NOTES FKOM A DIARY 131 



himself undo the tangle and work his 

 own way out to open water. Luck ? Of 

 course. But then, experiment, subject to 

 a certain amount of luck, is the chief 

 charm in fishing, and it is a better thing 

 to run risks and take unequal chances 

 than to rise no fish at all. Indeed, the 

 man who is over-cautious with his fly and 

 unwilling to venture a losing hazard can 

 never hope to become efficient or to learn 

 enough about his craft. For all of us 

 there must be moments when we reach 

 the heights of tragedy. Such a one 

 comes when we realise that the fish are 

 only taking one particular pattern, when a 

 dozen such flies have found refuge in the 

 purlieus of twelve " impossible places," 

 and we open our case to find the thirteenth 

 sitting alone in cork-lined solitude. This 

 is a time for iron nerves. No use to fish 

 the open water. Our only hope lies in 

 that "impossible place," and with this 

 fly goes everything. Happy the man 

 who can cast his last and thirteenth fly 

 with the knowledge that within his pocket 

 is a packet containing a thumb-vice, some 

 fine silk-thread, a few small hooks and 



