132 LOCH TROUT-FISHING 



it. Seven salmon out of ten hooked in a stream take 

 the fly under water, without breaking the surface till 

 they feel the hook ; nine out of ten coming at the fly in 

 a lake rise with a dash, often throwing themselves clean 

 out of the water in seizing it. The reason is pretty 

 obvious. In still water, even when agitated by wind, 

 the fly must be drawn pretty quickly along the surface 

 to keep the line taut ; to the salmon it seems as if the 

 creature which has excited his curiosity is on the point 

 of escaping, and he shows himself in his desperate 

 hurry to overtake it. In a stream, on the other hand, 

 the most deadly moment is just when the fly comes ' to 

 hang ' ; it is then nearly stationary, and the fish can 

 take it at his leisure. I have repeatedly watched a 

 salmon rise behind a brother angler's fly in a strong 

 stream, poise itself, and then with a forward, but not 

 violent movement, glide on and take it. So it is with 

 trout. Put a floating fly over a Scottish burn trout, 

 and, provided the stream is not too swift, he will rise to 

 meet and take it with no greater disturbance of the 

 water than the most sophisticated inhabitant of a chalk 

 stream. 



But the marked contrast between the behaviour of 

 Scottish and English trout when hooked must be 

 accounted for in some other way. The English fish (of 

 course, the allusion is only to fish in the southern 

 counties) make a brave show at first, having a specially 

 embarrassing knack of rushing straight down stream 

 towards the angler's feet, causing a disastrous slack in 

 the line, unless it is smartly drawn downwards through 



