MAINLY TACTICAL 89 



every likely spot under the bank, with never more 

 than three feet — or four feet at the outside — of gut 

 on the water (often not more than eighteen inches or 

 a foot). Of course, a rod which will cast a short 

 line accurately is indispensable. The fly lights like 

 thistledown. On such days, if you work ortho- 

 doxly up your right bank, casting a longish hne 

 upstream, and covering the water with it, you 

 shall not hook one fish for three which you shall 

 take with the cross-country cast. Then, to re- 

 cover it, you must either draw it slowly over the 

 edge where the danger lies, or you must flick the 

 line up so as to belly vertically away from you, 

 and pick the gut and fly cleanly off the water or 

 the herbage. And if occasionally one is hung up, 

 what does it matter ? If it be of service, the 

 angler is not denied such rehef as the golfer freely 

 avails himself of when the deadly bunker has him 

 for its own. 



WHAT TUSSOCKS ARE FOR. 



This is not a riddle. It is a speculation which 

 many anglers have probably indulged in. Some 

 have considered them a providential arrangement 

 for the protection of the business of the dealer 

 in flies and tackle, and verily they have their 

 reasons. At one time I was of that fold, but of 

 late years I have had glimpses of the other side 

 of the shield, and I am beginning to realize that 

 while tussocks may be put along river-sides as a 



12 



