136 ANGLING SKETCHES 



like a rake-hook in disguise. He did not look- 

 cis if any fish could fancy him. I, therefore, sent 

 a messenger across the river to beg, buy, or 

 borrow a fly at 'The Nest' But this pretty 

 cottage is no longer the home of the famous 

 angling club, which has gone a mile or two up the 

 water and builded for itself a new dwelling. My 

 messenger came back with one small fatigued- 

 looking fly, a Popham, I think, which had been 

 lent by some one at a farm-house. The water 

 was so heavy that the small fly seemed useless ; 

 however, we fastened it on as a dropper, using the 

 sniggler as the trail fly ; so exhausted were our 

 resources, that I had to cut a piece of gut off a 

 minnow tackle 'and attach the small fly to that. 

 The tiny gut loop of the fly was dreadfully frayed, 

 and with a heavy heart I began fishing again. 

 My friend on the opposite side called out that big 

 fish were rising in the bend of the stream, so 

 thither I went, stumbling over rocks, and casting 

 with much difficulty, as the high overgrown banks 

 permit no backward sweep of the line. You are 

 obliged to cast by a kind of forward thrust of the 



