66 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
programme. They apparently enjoyed the pro- 
ceedings, and the pleasure was reciprocal. For the 
most part they kept well away from the banks, 
the vital matter. And in the cool of the evening 
it was a pleasant sight to see the lads of the 
village squiring the maidens along the meadows. 
Darby and Joan came too. It was a favourite 
spot for the youngsters who, on their way to or 
from a dip in the sea, were always attracted by 
the sight of a fisherman. With hushed voices 
they would come nearer and nearer, until a 
bolder one would inquire about the sport. One 
intrepid youth came up, at something like a 
gallop. Then he waltzed round me. I stopped 
fishing, interested in the lad. Looking up, he 
asked eagerly: ‘*’An yer catched any ?” 
For sea-trout flies I used the local patterns 
left over from Dumfriesshire, and they answered. 
One angler, however, succeeded with a small 
trout fly. For gut I first tried 4X well soaked, 
but after the furious fight a sea-trout gave on it 
I was glad to revert to 3X, and did well with it, 
though nothing of any great size came my way. 
A London friend of mine sticks stubbornly to 
4X gut in all winds and weathers for trout and 
sea-trout. He takes his risks, and often takes 
the trout, and the sea-trout too. But it is fine 
gear. With 3X one feels that there is a sporting 
chance should something beyond the common be 
hooked, Sea-trout fight very hard, and where 
they run big, of course, they want something 
more substantial than drawn gut. 
