90 MINOR TACTICS OF THE CHALK STREAM 



trial of the patience of some, yet for others they 

 are a means of providing an occasional trout, and 

 generally a good one, on days when disappoint- 

 ment is king. They are placed, in other words, 

 for the trout to stand on the upstream side and 

 the angler on the downstream side, the latter 

 substantially concealed from the former. It is 

 equally true that the former is also concealed 

 from the latter ; but this is of little consequence 

 if, as is commonly the case, the screen is not dense 

 enough to hide the ring from the angler when the 

 trout takes his fly. 



But it may be said, " What is the use of the con- 

 cealment if the inevitable result of casting over the 

 tussock is to get hung up in it ?" Well, it is not 

 the inevitable result. There are two wa3^s of 

 tackling a tussock. One implies the use of a short 

 rod, or at least a rod capable of an accurate short 

 cast. It will not do to dib. At the first glimpse 

 of the rod-top over the tussock off goes your trout. 

 No ; the fly must be cast, and cast so near the 

 tussock that it drifts down to the fish just above 

 the tussock before it is necessary to pick it up for 

 the next cast with a forward flick. The other 

 method is to cast over the river side of the droop- 

 ing sedges of the tussock from such a distance that 

 only the gut and a foot or two of the casting line 

 go^over the tussock, and to let the belly of the line 

 dip in the water between you and the tussock. 

 Then, if the fly be not taken, the angler shall see 



