284 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE 



trout laughed. They understand the whole thing. With 

 a very decisive jerk you snap your line, regain the 

 remnant of it, and sit down to repair it, to put on another 

 hook, catch another grasshopper, and move on down stream 

 to catch a trout. 



But let us begin. Standing in the middle of the 

 stream, your short rod in hand, let out twelve to twenty 

 feet of line, varying its length according to the nature of 

 the stream, and, as far as it can be done, keeping its 

 position and general conduct under anxious scrutiny. 

 Just here the water is mid-leg deep. Experimenting at 

 each forward reach for a firm foot-hold, slipping, stum- 

 bling over some uncouth stone, slipping on the moss of 

 another, reeling and staggering, you will have a fine 

 opportunity of testing the old philosophical dictum, that 

 you can think of but one thing at a time. You must 

 think of half-a-dozen ; of your feet, or you will be sprawl- 

 ing in the brook ; of your eyes and face, or the branches 

 will scratch them ; of your line, or it will tangle at every 

 step ; of your far-distant hook and dimly seen bait, 

 or you will lose the end of all your fishing. At first it 

 is a puzzling business. A little practice sets things all 

 right. 



Do you see that reach of shallow water gathered to a 

 head by a cross-bar of sunken rocks ? The water splits in 

 going over upon a slab of rock below, and forms an eddy 

 to the right and one to the left. Let us try a grasshopper 

 there. Casting it in above, and guiding it by a motion 



