summer's day with 

 only a little breeze, some clouds, and intervals 

 of sunlight. The part of the river in which this 

 method had succeeded was not a hatch-hole or 

 any exceptional place of that kind, but a clear, 

 steady, even-flowing, well-fished stretch of the 

 Itchen. It seemed that a great discovery had 

 been made, and that the only difficulty was how 

 to use it with moderation henceforth. Anglers 

 are sanguine men, and are easily transported by 

 unexpected success to heights of confidence ; so 

 they will, I trust, sympathise with my simplicity. 

 I have on many occasions tried this fly in the 

 same manner, in the same water, at the same 

 time and also at different times of the season 

 sincej but never again has it succeeded to any- 

 thing like the same extent. Perhaps in some 

 seasons, when the yearly rainfall has ceased to 



