88 Stalk your fish. Chapt. vi. 



it as you would a sambre. Stalk not any particular fish, but 

 stalk all the positions in which any fish are likely to be ; 

 in short stalk the pool as if it were a living thing cramfull 

 of eyes; which in fact it is, and if any one of them sees 

 you, and its owner darts frightened away, the probabili- 

 ties are that the rest also will take alarm from his move- 

 ment, and not a fish will you take in that pool. Do not 

 stalk for too close a shot either, you do not need to be 

 nearer than just to see your line fall, than just to see the 

 surface of the water you are fishing, so that you may keep 

 clear of rocks and snags, and fish it properly. But you 

 do not always require to do even that. If from your first 

 distant observations you know that the coast is all clear 

 in a certain direction, then fish it round the corner of a 

 rock without even seeing it. This is the best position" in 

 which you can possibly be. You do not need to see. You 

 will feel fast enough if a good Mahseer has got hold of 

 you, and then all you have to do is to return the compli- 

 ment by holding on to him. If your hand is practised, you 

 will know how your bait or your fly is deporting itself, 

 though round a corner and out of your sight. 



There now I have been very heavy and very long wind- 

 ed on this subject; but if I have converted you, I know you 

 will not quarrel with me in the end, whatever the non- 

 fisherman reader may do. A fuller basket will make a 

 friend of you. 



But the heading of my chapter is how, when and 

 where, and the next point is when to fish. When as to 

 season of the year, when as to time of day. The season 



