THE EVENING 77 



you a meal afterwards. Besides, it cannot be good 

 for the digestion to dine at half-past ten and to 

 go to bed almost immediately. A dinner interval 

 about a quarter to seven by all means, and if that be 

 not possible, take out what used to be called a " cold 

 collation " and eat it on the bank. The idea of 

 taking out supper never occurred to me till I read 

 Mr. Raymond Hill's attractive book Wings and 

 Hackle some years ago. Since, however, I have 

 frequently acted on his advice and have had great 

 gain from it. 



For a good many years the evening has been more 

 associated in my mind with dry-fly streams than with 

 others because most of my summer fishing has been 

 done on them. A July evening should be divisible 

 into several distinct periods, each of which has its 

 special interest. First there is what I call the 

 smutting time, which greets you as you come back 

 from your tea. From five till perhaps six or a bit 

 later in certain spots which you know well there 

 will be the laziest possible dimpling of the surface 

 by trout which have found something just worth 

 eating, something invisible to you and not apparently 

 very filling to the eye even of fish. Of all risers at 

 any time of day or season these after-tea dimplers 

 in July seem to me the most difficult. They will 

 only condescend to notice the tiniest flies tied to the 

 finest gut, and if they do chance to rise at you you 



