TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



Usually this condition for feeding lasts for only a 

 day, or at most for a day and a half, and when this period 

 is over not a trout can be induced to rise to the most en- 

 ticing fly cast by a master hand. 



As a general proposition, on ordinary days, clear or 

 sun shining, fly-fishing is at its poorest during the middle 

 of the day, or, say, from eleven in the morning until three 

 in the afternoon. Although without doubt this is a true 

 statement and one with which nearly all anglers will agree, 

 nevertheless during these hours I have at times, both on 

 streams and lakes, been fortunate enough to catch many 

 trout, some running as large as three pounds. Such occa- 

 sions, and they are few, are the exceptions that only go to 

 prove the general rule that fly-fishing for trout in the 

 middle of the day is of little use. An exception may pos- 

 sibly be made for Brown Trout in shallow, clear stream.s 

 when natural flies are abundant and the "dry"-fly is used. 



It also proves the truth of the statement that trout "at 

 times feed at all hours of the day" and similar experience 

 on moonlight nights has proved to me that they also feed 

 as well at night. 



Of all fish the trout probably is more affected by its 

 environment, so far as habits and coloration are con- 

 cerned, than any other kind of fish. On this account we 

 must expect to find the habits of trout largely governed 

 by their habitat ; that is, the trout of streams will differ in 

 many respects, in their habits, from those found in lakes 

 or still, deep water. 



All trout found in streams, however, do not have the 



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