176 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



good evening rise upon it is a notable rarity. The next 

 night I went away before the evening rise. 



Now, like Captain Cuttle's, the point of these observa- 

 tions " lies in the application of 'em." They seem to me 

 to establish that moonlight or sunset glow equally with 

 daylight behind the angler reveal him to the fish, and that 

 the eyesight which enables the trout to make fine dis- 

 tinctions of colour and texture on and in the water by 

 night as by day enables him to see, and especially behind 

 him against a diffused light, any suspicious movements 

 on the bank. The light may also in such a position reveal 

 the gut as it passes over the fish or alights on the water. 

 It may conceal the ravages of anno Domini from the trout, 

 but from any other point of view it is of no advantage to 

 the angler to be "in the dusk with the light behind 

 him." 



side-strain: twice two and an explanation. 



On the far side of the water, about half-way up, there 

 is a deep muddy cross-drain unbridged, and a big willow- 

 bush on the upstream side to mark it. Just above it I 

 had made a note of a fairly persistent banker rising. 

 Others had found him aggravating, for he was within a 

 longish cast and would not endure a suspicion of a drag. 

 But to go round involved something of a walk, ending in 

 a cautious wade through a midge-ridden marsh. So I 

 was — at least, I believe I was — the first to go round to see 

 if he were more amenable to persuasion from below than 

 from across the river. Arrived on the spot, I could not 

 fail to realize that if I hooked my trout he had only to go 

 down-stream fast enough and far enough to smash me 

 infallibly. However, such a consideration never prevented 

 me from casting to a likely trout, and I settled down to 

 lay siege to him. This was the third week-end in July, and 



