THE DUFFER'S FORTNIGHT 201 



On the whole, the worst feature of the Mayfly 

 rise to the disillusioned angler is the remarkable 

 contrast between possibilities and performances. 

 He finds all the big fish, which at other times are 

 just traditions or, at best, dimly-seen shadows, 

 become concrete realities which wallow and splash 

 and surge over the whole stream. They are all 

 feeding or waiting to feed, or taking a hurried 

 interval for digestion so that they can begin again, 

 and it looks as though a man could hardly fail to 

 catch as many as he may want. But when he comes 

 to put the matter to the test, he finds that things 

 are not at all what they seem. Most of the fish 

 are bulging, as may be gathered from their restless 

 journeys hither and yon. Of the rest, a good 

 proportion have come to the stage of discrimination, 

 and will have even the natural fly just so or not at 

 all. An artificial fly obviously can never be " just 



so." 



There remain just a few "possibles," and the 

 angler's relations with them are commonly as 

 follows : (a) Fly pulled away at the critical time, and 

 first possible put down ; (b) fly seized by a quarter- 

 pounder in a barefaced manner, to second possible's 

 disgust and retreat; (c) and (d) two sixpenny flies 

 left in two three-pound mouths ; (e) fly hitched up 

 in tree behind just as fifth possible has made up his 

 mind that he can manage two more, and two more 



