330 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



significant, and in others, although the fish are pre- 

 sent, they do not seem to rise or take well. In the 

 water I have rented for some years there is a stretch 

 which is so emblematic of this, and which has been so 

 greatly improved by the work carried out there, that I 

 am tempted to describe it in some detail. 



Below the footbridge shown in Plate X the stream 

 runs at a great pace for about 150 yards, and when 

 I first fished the water we seldom saw a trout 

 rising in it. At first the theory was promulgated that 

 this particular stretch for some reason did not contain 

 a large head of trout, but one day, when the water 

 was abnormally low, I made a very careful and pro- 

 longed inspection of it. It was somewhat surprising 

 to see a very large number of trout, some of quite 

 heavy weight, lying in this part. After some con- 

 sideration and consultation the keeper, Mr. E. Valen- 

 tine Corrie and I arrived at the conclusion that if 

 somewhere near the lower end a rough weir were 

 constructed, it would steady the flow of water from the 

 footbridge to the weir, and probably the trout would 

 rise in this comparatively steady length. The water 

 flowing over the weir would certainly make a deepish 

 hole below into which the turbulent stream would 

 empty itself, and thus make a weir pool which 

 might or might not be a favourable place for the 

 dry-fly. 



A place where the water was shallow having been 

 selected, the next point to consider was the least ex- 

 pensive method of building up an efficient weir. It is 



