320 SALMON AND TROUT. 



daintiness of my favourite sport, I could easily — especially in a 

 bright low water — increase my take of fish by ' pointing ' my 

 fly hook. An ant's egg serves the purpose well, being both 

 cleaner and lighter than a gentle. 



I remember early on a July morning mentioning this to a 



friend who was driving me over to Leintwardine. W had 



little hope of sport ; the river was low, the fish shy ; the gray- 

 ling especially, he told me, were sulking in shoals at the bottom 

 of the deep pools. ' Were it not for your club rules,' said I, 

 ' which you tell me are so very strict, you might pick out a few 

 of those fellows by pointing your fly hook with an ant's egg.' 

 He replied that it was not to be heard of, yet methought was 

 rather curious as to the forbidden process. 



We parted shortly after at the water-side, and before we met 

 again in the afternoon I had a grand basket of trout. The 

 river was so low that every stake showed ; the fish came strong 

 on the feed, and behind every stake I could see the suck of a 

 goodly snout, so that a long cast up stream with my two-handed 



rod was absolutely murderous. W had done very little with 



the trout, not having fished so ' fine ' or so ' far off,' and having 

 been unlucky in his choice of water. But there were two or 

 three really handsome grayling in his basket, agamst which I 

 had nothing to show. I had killed the only one of decent size 

 which I had seen rise during the day, and even he was no great 

 things. Could it really have been viea maxima culpa that I had 



taken no fish like those before me? W answered my 



questions as to the fly he had used with an admirable steadi- 

 ness of countenance ; hut when ' still I gazed, and still my 

 wonder grew,' he could stand it no longer, and burst into that 

 cheery ringing laugh which his many friends round the Clee 

 will recall so well and so regretfully. It was impossible not to 

 join chorus as he just articulated, ' Ants' eggs.' 



The gentle, used by itself on a very small hook and thrown 

 like the fly, is very killing, especially after Christmas, when 

 breeding time draws near, and the grayling grow sluggish and 

 dainty. The worm will kill through autumn and winter, and is 



