BLANK DA YS. 85 



escaped the hay cutting machine. From per- 

 sonal experience as regards flies used I find 

 that red ant, black spider, and even a small 

 governor have all been fortunate enough to 

 hook and to hold trout of from ij to if pounds 

 in such places in the forenoon of a brilliant 

 and unpromising July day. 



Two fine fish of about this weight I also once 

 hooked and lost upon a gold-ribbed hare's ear 

 within five minutes of each other; the second 

 after an exhilarating reel screech, and a tele- 

 phonic line throbbing message from a weed 

 bed to say goodbye. These fish were attracted 

 from a comfortable ventre a terre position with 

 a very short line, one indeed almost partaking 

 of the dap style. 



All this has of course occurred to every 

 experienced angler; who possibly says little 

 about it. Indeed the experienced angler on the 

 bank differs sometimes from the one that figures in 

 the story books not very much perhaps, take him 

 all round, but in small particulars. An awkward 

 right hand bank with overhanging tangle where 

 the river is broad or hardly fishable from the 

 other side is the place where many a specimen 

 trout has been picked out. If the man who 

 has left it takes a short cut across the meadow 

 and thus avoids conversation, it may be that 

 he has a slimy secret in his creel, present or 

 prospective, which he wishes no eyes or antici- 

 pation to feast upon. 



That waiting with a cinnamon sedge between 

 thumb and finger in the dusk of an August 



