262 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
1899. The trout in the Bushman’s have certainly 
gone up-stream, towards the preat Berg; they have 
also gone down-stream, but not in the same num- 
bers. Bushman’s trout are grand fighters, which, 
in such wholesome, lively water, is not surprising. 
Apart from the actual fishing, the scenery is 
often majestic—Tabamhlope (an isolated peak), 
for instance. On the upward journey, by Cape 
cart, from Estcourt, the "Berg was tipped with 
snow, and it was curious later on to have warm 
sunny days and still to see that lining of snow on 
the Drakensberg. With snow in the water it 
was some little time before the river fined; in the 
process, though, occasional sport was to be had, 
generally in a rapid. As a matter of fact, with 
the river still swollen, the first visit yielded a nice 
trout. He had advertised himself by rising to a 
natural fly, was seen, and succumbed to a coach- 
man, a fly found effective for the evening rise, and, 
if a south wind blew, in the daytime, too. Each 
succeeding day saw the water clearer—the visit 
covered ‘the latter part of August and beginning 
of September—and sport steadily improved. 
One surprise was that in certain ideal-looking 
rapids, here and there, not a rise to the artificial 
fly could be won. Some of these rapids seemed 
to be regarded traditionally as blank places. 
Other rapids rarely failed to yield a trout. With 
such a frequency of rapids there was not only the 
sharp water to fish, but also plenty of those choice 
spots beloved of every wet-fly man, where the 
foaming rush tails off into the pool : 
