TROUT. 83 
To have him Iwas determined : sositting 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 my ‘ first 
fly.’ 
G 2 
