158 FLY FISHING 



head of long shallow flats, but the only certain 

 guide to the best places on each river is ex- 

 perience, and if the angler has no one to instruct 

 him he must learn by fishing all places which look 

 as if they might hold fish. If he works hard 

 he will soon find out good places for himself. 

 It is especially delightful to have knowledge of 

 the water of a river and the ways of the fish 

 which come up it, when this knowledge has been 

 gained by fishing alone. The angler always 

 believes that he has discovered some special 

 places, which are better known to himself than 

 to any one else. This belief is very likely 

 true, but it is also true of other anglers, for 

 experiences differ, and each season even on a 

 known river adds something to one's knowledge 

 of it, partly because the bed of the river and its 

 banks are altered from time to time by floods. 



There is another uncertainty about sea trout 

 besides the glorious one of size, and that is the 

 uncertainty of where the fish are. They seem 

 to run very much in shoals, and one mile of a 

 river may be full of them when there are com- 

 paratively few above or below. Whenever there 

 has been a spate which has made the fish move, 



