A LITTLE CHALK STREAM 49 



boundary is, my heart would surely fly to the bridge 

 right at the top where, close against the brickwork, 

 would be rising that big one which I could always 

 move and never catch. Positively to get full 

 advantage of a very varied bit of fishing a man needs 

 to be " two gentlemen rolled into one," but capable 

 of unrolling at need. 



If from the luncheon corner one goes up, one 

 comes to the water which is perhaps most typical 

 of a dry-fly stream, and the higher one goes the 

 more tempting does it become. There are two little 

 weirs, three bridges, and several stretches with a 

 steady and smooth current where rises and flies can 

 be easily seen. A good deal of the lower water is 

 too swift and broken for comfort of vision, and 

 frequently one has to guess at the exact position 

 of one's fly. Even keen-sighted and experienced 

 anglers probably have to do this more often than 

 the beginner suspects, but they are never quite 

 happy about it. It leads sometimes to distressing 

 incidents. I shall never forget a vast Test trout 

 which on a very windy day took my fly four several 

 times. My eyes on each occasion were earnestly 

 fixed on a natural fly which floated hard by the 

 artificial, and on each occasion I found out the 

 mistake just too late. A brisk ripple on the water 

 made spotting the right fly a matter of sheer 

 luck. 



E 



