THE BIG FLY. 173 



for them, within a foot of it, and it is waste of 

 labour to try and fish the middle of the lake, when 

 one can get from two to four feet of water within. 

 ten yards of the edge, and can often reach the 

 shelf between the shallows and deeps, the best 

 spot of all in many lakes. Sometimes where the 

 shore is very flat and the water in consequence very 

 shallow it pays to wade out so far as wading 

 stockings will allow and thus to get at the deeper 

 water. If I can get my flies to a spot three or 

 four feet deep, I am satisfied. They can be 

 " worked " in the manner already described, or 

 they can be drawn slowly through the water ;. 

 occasionally I have found the second method pay 

 better than the first. In either case a rise can 

 usually be both seen and felt, and often there is 

 also to be seen a gleam of yellow or silver, as the 

 trout comes up to the fly. There are few more 

 pleasurable things than this in the pastime of 

 angling. 



