CHAPTER VII 

 THE HABITS OF TROUT 



It would indeed be a very wise and courageous man 

 who would undertake to set forth in print, to any great 

 extent, the habits of the wary trout, so I shall only attempt 

 to set down such of them as I have had the good fortune 

 to observe during my many years of stream and lake 

 fishing. 



Although in most waters the principal feeding periods 

 are between the hours of five and eight in the evening and 

 from five to nine or ten in the morning it is undoubtedly 

 true that trout at times, no matter where found, will feed 

 at all hours of the day and night. 



This, as a rule, will apply to every day of the open 

 season; but there are days when it is misty, or slightly 

 rainy, overcast or cloud, with the sun obscured, that trout 

 will apparently feed during the entire day and will con- 

 stantly rise to the fly that is properly placed before them. 



Another time when trout are all-day feeders is after 

 a hard rain, when the water is somewhat discolored or 

 roily, and is rising in both lake and stream. Trout nat- 

 urally feed at this time, because food is more plentiful, 

 being washed down from the surrounding uplands and 

 hills by the thousand and one rivulets formed by the rain. 



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