A Great Hatch of Fly 101 



foliage of this friendly old willow, and here, 

 I reasoned to myself, I might find and kill 

 some rising trout. Arrived at this spot, I 

 found the fly coming down in moderate 

 quantities — no duns ever seemed to actually 

 hatch there — and speedily killed one beautiful 

 fish, and hooked and lost another. Whilst I 

 was considering where next to go, a friend 

 who was not fishing that day came up, and 

 excitedly pointed out half a dozen trout hard 

 at it, a few paces down stream. He looked 

 incredulous at the rather irritable reply of 

 ' No good,' and begged me to try. I de- 

 clined, and then, to his astonishment, and 

 probably contempt, proceeded with calm 

 exterior, albeit with secret wrath and un- 

 charitable feelings, to divest myself of my 

 fishing-bag and take out lunch. Imagine a 

 keen fisherman casting aside his rod and 

 sitting down to lunch in the midst of a 

 furious rise ! The new-comer thereat seized 

 the rod with scant ceremony, and, though he 

 had no fishing ticket, commenced to assail 

 first one, and then another, rising trout. 



