io FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



scenery brought us to the scene of our day's 

 work. In the train wehad met with an enthusiastic 

 young farmer, who, seeing how we were equipped, 

 at once asked us whither we were bent. " Ah," 

 said he, " I wish I were going with you, I know 

 that water well; a friend of mine got twelve 

 brace of pounders up their last week, but you 

 won't do much there to-day; the caddow must 

 be off by this time, and this north-east wind and 

 bright sun won't help you. It is a mistake," he 

 added, " to think that all the big trout lie always 

 under the banks. You will find them mostly in 

 the middle of the river where it runs deep and 

 slow. I have waited in such places half an hour 

 at a time for a rise there the trout ranges up 

 and down for twenty or thirty yards; when I 

 have learnt his boundary I cast my fly three or 

 four yards above it and let it float gently down, 

 and I have him. Not only must your fly float, 

 but your line also, for if that sinks in the water, 

 and it is no easy matter to prevent it, your 

 chance is gone." Thus did this garrulous youth 

 instruct us old hands in the art of dry fly fishing. 



OTTER AND MOORHEN. 



" Can you tell me," said he, " if it is a common 

 thing for otters to take moorhens? I have lived 

 on this water all my life and fished it, too, but 

 till last week I was not aware of it. I was waiting 



