182 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



lie low when casting to a trout in position, but it is less 

 known among them that there are frequently advantages 

 in continuing the procedure after the trout is hooked and 

 until he is in the net. Let me illustrate the point by an 

 example. One bright July day I got down on my face 

 and wriggled serpentwise behind a screen of flags close to 

 the edge of a bright, gravelly shallow just below a wooden 

 carrier which conveyed another stream over that which I 

 was fishing. It is pretty safe to say that a strong fish 

 that got up under the carrier and into the deep, weeded 

 pool on the far side would take more than a little dis- 

 lodging. There were several nice fish out on the shallow, 

 and though no duns were yet showing in air or on water 

 the fish had clearly got going, for they were active in 

 motion though not breaking the surface. Peering between 

 the flags, I delivered a well-soaked Tup's Indispensable 

 with a horizontal flick above the best of the nearer fish, 

 and at the third or fourth offer he turned to it and was 

 fast. He seemed utterly puzzled. The rod was a light 

 one, and I did not hold him hard. He seemed only con- 

 scious of something unpleasant in his jaw. He shook his 

 head several times and moved about uneasily. Still I 

 kept low and out of sight. 



Then, failing to dislodge the barb, he began to get a 

 bit alarmed, and made a bee-line for a bit of rough, broken 

 camp-sheathing on the far side. In doing so he was 

 travelling at an angle of about 45 degrees with the stream, 

 so that at the critical moment I had little difficulty in 

 turning his head down-stream and away from the point of 

 danger. I did not take him far, however, but eased again. 

 He seemed unable to make out what was the matter with 

 him, and suffered himself to be led by easy stages and the 

 avoidance of any serious pressure into the vicinity of the 

 screen of flags, and into a gap in them where the landing- 



