108 WHERE TO CAST. 



let him study which part of a run or stream is likely to- 

 contain the most food, for here he will assuredly find the 

 largest and best fish. In a flood, the fish will be all over 

 the river feeding, and will take the hook in spots which it 

 would be utterly useless to fish when the river is down 

 to its natural level again. The neck of every little run 

 between two stones or weeds, the eye or eddy in each 

 stream, will then have its feeding fish. The eye of the 

 stream, I may take occasion to say, is (dways the most 

 favourable spot for fish. By the eye I mean the first good 

 eddy on the inside of any stream after it commences its. 

 shoot. Into this almost every straw or insect is swept in 

 its downwards course, to be delivered up to the stream 

 again after it has made a revolution or two, perhaps a yard 

 or so lower down, and here the fish are on the watch for 

 food. In hot bright weather, the fish will be at the tails 

 of the pools, on the gravelly shallows, more often sunning 

 themselves than feeding, however. Still the angler, by 

 letting his fly work down from the head of the stream to 

 the end, may perhaps pick up a fish, but the hooking of 

 one fish will be the signal for all the rest to rush up into 

 safety and deep water. In hot weather, too, the best fish 

 may be observed under the deep shades of overhanging 

 boughs, lying within an inch or two of the surface, and 

 merely lifting their noses very quietly to the top, as fly, 

 beetle, or grub comes floating to them. Whenever the 

 angler sees a fish rising in such a spot, do not let him be 

 deluded by the very slight disturbance it makes in rising 

 into the belief that it is a small fish ; nine times in ten it 

 is a good fish, and often a superior one, and worth all the 

 caution and skill he can use ; and in such sports, if the 

 angler can get his bait properly to the fish, he will mostly 

 take. In windy weather, always fish the bank towards 

 which the flies are blown, for close to, almost touching the 

 bank, the big trouts will often lie, picking the struggling 



