PRE-EMINENCE OF FLY-FISHING. 57 



expected prey should discover him and so be 

 warned. Gracefully wheeling his long line behind, 

 he lays his flies down softly as a snow-flake just 

 above the desired spot. A moment of expectancy 

 succeeds, the flies approach the very place where 

 the trout was last seen. Look at the angler how 

 with keen eye he watches, to strike with alert 

 hand the moment he either feels or sees the least 

 movement. There is a stoppage of the line and 

 an instantaneous movement of the angler's wrist, 

 and the trout is fast. At first he shakes his head 

 as if surprised and bewildered at the unwonted 

 interference with his liberty, but gradually awaken- 

 ing to a sense of the danger of his position, he 

 collects his scattered energies and makes a gallant 

 fight for liberty ; frequently he will leap in the air 

 several times as if to ascertain the character of his 

 opponent, and then make a frantic rush ; but the 

 figure on the bank follows him like a shadow, and 

 at last, strength and hope both exhausted, he turns 

 on his side and becomes an easy prey, leaving the 

 angler to contemplate the speckled sides of his 

 captive with satisfaction, and to congratulate him- 

 self on having achieved such a feat with a tiny 

 hook and tackle like a gossamer. 



The victory, however, is not always with the 

 angler more frequently the other way; often at 

 the last moment, just as he is putting out his hand 

 to secure his prize, the trout makes a bolt and is 

 gone, leaving the disappointed artist the picture of 



