296 TROUT FISHING. 



care. The edge of a rock or stone, the trunk 

 of an old tree, the part below a waterfall where 

 the stream has turned from clear colour to a 

 clear bubbling brown, are favourite spots for 

 trout. If there is one large trout at any of 

 these places, however, you will seldom get a 

 second until a few days pass by, when the post 

 of the monster is filled up by an equally satis- 

 factory successor. Should the run of fish be 

 small in the stream, dozens may be picked out 

 one after another below waterfalls. 



Fly-fishing in the neighbourhood of trees, 

 except to a genuine artist, is the parent of 

 cursing or of sullen discontent, which some- 

 times ends in the gnashing of teeth, the smash- 

 ing of rods, and other expressions of despair. 

 To be sure, big trout seek inaccessible re- 

 treats, but you are seldom compensated for 

 the trouble involved in their capture. Not 

 the least pleasure in trout fishing is that it 

 leads you into sweet paths and walks. This 

 it is which has made so many writers rave 

 about a pastime of which they know nothing, 

 but of which they feel as many infinite things 

 as a sucking poet does. 



