166 FLY FISHING 



pretty fishing too, for one could see the gleam 

 of the silver fish, even when they came short or 

 took a fly under water. In similar conditions, 

 but with a little breeze, I have found fresh run 

 fish up to a pound and a half in weight rise 

 freely. Fresh run sea trout are at all times ex- 

 ceedingly tender mouthed, and with small hooks 

 one must expect to lose many of them even with 

 the most careful handling. 



Of all fish the sea trout fights the best in 

 proportion to its size. Its strength when fresh 

 run is greater than that of a brown trout of the 

 same size, and being, as it often is, a stranger to 

 the pool, or at best only a temporary visitor, it 

 does not so often concentrate its efforts upon 

 getting to some known refuge, but rushes wildly 

 from place to place. The fight of a sea trout 

 is thus stronger than that of a brown trout and, 

 if possible, even more active and full of quick 

 turns. There is no fish with which one has to 

 be so much on one's guard against being sur- 

 prised, either by sudden rushes or by jumps in the 

 air, and as far as the actual playing of a fish is 

 concerned, for sheer enjoyment and rapidity of 

 sensation, I prefer a good fresh run sea trout 



