138 GOLDEN DAYS 



merits, and so in lessening degree has 

 number three and four and five and six. 

 But the first cast is momentous — worth 

 all the others put together. 



On that particular day the little claret- 

 bodied fly, swimming a foot below the 

 surface, was responsible for two additional 

 brace of fish. 



July 5th. — Two miles from the village 

 car broke down. From the bridge watched 

 an old peasant fishing with a *' grillon.'' 

 He got into a ve?'y good fish, which was 

 eventually captured by the aid of ray 

 landing-net. 



The Bretons are expert in the art of 

 fishing with live grasshoppers, which are 

 placed previously in a grease-lined box 

 to make them more perfect " floaters." 

 These are not impaled, but whipped to 

 the hook by a piece of fine thread, and 

 fished up-stream with a dexterous under- 

 hand cast. A friend of mine, an old 

 Breton poacher, has assured me that 

 a well-greased " grillon " is the only sure 

 bait with which to take the largest trout ; 

 once you locate his haunt, you wait for 

 him at dawn. Before the mists have left 



