136 PLY FISHING FOE TROUT. 



above the fish, and sure enough it does, not an 

 inch more or less. Nothing is too difficult : 

 drag has no terrors : head wind is a friend, not 

 an enemy, for does it not enable you to put a 

 curve on your gut, which brings your fly over 

 the fish first? You know exactly what to do, 

 and you do it. Wherever the fish may be 

 rising, your fly sails over him, hardly touching 

 the water, wings up, floating like a cork, follow- 

 ing every crinkle of the slow current. You gain 

 an extraordinary sense of power. Your rod and 

 line, right down to the fly, are part of yourself, 

 moved by your nerves and answering to your 

 brain. 



So much has been written about the scenery 

 and surroundings of fishing, that a late comer 

 in the field is reluctant to embark on it : so much 

 good there is to which he cannot hope to attain, 

 so much bad into which he may easily fall. But, 

 after all, scenery and surroundings can hardly 

 be omitted, for I doubt whether anyone thinks 

 of his great days without at the same time 

 recalling not only the weather, which must 

 always be a permanent part of the picture in a 

 fisherman's mind, but also the scenery. You 

 remember the look of the river, the green of the 

 reeds, the wind blowing over the thick bed of 

 sedges, the long line of rustling poplars. And 

 while most rivers are beautiful, especially to 

 him who follows the river and not the road, 

 there is a quite particular charm about those 

 of Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is hard to 



