TROUT. 83 



To have him I was determined : so sitting down, 

 I scooped out the eye of a fish, and put it on the 

 point of the flyhook, then let it drift down the 

 stream and into the pool ; steadily it neared his 

 nose, and in breathless expectation I awaited the 

 result. He was evidently uneasy, and knew not 

 what to do. It floated past him, and I thought 

 my bait had failed ; when round he turned, and 

 dashing viciously at it, seized (pardon the joke) 

 the hook and eye, and I had him fast. Being 

 far too heavy to risk jerking, I let him get over 

 his furious fit, then towed him ashore ; hand over 

 hand gathering up my line, I got close to him, 

 and seizing him behind the gills, brought him 

 upon the shingle ; and a beauty he was ! 



I have tried various expedients more as expe- 

 riments than anything else to find out what bait 

 these trout really preferred. Grasshoppers they 

 took readily, and I have often caught a trout 

 when only one leg of the insect remained on 

 the hook ; the white meat from the tail of the 

 river crayfish is also a very favourite diet. Earth- 

 worms I could not try, because they do not 

 exist in British Columbia. But all my trials and 

 experiments failed signally in discovering any- 

 thing that could at all compare with ray ( first 



G 2 



