164 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



of guile if the first cast be delivered aright. One may 

 find a string of weed-rafts under one's own bank all thus 

 tenanted, especially if there be only a light wind and that 

 upstream. One must expect in such circumstances a 

 large proportion of failures, as if the fly be not taken 

 the first time it is apt to catch in the weed-pile and put the 

 trout down. The fly may, however, often be rescued, 

 not by drawing, but by a forward and downward switching 

 action, which picks up the fly upstream of the weed-pile, 

 and carries it into the air before it is drawn backwards for 

 the next cast. 



Sometimes just after weed-cutting there are curious 

 collectings of nymphs just under water in bays under the 

 bank. One sees not a fly on the surface, but the trout are 

 feeding hard all the time, and if you catch one and open 

 him his stomach will be found to contain nymphs in 

 quantity and no winged duns. In such conditions a tin- 

 selled nymph is more likely to attract attention than a 

 closer imitation of the nymph disclosed by the autopsy. 

 The closer imitation is likely to pass unnoticed in the crowd. 

 In these conditions the trout, though apparently well on 

 the feed, are extremely difficult. A small black Alder will, 

 however, sometimes do the trick after the May weed- 

 cutting. 



When evening draws on the trout venture out more freely, 

 and are to be found rising wherever the current will bring 

 them duns or spinners, and if one finds the right fly one is 

 more apt to get sport than at any other time of day, 

 though it is not so interesting, nor does it call for the 

 exercise of so much intelligence. One recent May evening 

 I rose and touched no less than eighteen trout under 

 these conditions. The Tup's Indispensable brought them 

 up, but was not quite right. There had been iron blue 

 during the day, and it may have been taken for the jenny 



