104 MINOR TACTICS OF THE CHALK STREAM 



dropped the fly behind him just before he turned. 

 He was the satisfactory side of four pounds, and I 

 got his successor next day out of the same place 

 — three pounds six ounces. A beautiful brace ! 

 Luck ! Of course it was luck, but I shouldn't 

 have had it if I hadn't taken risks. 



There was a Kennet trout under a willow in 

 May-fly time. A piled snag in the steam just 

 below the droop of the willow made it impossible 

 to get a fly over him by casting above the willow 

 and floating down. There was just one possible 

 way — to make a slanting downward cut which 

 might bring the fly down between branches 

 in a sort of dip in the tree, and drop it on the 

 fish's nose. I left two flies in the tree, but I 

 did the trick and got the fish. He was only two 

 pounds six ounces, but I thought he was bigger. 

 Still 



Then there was a fish which lay just above a 

 hatch-hole through which water ran into the 

 meadows. The inevitable thing for him to do 

 when hooked was to bolt down the hatch-hole. 

 But somehow he didn't, and I got him. There 

 was a pound-and-a-half trout taking tiny pale 

 duns on the edge of a small pile of weeds collected 

 against a broken bough of a tree, into which he 

 was sure to bolt when hooked. But somehow 

 he didn't, and he was steered to the landing-net 

 with a No. ooo dun on gossamer gut attached to 

 his nose. Then there was that trout which I got 



