NOTES FROM A DIARY 129 



seize the fly as it approaches the near 

 bank. They will fasten strongly, some- 

 times with a boiling plunge, but usually 

 well under water. Very few will be found 

 to *' come short," and once hooked they 

 are yours, given a taut line and good 

 management. 



There are, of course, red-letter days, 

 when flies hatch out and trout sip them 

 daintily from off the surface ; but these 

 are very few and far between. During 

 these early months the streams are bank- 

 high, the water not too clear, and the fish 

 lying low and feeding on submerged 

 insects. Apart from the wonder of the 

 countryside, there is not much in this 

 fishing which is out of the ordinary or 

 much that the average angler does not 

 know, and has not himself experienced on 

 other waters. 



We shall perhaps do better by pushing 

 on to further pages, selecting dates when 

 the streams were clear and weedy, when 

 the trout were less credulous and so more 

 difficult to catch. 



May 5th. — An extraordinaiily good day 

 for this water t and lots of luck. . . . 



9 



