CONDITIONS WHICH GOVERN THE BITING OF FISH. 359 



And, then, tlic day has simply been an " unhicky " one 

 for fishing ; yesterday was no doubt a " good day," and 

 to-morrow will be better. He finds consolation in ac- 

 counting for his " ill-luck," and can easily see a reason 

 fiar it in some peculiar phase of the water, the wind, or 

 the weather. 



Now, while it is not wholly a matter of luck, on one 

 hand; and while, on the other, it is useless to expect to 

 obtain an invariable law in respect to the "biting" of 

 fish, there are many things that we can learn by intelli- 

 gent observation. 



It involves no great comprehension of the sciences of 

 ichthyology, meteorology, hydrography, entomology and 

 botany, as professed by some, nor of the mysteries and 

 hocus-pocus of the art as practiced by others; for there 

 is often as little reason in the repeated change of a cast 

 of flies by the scientific fly-fisher, as in spitting on the 

 bait by his humbler brother; yet both have unbounded 

 faith in their respective methods, and probably faith has 

 as much to do with successful angling as any one attribute. 



But why do fish eagerly take the bait one day, and 

 utterly refuse it the next, when, apparently, all other con- 

 ditions are equal? This is a poser, and has baffled ob- 

 servant anglers for ages, and will, in all probability, never 

 be solved satisfactorily. As a short cut to its solution, it 

 might be said, that they were hungry one day, but not so 

 the next. Certainly a very reasonable conclusion if it 

 were sustained by fact, which it is not, if we judge hun- 

 ger by its usual manifestations ; for fish seem to bite best 

 on a full stomach, and often refuse the proffered bait on 

 an empty one; this fact is patent to all observant anglers, 

 and I have proved it in many instances. 



