I was making out the brown
sticks at the bottom, when there was a slight splash--caused by Orion
about ten yards farther up--and almost at the same instant something
shot down the brook towards me. He had doubtless landed a jack, and its
fellow rushed away. Under a large dead bough that had fallen across its
top in the stream I saw the long slender fish lying a few feet from the
bank, motionless save for the gentle curving wave of the tail edges. So
faint was that waving curl that it seemed caused rather by the flow of
the current than the volition of the fish. The wings of the swallow
work the whole of the longest summer day, but the fins of the fish in
running water are never still: day and night they move continuously.
By slow degrees I advanced the hazel rod, keeping it at first near to
and parallel with the bank, because jack do not like anything that
stretches across them; and I imagine other fish have the same dislike to
right angles. The straight shadow even seems to arouse suspicion--no
boughs are ever straight. Perhaps, if it were possible to angle without
a rod, there would be more success, particularly in small streams. But
after getting the stick almost out far enough, it became evident that
the dead branch would not let me slip the wire into the water in front
of the jack in the usual way. So I had to draw it back again as
gradually as it had been put forth.
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