164 In Pursuit of the Trout 



dry-fly fishing, but did not hesitate to put a 

 large sunk alder, or even a small Jock Scott, 

 over a tailing trout ; and used to go the 

 length of denying that trout captured by 

 such means ought to be counted in the day's 

 bag of the true scientific angler. This purist 

 was never tired of laying stress on what 

 he called ' the real thing,' namely, taking a 

 ' fair rising trout ' with a single small fly ; 

 he objected to may-fly fishing, and regarded 

 it as a base slaughter — even when dry and 

 floating for all the world like the natural 

 insect. He would sometimes say, when 

 showing you, with it may be the reluctance 

 born of modesty, the contents of his creel, 

 ' Ah, I can scarcely count that trout, because 

 the brute actually took the fly after it had 

 commenced to drag ' ; or else, * Well, I 'm 

 afraid no credit attaches to me in regard to 

 that fish, because I did not actually cast to it, 

 but to another fish a foot away.' He made 

 a golden rule of never fishing a likely-looking 

 spot — even with the driest of floating flies — 

 on chance ; and, though he would sometimes 



