Instructions page 3

He will naturally enough desire to go further upstream, to try his fortunes elsewhere, possibly in some slightly more difficult flat or pool. His ambition is excusable, his enthusiasm exactly as we expected, and we do not wish to restrain him in any way; but we must inform him that one of the greatest mistakes a dry-fly fisher can make is to cover a lot of ground in the course of a day's fishing. Not only is that un necessary, but it may even be the means of converting what might have proved an excellent day into a mediocre one.

A hatch of flies, it should be remembered, is almost invariably a local event; that is to say, it does not occur in every pool and shallow of the river at the same moment, a fact almost too obvious to mention. The angler, in his anxiety to make the most of his time, may hurry from pool to pool hoping always that the next will show him a fine; rise in progress and witness his success; but instead he may miss the hatch everywhere by arriving at each pool after the flies have passed off or leaving just before they appear.

There is nothing to be gained by this procedure on a river, though hi a small water in which the trout arc always, more or less, on the look-out for food it may sometimes pay. We call attention to it because this hurrying over the pools not only tends to spoil the sport of the individual offender, but also that of others who may be on the liver. A comparatively short stretch is capable of giving all the sport required, provided that it is carefully fished and duly rested.

The angler may consider it rather monotonous to go over the same pool or series of pools again and again, and so it may be; but it is far less dreary than wading miles of a river and receiving only a slight return or none for hours of casting. The main point is that he must find himself at a really good part when the rise begins and, having made the most of his opportunities, he may then satisfy his desire for change of scene by wandering up stream; but we feel rather confident that he will be only with difficulty persuaded to leave the place that has already treated him so kindly.

When trout are rising well, progress up a pool should be very slow indeed, and it will be found that, after the entering stream is reached the trout at the tail are ready for another offensive. In his cussing this question, we admit that we arc thinking principally of Clyde and Tweed, the trout in which are so much fished for and are so accustomed to the sight of man that they resume feeding very soon after interruption; but in smaller waters and in rivers less frequented we know that a longer stretch is required for a day's fishing. Still there is nowhere any necessity for much walking, and the angler will find that his sport depends on the thoroughness and care with which he fishes a few pools, rather than on the amount of walking exercise he under takes.