OUT AFTER TROUT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 12

OUT AFTER TROUT.

A DAY WITH A FISHERMAN. (By One of the Uninitiated.) A hot sun blazed on the long, sun-burned grass of the sloping hillside which ran down to the narrow stream,'at the sido of which sat a lone fisherman, drawing on a pair ot brogues and; tucKing"up..Jm; trousers: preparatory to wading the,, stream,.jn search of trout. Ho took up'h long,'slender rod, with which ho made passes over.tho water at intervals of a few seconds. Up tho stream wont the angler whipping the, waters as ho went, tho silk-liko thread of lino beine cast with perfect precision into likely-lookt ing 'spots. Time and again the angler cast, until tho repetition becamo monotonous, but still ho persisted. Some stretches of water wcro quickly passed over, whilst over otheri tho angler lingered, alert, as though con. vmced that a rise must come. At length the lookod-for bite camo; a back, ward movement down stream was followed by a break m tho water, and then a silven object flapped lightly over the stony bed o'l tho stream. The angler, pondering ■ deeply, picked; tho fish up and commenced work again with a serious countenance, as though ho had caught a fovor instead of a fish. Another fish was, landed a fov minutes later, and then another, but still the stem gaze of tho angler did not relax. Ho was no doubt having his pleasure, but ho was taking it seriously. Two moro fish 'camo flapping ashore,'and then, For tho first time, tho angler showed that ho was human. Two sheep crossed tho stream some few yards abovo whero ho was fishing, and ho was galvanised into fifo and acted and spoke as only an annoyed man can. It subsequently transpired, after . tho silent sport was over, that the sheep had spoiled the fisherman's water, but this ' whs only learned after tho angler had caught .12 and had awakened from his trance. All tho long way back from tho inland stream tho trout man talked of his five-mile walk up tho creek, recaught each fish, and relost the big ones ho. did not land. It was then that tho uninitiated one understood where tho sport camo in.