THE RISE 55 



ever it may be, brought down by the stream. If, how- 

 ever, the food supply brought down be scanty the fish 

 may be seen lying in holes and behind or in front of rocks 

 and weed patches, and either inert or picking food off the 

 weeds, or lifting for a moment into the current to annex 

 something, and dropping back again to a position of 

 shelter which deflects the main weight of the current from 

 them. 



Looking over a stone bridge one will often see a good 

 trout just above a pier or pillar which divides the current, 

 where he is in a sort of cushion of slow water which makes 

 the least demand on his energies, but leaves him free to 

 move rapidly into the stream to either side to inter- 

 cept subaqueous food. In such a position he but rarely 

 comes up to the surface, whether for a natural or an 

 artificial fly. 



Another position of great advantage for a trout is the 

 tail of a pool. There he can lie low in comparatively 

 shallow water with the weight of the current passing over 

 him, and the whole of the food coming down from the pool 

 concentrated into the neck, as it were, of the bottle, so 

 that with a minimum of exertion he can take toll. 



Similar positions of vantage are to be found in rough 

 streams where the current pours between two rocks, and 

 the trout can swing out from shelter into the current to 

 snatch his fly and be back again. 



In all these instances the trout will take far more food 

 below than at the surface. Let us suppose, however, that 

 lying deep he sees a fly coming down the stream on the 

 surface. He is lying horizontally in the water. He shifts 

 the plane of his fins, the current sends him upward, and 

 thereupon his body, instead of meeting the current end-on 

 as hitherto, receives some of the force of the current on 

 its underside, and, exposing thus a larger surface to the 



