ix FESTIVAL OF GREEN DRAKE 161 



and eating their fill (I always think the fly 

 is wasted on them, for it does not make 

 them grow very fat and heavy like trout) ; 

 and the water itself is simply boiling with 

 fish of all shapes and sizes ; and there is so 

 much fly that close under the bank the 

 surface of the water is covered with spent 

 gnats, which float down unregarded and 

 uneaten. 



And now our difficulty is to persuade a 

 fish to rise at the artificial fly when the real 

 insect is at each cast to be seen within a few 

 inches of it. However, we get one or two 

 good dace, and return a brace of chub within 

 a few yards of each other, though we can- 

 not persuade a trout to rise. We will now 

 work up-stream again with the Black Fence 

 as our objective, for there, if anywhere, we 

 shall meet with that monster of our desires. 

 All the way along the meadow between us 

 and it heavy fish are rising chub for the 

 most part, with a trout or two under the 

 opposite bank. But at our fly they will not 

 look, though we cast it never so cunningly. 

 Why should they, when the deception must 

 be so patent ? The real insect floats down 

 with its wings close together like one wing 



M 



