TEOUT FLIES. 125 



always a chance of a fish or two, no matter how hopeless 

 it looks. You never know what may happen in fly-fishing. 

 I have, scores and scores of times, seen a bit of luck at the 

 last moment, which turned a bad day into a good one. 

 The very last day that I fished last season was one of the 

 best instances of this that has happened to me for a long 

 time. There had been rain, and the water was coloured, 

 and it was a cold blusterous day. A few small fish rose 

 under the banks, of which I got a brace about fib. each. 

 Evening came on ; I went to the most likely part of the 

 stream a corner below a mill ; there I found the best rod 

 in our club, who hadn't a fish. He had fished all the best 

 places carefully, and had done nothing. It was getting 

 towards dark, and he left for home. I walked with him 

 for a chat for about half a mile, when I returned to the 

 mill, my way lying in a different direction. When I left 

 my friend I took down my cast and reeled up the line, 

 though the rod was still together. I had a companion 

 with me, who urged me to have another cast below the 

 mill, as he knew there were some good fish there. It was 

 the most hopeless chance to look at I ever saw almost 

 dark, bitterly cold and blusterous. I would have bet 

 50 to 1 against even a rise. I put up the line again and 

 rose a fish at the first cast, and hooked him at the second. 

 I hooked three fish at that corner in about twenty minutes, 

 two of which were about IJlb., and the other 31b., 

 besides rising and scratching two or three more. It was 

 marvellous. 



Don't be in too great a hurry to change the fly, and if 

 your flies are a bad imitation of what is on the water, use 

 some totally different fly. It is more likely to give you a 

 fish or two, as it does not challenge comparison and 

 suspicion. When you get hung up in a bush or tree, 



