102 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



cumstances. He should elect to fish up stream he will, as, 

 •in orre of the most delightful of all books on angling, 

 '; Sir Edward Gray assures him, have the satisfaction of 

 feeling that he has chosen the more difficult part — and 

 that is, possibly, the only satisfaction he will have. 

 There is no particular virtue in making a martyr of 

 one's self by toiling arduously along a rough and stony 

 path when close by and leading to the same goal there 

 runs another, smooth and pleasant to the feet. 



Since it prevents the trout from detecting the pre- 

 sence of the angler, and enables him to approach them 

 as closely as he desires, the opacity of the stream re- 

 moves the most important of the reasons in favour of 

 fishing up. Curiously enough, too, Stewart's final 

 objection to fishing down seems to lose its validity when 

 the water is discoloured and is running high. Why, is 

 not apparent. If the objection has any weight at all, 

 it is surely peculiarly weighty in the very circumstances 

 in which we are advised that we may safely disregard 

 it. If a fly successfully opposing a low, slow-gliding 

 stream is to the trout an object of alarm, how terrifying 

 should it prove when he sees it cleaving its way against 

 a stream increased in volume and flowing with aug- 

 mented velocity and force. 



After dark, too, the angler may, without a qualm, 



