TROUT FISHING IN MOUNTAIN STREAMS. 1 23 



midges, and grass spiders are the natural food of Trout in upland 

 streams. Their tastes are not educated up to the deUcate " duns " 

 or mayflies that delight the giants of the flat chalk stream. 



And now for the secret of successful beck fishing : choose the 

 best, and only the best, spots. Wherever the natural bed is 

 deepened by displaced boulders or worn-out banks, there the 

 largest fish will be lying. Avoid the shallow places — in a river 

 the big fish are often in the shallows, in a smaller water they 

 retreat to hiding-places behind stones or under banks. There 

 cast, and cast lightly (no easy task !), and never fish the same 

 place twice. The more fresh ground you cover, the more fish 

 you will come across. If you fish a big pool in a river — unless, 

 indeed, it be very low — a comparatively small number of its 

 occupants will see you. But nothing escapes the watchful eye of 

 the Trout in a brook or beck. They have a more limited horizon. 



It is the habit of most local experts in the North to fish with an 

 exceedingly long rod. It keeps the angler out of sight, but its 

 length is not an unmixed advantage. To begin with — and this is 

 probably the most weighty objection — a long rod spoils sport. 

 To restore the balance of equality you require long fish ; and 

 they are not to be found in mountain streams. Next, a short rod 

 is much pleasanter to fish with, and with it one probably makes a 

 more accurate cast. A short rod then is best, of about ten feet 

 in length, and a light casting fine, some five or six feet long, with a 

 couple of flies. It is certainly better to fish up-stream and not 

 down — in the day-time at any rate. Fish which are feeding lie, 

 naturally, with their heads up-stream on the watch for what comes 

 down to them. 



And now suppose we have fished up to a point where the beck 



