194 



A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



a difference patent to the eye 

 of the trout if to man's in- 

 ferior organ imperceptible as 

 that between two Chinamen. 

 When the trout are rising 

 short they refuse every fly 

 the angler offers them. On 

 the occasion referred to, I 

 changed my flies repeatedly 



without the least effect ; but it may be, though I doubt 

 it, that, varied as these were, there were among them 

 none which did not prove offensive to the nice dis- 

 crimination of the fish. Even a change to the very 

 smallest flies in my possession failed to induce a change 

 in the situation. 



The angler sometimes fancies that he can trace the 

 short rise to the superior education of the trout. It is 

 certain that on water rarely fished the artificial fly 

 arouses no suspicion ; I have, on a loch on which the 

 angle was cast for the first time, killed ninety per cent, 

 of the fish that rose to me. On the other hand, how- 

 ever, I have been equally successful on water, every 

 trout in which must have had experience of the dangers 

 lurking in the feathered lure. 



We are inclined to blame ourselves when we fail 



