AUGUST 209 



opportunity are not depreciated by know- 

 ledge that in trying to catch a few of 

 the fish we are without that adaptation 

 of means to end which renders more or 

 less scientific our relations with the 

 brown trout. The very uncertainties of 

 the endeavour lend to it a peculiar zest. 

 The probabilities are against you ; but 

 there is always a chance that you may 

 stumble into a success beyond that of 

 the wildest hope. If you have the right 

 fly at work on the right pool, you may 

 take in a day a weight of fish equal to 

 that of all the brown trout caught in 

 many weeks. 



To some readers it will seem strange 

 that I have been writing about the 

 migratory salmonkind as if the season 

 for those fish were only approaching. 

 Are they not, it will be asked, being 

 caught already ? Yes : in certain streams 

 they are; and on that account there is 

 occasion to consider an interesting state 

 of affairs. 



Whilst we have been thinking of the 



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