THE ANGLER 157 



Frederick Pigou, in these Hampshire fields, but never 

 angled with him there, though once he knew them 

 well. All my fishing expeditions with him were 

 farther north or west. May was his chief month 

 for the trout, though April brought him many a 

 heavy basket from chalk streams, where he would 

 often fish with one large fly, the alder. There are 

 anglers who think this style of fly-fishing for trout 

 not feeding at the surface poor, even doubtful sport ; 

 but no one who watched our friend working his 

 favourite alder fly across and down stream could hold 

 that view long. He far excelled any angler I have 

 seen at work in this way of fishing, and I have known 

 him take large shy trout in finest water, its surface 

 smooth almost as a mirror. Casting a long, clean 

 line, he would, by gentle, even movements of the 

 wrist, make the fly zigzag across the stream in a 

 way that tempted the fish greatly. 



After all, though, we shall remember him most 

 for the ease and grace and the success with which 

 he drove the single floating fly, tiny dun, or large 

 May fly, to the rising trout. It seemed to me as 

 if the wind had little power to crumple up his line 

 or turn it from its mission; and yet all was done 

 so easily, not a fraction of effort misspent or mis- 

 applied. Another thing about the angler was the 

 way he would walk by the river or stand to cast 

 without alarming the trout. It was as if he and 

 his rod were invisible to fish : the wave along the 



