12 AN ANGLER'S BASKET. 



paper their peculiarities in rising " short," as we call it. 

 There are days on which there is no natural fly on the river ; 

 when the angler's sunk flies are taken steadily under the 

 surface all day long, and without the necessity of striking at 

 all ; the trout obligingly hook themselves, and would, 

 doubtless, apologise if they could for giving the angler the 

 trouble of dragging them out. There are other days when 

 all the conditions are apparently the same wind, stream, 

 and flies, and the fisherman cannot hook a fish for the life 

 of him ; he experiences an incessant series of tugs and pulls, 

 often of desperate energy and strength, at his flies, but he 

 cannot hook a trout. Why ? It is a riddle, and you can 

 give it up as soon as you like. So do I. I have heard it 

 discussed in scores of angling companies all over the country, 

 but no reasonable solution have I ever heard. How can a 

 trout one day manage to give a tug at a tiny atom with a 

 hook in it and never fail to hook himself, and the next keep 

 on repeating his tugs all day long and yet contrive to miss 

 the hook of the angler? 



Is it a question of the refraction of light in some 

 mysterious way as the fly is presented occasionally to the 

 vision of the fish ? Granted that it is, how do fish escape 

 the hook and yet contrive to convey the telegraphic 

 intimation of a "bite?" Do they, owing to some optical 

 illusion in the water, merely slap the line with their heads or 

 tails at a place a few inches from the fly, or do they take hold 

 of the fly and pull ? The latter would seem to be impossible. 

 There are again days on which trout are readily hooked and 

 are as certainly lost after a few convulsive wriggles; a 

 performance which usually results in frequent examinations 

 of hook points, to find they are all as sharp as need be. 

 Why is this ? I cannot tell. 



Personal experience satisfies me that, granted a very 

 quick eye and the power to strike smartly but not violently, 

 many more " short "-rising fish may be hooked than is 



