422 TRIALS OF TEMPER 



who is not at times ? — remember that if he has got 

 himself into a mess, it is nearly always through his 

 own ignorance, or want of care, and that the sooner 

 he sets to work to put matters straight, the sooner he 

 will be ready to start again under fresh auspices. 



It is well for a fisherman to remember that sight is 

 the sense which fish, salmon and trout especially, 

 possess in the most marked degree. In the English 

 brooks the latter, owing to the clearness of the water, 

 are most difficult to approach. Salmon and sea-trout 

 doubtless afford very fine sport, but it demands in- 

 finitely greater skill and science to put a fly properly 

 in the exact spot needful to lure a wily brown trout ; 

 and before the cast can be made it is often necessary 

 to crawl on all fours in order to get near enough to 

 make it, and where there is no bush or other cover 

 behind which to conceal one's self, it is even then very 

 probable that, owing to refraction, the fish will see 

 one. 



It is well, for this kind of work, to have one's 

 knickerbockers covered with leather at the knees, in 

 order that where it is necessary to crawl or kneel the 

 discomfort of wet knees may be avoided, and it also 

 serves as a protection against rough stones, etc. 



That the vision of trout is marvellously acute must 

 be very obvious to anyone who has noticed them 

 rising at insects which are hardly visible to our eyes, 

 and this they will do even though the daylight may 

 long since have faded, and at intervals during many a 

 night. If this is the case, as it most undoubtedly is, it 

 is evident that the shadow of a man, and also of his 

 rod, must be at times very readily apparent to fish in 

 the daytime. Refraction, too, plays strange freaks at 



