LOOSE STRANDS 211 



The angler to whom it belonged, though a tyro, 

 handled it with much dexterity, but to me it was 

 utterly refractory ; my utmost efforts, aided by a fol- 

 lowing wind, failed to extend the line along the water, 

 and time and again the flies fell in a tangled heap just 

 without the boat we occupied. As I had no great 

 desire to overcome the difficulties presented by its 

 novelty, I did not persevere. Though, since its flexi- 

 bility compelled the angler to treat them tenderly, 

 relatively few fish escaped it, the delay attending their 

 subjection would, when the water seethed around us, 

 have been an ordeal too painfully trying to my 

 patience. I preferred my own more powerful rod 

 which, if, in my haste, it did cost me an occasional 

 trout, enabled me to fill the basket with much greater 

 expedition. To some anglers the mere playing of a 

 trout is not completely satisfying. 



When the trout, though rising freely to the natural 

 fly, regard with indifference the counterfeits presented 

 to them by the angler, there may be wisdom in giving 

 them an opportunity of considering others^ — larger or 

 smaller or of a different variety. In the absence of 

 rising fish, however, the angler will derive no advan- 

 tage from a change of lure. If that on his cast fails to 

 prove enticing, he has in his possession none likely to 



