78 CATCHING THE WILY SEA-TROUT 



him wise, but he is one of those grumpy individuals who 

 are best left alone/' 



As I ventured no comment, my friend continued, 

 " Look now. You've a couple of brace and I have three 

 brace. If we had not selected the correct spin, I'll wager 

 any money that we should not have come home with 

 more than half a brace between us. As I told you long 

 enough ago, the correct spin is more important than 

 everything else. A right-hand spin when a left-hand 

 one should be mounted, or a left-hand spin when a right- 

 hand one is correct, will not catch sea-trout. The extra- 

 ordinary part of the business is that of the umpteen 

 visitors who fish this water, nine out of every ten know 

 nothing about spinning. True, they can cast, but they 

 don't work with their heads." 



Yes, my old tutor had, times without number, drilled 

 into me this instruction concerning the proper spin. In 

 fact the manner in which a metal minnow should revolve 

 had, I feel sure, become a fetish to him. 



When he started teaching me in the dim past he was 

 not only painstaking, but he amplified his opinions with 

 logical argument, and as a consequence the reasons for 

 his statements were easily understandable. 



If you are not acquainted with the secret of the correct 

 spin for sea-trout I will elucidate the mystery. Before 

 doing so, however, I should perhaps preface my remarks 

 by giving the grounds for my choice of terms. 



When you stand by a river running to the west and 

 face the way of the sea, the north bank is the right- 

 hand one, but in similar (circumstances, with a river 

 flowing eastward, the north bank is then the left-hand 

 one. But rivers are journeying in all directions to the 

 sea, so to rely for nomenclature on the points of the 

 compass might lead to confusion. Further, I wish to use 

 the expressions of right-hand spin and left-hand spin, 



