THE BRITISH ISLES 379 



I do not mean by this that there are two forms of merely casting the 

 Hne, because there are many ; but there is the ordinary form of fishing 

 with the fly, which means that you select a Jock Scott or a Silver 

 Doctor from your book and proceed to entice the salmon to rise at it. 

 And there is the prettier form, which is angling for him when he 

 is risino- to the March brown or other small fly. 



Many a time, from the middle of April onwards, have I fished 

 down a pool on the Dee with ^ome small jinny that I thought might 

 attract the attention of a fish, whilst on the bank my gillie has waited, 

 in his hand a fine cast, attached to which were two small double-hook 

 March browns. I have gone maybe half-way down the pool, and seen 

 nothing, felt nothing, when suddenly I heard a slight swish, and saw 

 a nose just move on the surf^ice of the water. I have been out of 

 the pool in a moment. "They are on the rise, Jimmy!" And in 

 another moment the cast with the March brown has been transferred 

 to the line of my rod. 



How many times have I had four or six beauties on the bank whilst 

 the rise lasted, which may be for only a few minutes, or for one hour 

 or two according as the day is warm or chilly, in fact while the 

 fly is going down the water. 



I think, on looking back on all the varied sports and pastimes 

 on which I have engaged, those days with the March brown stand 

 forth as the most prominent and pleasant of all my sporting life. 



I have observed, or, at least, such is my opinion, that salmon 

 discriminate, and this is the reason that I invariably used to fish 

 with two March browns, the smaller size on the bob, some two or 

 three feet above the other. My reasons for this are that often 



