SEPTEMBER 157 



the intervening backwater it was not easy to get the fly 

 into ' hang ' on the far side. When this was accom- 

 plished, it swung nicely over the smooth glide at the 

 foot of the stream. I managed this, as I thought, 

 pretty successfully, several times, but nothing hap- 

 pened. I handed the rod to my companion, bidding 

 him take a cast, as he knew the place better than I. 

 He consented reluctantly, for he was hospitably keen 

 for me to get a fish. He prefaced his essay by chang- 

 ing my fly for one of his own a local favourite. He 

 then put out a fine line to the very foot of the 

 opposing cliff, and, if I remember aright, it was after 

 his first cast that, just as the fly swung round into the 

 smooth water, a huge boil broke the glassy surface. 

 ' Ha ! ' I cried, ' you were too quick with him ' ; for my 

 friend, as even an experienced fisher will sometimes 

 do, had struck on the visible rise, a fatal act in salmon- 

 fishing. 1 He admitted his error with honest chagrin : 

 ' Give him another chance,' said I ; though well I knew 

 that a fish disappointed in that way will seldom make 

 a second offer. This fish, however, seemed an exception 

 to the rule. It is impossible to affirm that it was the 

 same salmon which, as the fly came over the same 

 place, made the same kind of boil ; but probably it was 

 so. Anyhow, this time the angler made no mistake ; 

 the fish was firmly hooked, and swam up into the depth 

 of the pool, round which he took two or three turns, 



1 I have watched, from an elevated position, the movement of a 

 salmon rising at another angler's fly. It usually poises for a second, 

 perhaps breaking the surface of the water if the fly is not swimming 

 deep, and then either dashes forward to take it, or sinks again as if 

 it did not care for the look of the lure. 



