56 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



fishing lies. Knowledge of the water, of course, 

 goes a long way, but the gillie supplies that : 

 he knows what the bottom of the river is like ; 

 you can only see the surface, which may help 

 you with trout, but very little with salmon. 

 I suppose that there is something in the selection 

 of the fly ; but there, again, the gillie comes 

 in. I sometimes wonder whether he pays 

 enough attention to the direction from which 

 the light strikes the pool. I was tremendously 

 impressed by a lecture I once heard delivered 

 at the Camera Club, where underwater photo- 

 graphs of a salmon-fly swinging round in the 

 current were displayed, showing the difference 

 in its appearance when the source of light was 

 before or behind it. In one case the fly 

 " flashed " and sparkled, in the other case it 

 showed dark, as a silhouette, whatever its 

 colour might be. Then, of course, we must 

 give points for skill in casting and in working 

 (or not working) the fly, to give it the right 

 appearance. I suppose that a long, straight 

 line is the great thing in early spring fishing 

 in heavy water, so that the pull of the line on 

 the fly shall be applied as soon as possible after 

 it is in the water. Thereby, by the help of 

 the stream, more water is covered effectively. 

 This, as I find from an old diary, is how, 



