A DAY'S FISHING. 131 



wrapped in a sheet of newspaper, and then placed 

 in the basket. I have lately taken to carrying a 

 newspaper with me on purpose ; it preserves the 

 colour of trout wonderfully, and they come out 

 bright and handsome at the end of a day. Fish of 

 a pound or more are worth the trouble. 



The next trout to rise is not under the angler's 

 own bank, but nearly on the other side of the 

 stream. Straight across it is not very far to cast, 

 only about fifteen yards, but it is by no means an 

 "easy" fish, as dry-fly parlance hath it. The 

 novice must observe the set of the stream, how 

 under his own bank it is rather fast, how in the 

 middle by reason of the weed-bed above it is very 

 slow, and how on the other side where the fish is 

 rising it is again fast. A fly thrown with just 

 length of line enough to reach the spot would begin 

 to drag across the river at once, because the mid- 

 part of the line would be held back while both ends 

 were being hurried forward. The method of 

 circumventing this is to have out rather more line 

 than is necessary, -and to check it just before the 

 end of the cast, so that though the fly alights at the 

 desired spot, some i2in. above the fish, the line 

 falls in what at first sight looks like a rather 

 clumsy succession of curves ; such a sight may well 

 be shocking to the novice if kind friends have been 



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