AN EVENING RISE 117 



sunshine which makes the gut glitter, as seen 

 from your point of view, and therefore, be it 

 noted, not from the point of view of the trout, 

 who sees things from a different angle and 

 against a different background. During such a 

 day, if you can face the hard work in a hot 

 sun and wander about constantly, keeping your- 

 self out of sight and not shaking the bank, 

 or making a wave in the water, should you be 

 wading, it always seems to me that the con- 

 fidence and unwariness of trout are at times 

 amazing. 



The same fish have changed in their character 

 completely when they come up between six 

 and eight in the evening to make surface rises. 

 They seem to be confident and unsophisticated. 

 Whatever natural food they may be taking 

 they do not seem to be investigating closely, 

 but just to be sucking it in gently, making a 

 little ring on the current. Try them with the 

 artificial. The least glimpse of the gut, the 

 smallest error in the cock of the fly, and they 

 are scared at once. They bolt for shelter, 

 sometimes making it their business to dash 

 about and alarm their neighbours within a 

 range of many yards. Whether I thereby 

 eliminate the faulty cock of the wings of the 

 fly, or for some other reason, I generally find 



