WADING. 117 



rushes of the bank on your left. If a promising 

 rise takes place give time to see whether he is 

 a feeder in position, or merely a roamer moving, 

 up stream. After he has risen twice, or three 

 times, the critical moment has arrived, and the 

 first cast must drop your fly a foot or so above 

 him. 



All the walk, all the trouble and planning, is 

 rewarded by the tension of those few seconds. 

 A ring appears, a sound like a smothered kiss, 

 a, pause, a check, a struggle. If all succeeds 

 and he is played and netted, with cast almost 

 round one's boots, it must appear to an 

 onlooker an imaginary one of course, for no 

 one in his senses could tolerate a soul by his 

 side at such a time that trout fishing is not 

 only simple, but is a certainty for the rod. 



There are seven phases of pleasure, each in 

 its way separate, yet, when complete, all com- 

 pressed within a very few minutes. There is 

 the pleasure of the rise, followed by that of 

 moving into position and adjusting the length 

 of line so that the cast may cover it without 

 falling short or overlapping. Then comes the 

 cast itself, and the true rise made at the false 

 fly. Next, the crowning pleasure of the strike 

 and the finding that the line is tight between 

 you the more sober pleasure of playing and 

 netting the quick and varying estimates of his 

 size as you feel in the net, and the fond look 

 at the divine form before he is dropped into 

 the creel. The final pleasure is more one of 

 pride, as the catch is shown on the dish at 



