208 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



often seen blue-winged olives taken in the daytime on 

 other rivers, British and foreign, but this is the first time 

 I ever saw a rise to it during the daytime on the Itchen. 

 So there is another established law broken. 



It was interesting to note that the fish which were taking 

 blue-winged olives could be clearly distinguished by the 

 size and shape of the swirl, by day just as by night. 



Saturday, July I, was a mixed kind of day. Fine 

 warm morning, but windy; afternoon, windy and cold, 

 with a fine drizzle about five o'clock. Then a burst of 

 warm sun, but no drop of the wind. I got on to the water 

 about seven, and again, despite the wind and despite the 

 fact that I was fishing an open reach, the fish began to rise 

 before eight. Again there was a plentiful supply of blue- 

 winged olive ; again the trout refused the Orange Quill until 

 the wind dropped about 9.45 p.m. (summer time), after 

 which they took it well; and again three and a half brace 

 succumbed to my little rod. 



AN ABNORMAL DAY. 



It is generally believed by chalk-stream anglers that a 

 rise of fly — preferably duns — is necessary to bring the 

 trout into a taking humour. But that, if a good working 

 hypothesis, is not invariably true; and the day following the 

 Coronation was, upon the Itchen, one of the exceptions 

 to the general rule. The wind, which was very light, blew 

 from the south-east, almost directly upstream, the sun 

 was bright, and the water glassy clear. A survey from 

 the railway bridge decided me to open my campaign 

 from the left bank. I was on the water soon after nine, 

 but ten struck, and eleven, without a sign of a dun in 

 the air or on the water, and -except for a ten or eleven inch 

 grayling not a rise broke the surface of the water. There 

 are limits to the patience of most anglers, and mine 



