284 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
But not many of us, I’m thinking, need order 
a glass case in advance for pike and trout of 
these dimensions, to be caught under such 
circumstances ! 
One of the avenues through. which memory 
works is the mind’s eye, and among sportsmen 
to whom are given rich opportunities to enjoy 
visual memory the angler holds high place. The 
quietness of the scenes in which the contemplative 
man’s recreation is followed invites him to take 
in his surroundings, and willingly does he accept 
the invitation. However concentrated his atten- 
tion on a rising fish, however keen he be on 
dropping the fly just on the desired spot, there 
come moments when he looks around him, satisfied 
that everything is very good. Then it is that the 
impression is made, then it is that Nature in her 
own way causes a mental snapshot to be taken ; 
and months, it may be years, afterwards, that 
particular scene suddenly leaps to life again, 
through the mind’s eye—visual memory. No 
doubt the mental photograph is best taken when 
the angler is at his happiest. For instance, he 
may have had to work hard for a 2-lb. trout, 
have had to change his fly three times before 
getting on terms with his fish; and what with 
weeds, and what with occasional leaps out of the 
water, there may have been crises during which 
he feared the worst; but the angler’s skill prevails: 
and then, in the lush meadow grass, the river 
gliding, here and there an ancient tree towering 
