40 In Pursuit of the Trout 



Who has not met the angler that never 

 seems to perceive fly sailing dow^n stream, 

 unless it be hatching in thousands, and rarely 

 notes a trout rising unless it be creating a 

 splash in the operation ? He constantly goes 

 up to every rod on the water to inquire, 

 ' What are they taking ? ' — a very aggravat- 

 ing type of angler this, who, one feels 

 sure, will never go far in the art of fly- 

 fishing. 



One of the keenest men on killing trout 

 you can recollect meeting at an angling inn 

 attempts to make out that he has not primarily 

 come down to angle, but to get a little fresh 

 air and change of scene ; and when you ask 

 him about his day's sport he usually suggests 

 something to that effect, which is his idea of 

 the most dignified way of excusing his ill- 

 success. When he does happen to get hold 

 of a brace of trout — which is, to tell the 

 truth, a somewhat unusual occurrence out of 

 may-fly season — he contrives to let every- 

 body in the inn know of it, while pretending 

 that it is utterly immaterial to him whether 



