But at the mouth of each of those drains, if we can get
our flies in, and keep ourselves unseen, we will have one cast at
least. For at each of them, in some sharp-rippling spot, lies a
great trout or two, waiting for beetle, caterpillar, and whatsoever
else may be washed from among the long grass above. Thence, and from
brimming feeders, which slip along, weed-choked, under white hawthorn
hedges, and beneath the great roots of oak and elm, shall we pick out
full many a goodly trout. There, in yon stop-hole underneath that
tree, not ten feet broad or twenty long, where just enough water
trickles through the hatches to make a ripple, are a brace of noble
fish, no doubt; and one of them you may be sure of, if you will go
the proper way to work, and fish scientifically with the brace of
flies I have put on for you--a governor and a black alder. In the
first place, you must throw up into the little pool, not down. If
you throw down, they will see you in an instant; and besides, you
will never get your fly close under the shade of the brickwork, where
alone you have a chance.
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