TROUT FISHING 



seems to have turned its attention to the very spot we have 

 just left. It is not hard work either for rower or fisherman, 

 and the former just holds the boat within reach of shore, while 

 I keep dropping my three flies as lightly as possible a few yards 

 from the rocks, and am occasionally rewarded with a shy rise, 

 and get a few fish, some of them of quite a decent size. What 

 determined fighters they are ! They bend my light rod, and 

 even run out a little line. If the lazy South-Country giants 

 of the Test or Mimram had half their energy and strength, few 

 indeed in those weedy streams would succumb to the tiny 

 hooks and gossamer gut necessary for effecting their captm:e 

 at any time but the May-fly season. I see a few alders on the 

 water, and am most successful with an imitation of that fly, 

 dressed pretty large and sunk rather deep. In spite of the 

 weather, I nearly always get an offer from any fish I see rise 

 within reach and manage to put my fly over ; but although I 

 strike very quickly, I do not succeed in touching one in three, 

 as they see too much, and turn before they actually touch the 

 fly. One little fish of about a quarter of a pound is hooked 

 foul, near the ventral fin, and makes for the weeds near the 

 bottom so stubbornly that, until I see where he is hooked, I 

 try to persuade myself that I have at last got hold of a monster 

 of the deep. The most productive spot is the end near the 

 reeds, where a line of water-lily leaves are just showing. There 

 I get one fish of nearly three-quarters of a pound, beautifully 

 shaped and marked, which really makes a determined struggle 

 for liberty, actually reaching the weeds and for a moment 

 attaching the dropper to one of them, which, fortunately, is 

 not sufficiently firm to break the casting-line. 



' And now for a few moments a change comes over the 

 scene. Hitherto there has been nothing but the lightest 

 possible ripple, and often not even that ; but now a sudden 

 blast beats down from the hills, and the light boat is flying 

 down the loch almost too rapidly for fishing, and, in spite of 

 the utmost exertions of the man at the oars, the boat is down 

 over the flies almost as soon as they touch the water. Two or 

 2 b 193 



