88 ON THE WYE 



the bushes chub are sometimes to be seen. 

 Chub I despise. Perch there are, doubtless, 

 but they will not rise to the fly as a rule, though 

 I have seen them caught so. To fish for chub 

 Izaak Walton advises me to " get two or three 

 grasshoppers as you go over the meadow, and 

 get secretly behind the tree and stand as free 

 from motion as is possible, then put a grass- 

 hopper on your hook, and let your hook hang a 

 quarter of a yard short of the water. But it is 

 likely the chub will sink down towards the 

 bottom of the water at the first shadow of your 

 rod . . . but they will presently rise up again . . . 

 then move your rod as softly as a snail moves 

 over the chub you intend to catch, and let 

 your bait fall gently on the water . . . and he 

 will infallibly like it." 



All this is very true. I accordingly, in cross- 

 ing the meadows, looked out for some hoppers, 

 but I failed to find any. I fell back on an 

 artificial thing, double-hooked, long hairy body 

 like a caterpillar, and a gold-striped body. I 

 found a place where the river swirled round, 

 forming a smooth little lake underneath a 

 spreading willow and other bushes; but there 

 was no move or anything like a rise. I hooked 



