98 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



two brace of grayling to nine and a half brace, and thought 

 I had done good service to the water in doing so. All this 

 time I had not seen another trout put up. Returning 

 to the side-stream I found nothing moving, a fact which 

 did not surprise me at the time of day at that time of 

 the year; but presently I spied a hovering fish of good 

 size over a pale gravel patch. I despatched my dark 

 Green well's Glory to him, and at the fourth offer he took 

 it gaily. He proved to be the duplicate of my first trout 

 of the day, both in length and condition. Finding no other 

 fish showing, and feeling disinclined to return to my inn, 

 I strolled back to the main, and between 5.30 and 6.15 I 

 killed another brace of grayling. The startling thing, 

 however, was that the trout were beginning to line up 

 along each bank, as if preparing for an evening rise. I 

 even brought up (and missed) two. I did not, however, 

 wait for the evening rise to materialize, showing thus most 

 commendable self-restraint. 



The following day opened rather milder than its pre- 

 decessor, with the wind from the north veering to the north- 

 west. I was by the water-side punctually at a quarter to 

 eleven, but in spite of the milder weather I saw no fly 

 and no movement of a fish till 11.30. Soon after that hour 

 chimed I saw, about a hundred yards up, a trout of two 

 pounds if he was an ounce show half out of water as he 

 swirled half across the stream to take a nymph. I crawled 

 up into position, but he never showed again, and after 

 waiting a quarter of an hour and making a couple of chancy 

 casts I moved on. Two more fish broke the water, but 

 I failed in much the same way to place them. I now 

 came to a little spinney, just above which there is a sure 

 find for a good fish. There is a little nook in the bank at 

 the far side which is seldom untenanted when any rise is 

 toward. To-day was no exception, for hardly had my wet 



