104 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



to fish the opposite side, where you are to expect the 

 most sport. For this reason you should always keep 

 on the shallow side of the water, as the best trout 

 generally lie under the bank at the deep side. After 

 having taken a cast or two on the near side, throw 

 your flies partly up stream and partly across, but 

 more across than up, from where you are standing. 

 You should throw them to within an inch of the 

 opposite bank ; if they alight on it so much the 

 better ; draw them gently off, and they will fall like 

 a snow-flake, and if there is a trout within sight they 

 are almost sure to captivate it. In this way your 

 flies will fall more like a natural insect than by any 

 other method. 



After your flies alight, allow them to float gently 

 down stream for a yard or two, taking care that 

 neither they nor the line ripple the surface. There 

 is no occasion for keeping them on the surface, they 

 will be quite as attractive a few inches under water. 

 As the flies come down stream, raise the point of 

 your rod, so as to keep your line straight, and as 

 little of it in the water as possible ; and when they 

 have traversed a few yards of water, throw again 

 about a yard or two higher up than where your flies 

 alighted the previous cast, and so on. Unless the 

 spot looks exceedingly promising, you need not cast 

 twice in one place if you do not get a rise, but if 

 there is any quick turn in the water where there is 

 likely to be a good trout, we frequently cast over it 

 six or seven times in succession, just allowing the 

 flies to alight when we cast again. Where the current 



