Chapt. vii. Cast the fly across and up stream. 113 



throwing up stream, and pulling down towards them, or 

 rather just keeping the line taught while the stream 

 brings their fly down to them. The most convenient plan 

 is to fish a river upwards, that is to commence fishing 

 at the lowest part of the river you mean to fish over, 

 and to walk upwards as you fish. This saves retracing 

 steps, as you stalk to the foot of each pool or run you 

 fish. The simplest way to fish any particular bit of water 

 with a fly is to approach crouching, and kneeling on one 

 knee so far off from the bank that you can only just see 

 and command a little bit of the water, throw your fly 

 straight across, keep your line just taught and no more, 

 and let the stream carry it down and round towards you 

 as quietly as it will, without any pulling from you, and 

 you thus fish first the water where you are most likely 

 to be seen ; repeat the process a yard or two higher each 

 time, carefully edging nearer and nearer the while, till 

 you find yourself throwing straight up the stream close 

 under your own bank. These are of course only general 

 instructions for thoroughly fishing over water, and cannot 

 be held applicable in all cases; for differently exposed, 

 differently running, waters require to be fished differently, 

 and not a little depends on the generalship displayed 

 in properly availing yourself of every advantage of ground 

 in approaching the enemy's position. 



Another argument against fly-fishing from above is, 

 that if you throw your fly downwards, and pull it to- 

 wards you, you pull it in the most unnatural way, for 

 no natural fly ever floated up stream. I know that fish 



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