116 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



from day to day, how much more do they 

 change from hour to hour of a long, hot 

 summer's day ! 



Sometimes, early in the day, you find a good 

 fish poised a foot or so below the surface, not 

 actually taking fly, because at the moment 

 there are none to take, but evidently on the 

 look out and paying close attention to his sur- 

 roundings. You manage, by skill or by sheer 

 good luck, to get a fly over him nicely, without 

 showing him too much of the gut. He takes, 

 confidently if you let him. Sometimes, if he 

 turns towards you, following the fly a few 

 inches down-stream, and you get a view of 

 the pink interior of his great mouth, the tempta- 

 tion to tauten the line too soon (and thereby 

 lose all hope of hooking him) is irresistible. 

 If you do that you may possibly prick him; 

 you are certain to send him off to his favourite 

 weed-bed or hole under the bank to ponder 

 for the remainder of the day over the deceptive- 

 ness of appearances. Sometimes you give him 

 time to shut his mouth, and, if you do, he takes 

 confidently. You want quick eyesight and the 

 trick of getting the light at the right angle, 

 to spot the non-rising fish which are likely so 

 to take. I have known great days of sport 

 and heavy baskets on hot, still days, in baking 



