76 By Stream and Sea. 



portion of its upper surface which is most depressed, and as 

 long as rain falls upon the more elevated portion, so long 

 will the water continue to ooze from the earth by day and 

 by night, by summer and by winter, and to run its course as 

 the River Wandle, and it may thus exclaim in the words of 

 the poet : — 



"Men may come, and men may go, but I go on for ever." 



The inherent clearness of the river is doubtless one 

 reason why the Wandle trout have a reputation among 

 anglers for most unchristianlike obstinacy and immoral 

 shrewdness. Another cause is the exceeding smallness of 

 the flies which haunt the river. After dark you may venture 

 upon moths and hackles of fair dimensions, but so long as 

 daylight glints on the stream, midge-sized flies, and those 

 only, must be used. To imitate these tiny insects is not so 

 difficult as to employ the artificial imitation with effect after 

 the fly-maker has constructed a perfect specimen. There is, 

 I believe, a special kind of fly manufactured for the Wandle, 

 and a neater article could not be conceived. The most 

 commonly used varieties are a red spinner, a quill gnat with 

 red hackle, a governor, a coachman, and a blue floating fly, 

 which you may term either an upright or a dun ; but which- 

 ever description is used it must be considerably smaller than 

 a young housefly. 



Having induced your trout to rise at one of these specks, 

 you are confronted with the problem how to land a lusty 

 fellow of over a pound in weight with tackle thinner than 

 single hair and a hook which, under the most favourable 

 circumstances, cannot be imbedded much more than the 

 sixteenth of an inch in his mouth. The Wandle trout are 

 fond of merrily leaping out of the water when they feel the 

 barb, and if the first flight does not release them from their 



