FEBRUARY 63 



This was the first time I had ever fished the Park 

 water on the Dee. It is a fine stretch of angling, 

 varied enough by stream and still pool to avoid 

 monotony, and holding plenty of fish in the early 

 season, provided they do not run through it without 

 resting, as they sometimes do. On arriving at Park I 

 received the warning so often addressed to one in the 

 early and cold months, namely, that salmon will not 

 readily take the fly in icy water or frosty weather ; and 

 that recourse must be had to minnow, gudgeon, or eel- 

 tail to fill the basket. Well, I must own to being 

 prejudiced against that mode of fishing. Undoubtedly 

 there are ' dour ' days when the fish will not move to a 

 surface bait, yet will take a sunk one readily. There 

 are also deep places in most rivers whence salmon may 

 be expiscated with bait, though they will never, or 

 hardly ever, take a fly there. One such place is 

 Neddre Fiva, a splendid stream and pool on the 

 Rauma. I have taken a fish or two there with fly, but 

 usually it is a disappointing place. I had fished it one 

 afternoon without moving anything, when a friend 

 came down and begged me to try it over with a 

 gudgeon. I declined, but handed him my rod, and 

 bade him try his luck. He took the fly-cast off my 

 line, attached a spinning trace to it, and a quarter-of- 

 an-hour later I gaffed a thirty-three pounder for him. 

 Neither that nor several similar lessons served to con- 

 vert me. I fish for amusement, which fly-fishing 

 secures for me, and bait-fishing does not. Hence it 

 comes that in the considerable section of my life that 

 has been spent at the waterside, I have lauded but two 



