SEDGE AND MAYFLY. 151 



is the Mayfly season, there are the great trout 

 rising like anything, and yet he can take no good 

 out of it. As a matter of fact he may to some 

 extent console himself, for they are not really rising 

 at all, and he may be sure that he is not the only 

 angler whose temper is being tried. The fish are 

 feeding, it is true, but not on the surface. They 

 are chasing the nymph of the fly while it is under 

 water and before it has become a fly at all. Some- 

 times the quarry eludes its pursuer. There, see in 

 the middle of that swirl a fly staggering about 

 uncertainly, just escaped from the jaws of death. 

 For the time being it is safe, since the trout are 

 taking no account of food above the surface. 



Success with the floating fly in these conditions 

 is apt to be very small, but there is always a chance 

 that at some time in the day the fish may get 

 tired of nymphs and " come onto" the fly itself. 

 If they do not a brace may sometimes be got by 

 fishing a hackle Mayfly wet. It can be used either 

 in the manner already mentioned as suited to 

 bulging trout or down and across stream in the 

 way which is described in Chapter XII. 



A " straddle-bug " moving under water in short 

 jerks must look very like a nymph struggling to 

 escape ; indeed I take it that is what it was origin- 

 ally intended to resemble. Our forefathers used 



