A Great Hatch of Fly 99 



other places, where one could not recollect 

 having previously seen more than one trout 

 feeding at the same time, there were two or 

 three up. I had the Rutland length to my- 

 self that day, but took only a brace and a-half 

 of fish, one of which was a dark, unattractive- 

 looking grayling, and another a just-sizable 

 trout killed before this phenomenal hatch 

 began, or at any rate killed higher up stream, 

 at a point where there was only now and 

 again an odd dun or so sailing down. In 

 fact, there was infinitely too much fly on the 

 water to give the angler a chance of great 

 sport. The artificial, when it alit on the 

 water over a feeding trout — the fish lay for 

 the most part close to the surface, and quietly 

 sucked in the duns — was instantly in com- 

 petition with a perfect swarm of live duns. 

 Moreover, one was bound to lose sight of 

 the artificial amongst this jostling crowd of 

 natural insects, and, as a result, there was 

 much striking on the chance of the rise being 

 at one's own fly. The pool Between-the- 

 Willows was a wonderful sie;ht : in it there 



