RIVER -ANGLING. 205 



fish. There is more art in this than most anglers are 

 aware of. In dragging the past, the gut should not 

 cause the slightest ripple ; to prevent which the flies 

 must be sunk a little, and the motion slow. It is also 

 very desirable to attain the knack of throwing well when 

 trees are close behind you ; as trout, especially in summer, 

 are apt to harbour under them for the sake of the insects 

 that are blown off into the water beneath. 



There is often in summer a small black fly that keeps 

 playing on the top of the water, and every now and then 

 alighting for a moment, as if tempting its aquatic foe. 

 When the angler sees this fly thus sporting with the jaws 

 of death, let him always have a small black hackle on his 

 cast. There is also another summer-fly which comes down 

 upon the river in great numbers, they keep all together, 

 and hover about two or three inches above the surface. 

 The trout follow them in shoals, and in the Almond I have 

 seen half-a-dozen heads at a time darting up at the busy 

 throng above. As these flies do not alight on the water 

 even for an instant, the trout are all intent on seizing them 

 in the air ; and there being generally a dead calm where 

 these insects congregate, your cast, though thrown ever so 

 lightly, has more the effect of alarming than enticing the 

 fish. It is most tantalising ; but all that can be done is to 

 take a few light casts now and then, stopping whenever the 

 trout cease to rise. By this cautious proceeding, you may 

 take one or two of the most greedy. When I have caught 

 trout at such times, I have observed that they as often as 

 not took the fly on the cast least resembling the insect. 



