MAY-FLY FISHING 157 



him, the angler should allow them to come down a 

 short distance, and then cast again farther up. If 

 the flies are coming down with their wings out of 

 the water, the trout make a fair rise at them, but, 

 what is rather singular, and quite unaccountable, 

 rarely take a proper hold. It is better to have the 

 flies thoroughly soaked and under the surface, when 

 the trout take them in a much more deadly manner ; 

 and the first indication the angler sometimes re- 

 ceives is a stoppage of the line, when he should 

 slacken for a moment or two ; then strike down 

 stream, and be very careful in landing, as the fish 

 thus taken are always large and strong. 



If the water is clear, the angler should fish in the 

 same places as with the creeper, with this difference, 

 that he will meet with success in the streamy por- 

 tions of pools, casting up stream to within half a 

 foot of the deep edge. The best casts, however, in 

 any condition of water, are where the stream runs 

 below the bank. There trout may be depended 

 upon, if the angler casts to within a foot of the 

 edge; and as the current is not so strong at the 

 edge as a foot farther out, the angler must en- 

 deavour to keep his line out of the main current, 

 or his flies will come down too fast. Unlike the 

 creeper, the May-fly is most killing when the waters 

 are large and dark-coloured, and must then be used 

 close to the edges ; the angler will seldom get a trout 

 in the centre of the current. The deep and strong 

 sides of pools and streams, within a foot of the 

 edge, are the best places ; but every spot where a 



