152 NOTES ON MSH AND FISHING. 



hour — presto ! all is quiet, and not a fish is moving ! Nor 

 did the trout move again that day, though I patiently 

 hung about the river till nightfall, hoping for another such 

 half-hour as I had between 2 and 8 p.m. On making special 

 inquiry afterwards of other fishermen on the river the same 

 day, I ascertained that the same phenomenon presented it- 

 self to all of them, and as nearly as possible at the time men- 

 tioned, and that it extended along the river for at least six 

 miles above and six miles below Tiverton. How is such a 

 fact to be accounted for ? What led to this sudden impulse, 

 which affected the whole community of trout in a certain 

 way along twelve miles of river for only a few minutes, 

 so to speak, out of the whole day ? Does the theory of 

 electric currents passing through the earth or air explain 

 it in any way ? Or did a certain fly, owing to certain 

 terrestrial and atmospheric conditions, suddenly present 

 itself in large numbers and stimulate the quiescent appetite 

 of the fish ? I certainly noticed no such appearance of 

 flies. Or was it a mere freak suggested by some little 

 coterie of fish (nescio qua dulcidine capta) who passed the 

 word on (as Masons do) and telegraphed up and down 

 the stream by a kind of exercise of electro-biological 

 power — " Let's have half-an-hour's rise at anything " ? 

 Verily "no fellah can understand " these seemingly capri- 

 cious risings of trout ; and perhaps the perplexed angler, if 

 he does not wish to "vex his righteous soul' - ' had better 

 fall back on the philosophic oxymoron of Earl Beacons- 

 field to the effect that " only the unexpected is likely to 

 happen." 



One might have thought that the art of fly-fishing in 

 its practical aspect would have hardly tempted the poets, 

 though there is scope enough to hymn its delights to 



