44 Wet-Fly Fishing 



And now, suppose that you have fished 

 the "hang," and have waded ashore, and 

 that before you lies a long stretch of uni- 

 formly thin water, flowing over gravel and 

 sand, smooth of surface and gentle of flow, 

 how would you fish this characterless piece 

 of water ? Well, for my own part, if there 

 is a sharp bend here, I take the shortest 

 possible cut to the next good place, keeping 

 well away from the bank so as not to drive 

 the scared trout in front of me, only to 

 terrify others. 



Beginners often spoil a day's fishing by 

 wasting time over such places. There is 

 quite as much in this knowledge as in knowing 

 the right fly ; nay, without this intuition, 

 good flies will never make you a breaker of 

 records, on a Scottish, or North of England 

 water. 



Why do I skip such places ? My reasons 

 are many ! They are so shallow that you 

 generally scare the trout ere you come near 

 them. Then the trout generally run small ; 

 two good reasons, I think. I fear I may 

 seem to be inconsistent. I have just said 

 that long reaches of deep and sluggish 

 water are uncertain, and I say so still, 

 for it is my experience. When fish take 

 in them, they often take well, but an 



