FOREST, LJKE, AND RIVER 



the Beaverkill ; in this I am corroborated by Mr. 

 J. S. Van Cleef, of the Willewemoc Club, who 

 throws a graceful and far-reaching fly. In a 

 letter to me dated December, 1879 (December's 

 a good time to write about fishing), he says he has 

 often seen a trout strike with its tail at a fly or 

 insect ; that they never do it when they are " on 

 the feed," but they often do so in the middle of 

 the day ; and he thinks he has seen them turn 

 and devour the flies after knocking them under, 

 and that they only do it when they are not 

 hungry. Mr. Prime, in his delightful book " I 

 Go a-Fishing," states in several places that, as a 

 rule, trout, in taking an artificial fly, strike it with 

 their tails before they attempt to take it. And he 

 has since repeated, over his own signature, that his 

 opinion, based on many varied observations, is 

 that trout more frequently strike with the tail, 

 and anglers often strike an instant too soon, mis- 

 taking the blow of the tail, and the dash of the 

 water over the fly, for the grasp of the mouth. 



But many who have gone a-fishing are not 

 aware that trout have any such peculiarity ; they 

 know that the latter are a capricious and festive 

 fish, and have often watched their antics and 

 capers when they seemed to turn full somersaults 

 every time they rose to the fly ; trout at such 



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