270 SALMON AND TROUT. 



perilous cast four or five brace of pretty fish with the loss of but 

 a single fly. 



I am tempted here to give some instances from my own 

 experience of success attained under difficulties by keeping out 

 of sight in various ways. 



There was a reach of the upper Itchin where I had more 

 than once found the trout, though sizeable and fairly numerous, 

 yet provokingly wary and suspicious. The bank on one side 

 was absolutely bare and very low ; on the other — the southern 

 side — it was steep and moderately high, by no means favourable 

 to ' keeping dark.' But parallel to the course of the river, and at 

 nearly the same level, there ran an irrigation cut, some two feet 

 deep with rather a muddy bottom, about five yards distant 

 from the main stream. Into this one day I lowered myself — 

 having long legs and wading boots to correspond — and worked 

 the stream with a double-handed rod by long casts. I could 

 only just see the opposite edge of the water, but was consoled 

 for losing my view of the fish by knowing that the deprivation 

 was reciprocal. The dodge completely succeeded. Though I 

 felt the rises instead of seeing them I rarely failed to hook my 

 fish and very seldom lost him when hooked. The difficulty 

 lay in scrambling out of my ditch and rushing towards the 

 river before my prisoner could bring me to grief by dashing 

 under the near bank. In this way I did considerable execution 

 on several occasions. I ought in frankness to admit that with 

 more fishable water within easy reach many anglers would have 

 thought the success hardly worth the pains it cost. This was 

 certainly the opinion of a dear old friend and fellow-sports- 

 man who witnessed my first sortie from the trench and landed 

 my fish for me. He laughed till he cried at the figure I 

 cut in scurrying towards the bank, and could never after- 

 wards be induced to exhibit himself in the like undignified 

 position. 



I take my second instance from a lucky hit in loch fishing. 

 Some thirty years ago I was afloat with two friends on Loch 

 Treig, to the farther end of which we intended to fish our way. 



