334 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



gravel patch among the weeds, and any number of 

 these favourable feeding-places can be made by 

 occasionally shifting the piles. Of course, a hooked 

 fish will at times hang up the line by getting round 

 the pile, and thus break the gut or work out the hold 

 of the hook. Surely, however, it is worth while for a 

 true sportsman to run the risk of losing an odd fish 

 here and there when, by running this risk, he is 

 producing a great number of places where he can be 

 quite sure of finding a feeding fish whenever there is 

 a good hatch of fly. 



An incalculable amount of injury to all trout- 

 streams is wrought by pollu- 

 Pollution. tion of various kinds. No 



doubt under the Rivers 

 Pollution Act this is quite illegal, but the law must 

 be set in action by the County Council, Rural Council, 

 or other public body, and from their general constitu- 

 tion these bodies are not likely to go out of their way 

 to take action which will entail expense on the rate- 

 payers. 



Sewage is fatal to the ova, alevins, and young trout 

 generally, but many of the largest and apparently best- 

 conditioned trout are found in parts of streams where 

 the crude sewage of villages and small towns flows 

 directly into the river. Chemicals and so-called 

 disinfectants are frequently used to counteract the 

 foetid odour and generally disguise the presence of 

 fcecal matter. These disinfectants are generally 

 poisonous and kill the fish, and this notwithstand- 



