184 AUGUST ON THE ITCHEN. 



fish with an artificial. I have however on many 

 an evening been successful by throwing right 

 against the rushes, you can hear the rap it 

 makes as it hits them and falls back on to the 

 stream. In such places it is of course advisable 

 to let the cast be made well above the fish. 

 Do not necessarily take it off the water directly 

 it has passed the rise, for trout will often follow 

 it downstream. Large grayling in September 

 do this still more. You can often see one with 

 its nose against the fly until it catches sight of 

 you watching the process. 



On September afternoons it is as well to be 

 upon the water soon after five o'clock; when, 

 under shaded banks, good trout are well dis- 

 posed to rise at small flies in preference to 

 sedges. The most sparsely dressed hackle flies 

 are quite as useful as winged patterns. Gray 

 Quill gnat and Pale Watery Dun have been 

 taken by many of my early September trout 

 just after tea time, although I cannot pretend 

 that they were the fly on the water. It all 

 goes to show what chance or caprice governs 

 the taste of a rising trout. 



The modern experiments made by photo- 

 graphs from tanks under water will no doubt 

 gradually effect changes in the tying of 

 artificial flies. But even these experiments only 

 show us what the fly looks like to human eyes. 

 It cannot pretend to enlighten us as to how it 

 looks to the fish. We have no conception of 

 a fish's sense of colour very little conception 



