The Fishing of Rivers with the Wet Fly 103 



comfort. Or he may find a pool where the 

 force of the wind is greatly broken by the 

 shelter of some friendly bend, and where, 

 the wind being up stream, he can sink his 

 flies, as already described. 



Thus he may fill his creel, which he 

 could not very easily do, in the exposed 

 parts of the river, during the gale. 



The angler may know all the rules 

 written and unwritten but he must also 

 know when to free himself from their bondage, 

 and to allow his own intuitive instincts a 

 free range. 



When trout are not rising, I, at times, 

 draw a bow at a venture, and, forsaking the 

 ordinary wet fly for the " sunk fly," I soon 

 read the river's mind on the question. If 

 it does not succeed, I do not necessarily 

 continue it. If, when I am doing nothing 

 worth speaking of, and am quite conscious 

 that I have got the right flies, as regards 

 pattern and size, and also that I am fishing 

 fairly well, then I do think I would be a fool 

 not to try, say for half an hour, sinking 

 and working some soft-feathered, winged or 

 hackled fly, as a mere " feeler," " to see how 

 the wind blows." If, upon trial, I found the 

 point of my rod boldly pulled down by a 

 fine trout, and the reel in a fit of hysterics, 



