248 FLY FISHING 



difficult it becomes to go outside it. To me the 

 opportunity for fishing came early, and the passion 

 for it awoke suddenly. I remember very well 

 being seized with the desire to fish. I was about 

 seven years old, and was riding on a Shetland pony 

 by the side of a very small burn. A mill was 

 working higher up the stream, and the water was 

 full of life and agitation, caused by the opening 

 of the sluice of the mill pond above. I had seen 

 small trout caught in the burn before, but now, 

 for the first time and suddenly, came an over- 

 powering desire to fish, which gave no rest till 

 some very primitive tackle was given me. With 

 this and some worms, many afternoons were 

 spent in vain. The impulse to see the trout 

 destroyed all chance of success. It did not suit 

 me to believe that it was fatal to look into the 

 water before dropping a worm over the bank, or 

 that I could not see the trout first and catch 

 them afterwards, and I preferred to learn by 

 experience and disappointment rather than by 

 the short, but unconvincing, method of believing 

 what I was told. 



For some years this burn fishing was all that I 

 knew. It was very fascinating, though the trout 



