102 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



the feed is usually delayed till about mid- 

 day. If the day gets colder as it advances, 

 or the sun can't struggle through, there is 

 little rise at all. But if the day gets milder 

 and sunnier in the afternoon, some of these 

 days yield best baskets, even as late as be- 

 tween 1 or 1.30 and 3 or 4 P.M. These are 

 usually choice days, but they don't occur 

 very often, and in a bad season hardly 

 ever. 



In summer the rise or tid may continue 

 longer, even from early morning to late. 

 Still, the most 'business' can usually be 

 transacted from about 8 to 3, and then again in 

 the evening. There is rarely an evening rise 

 in April or May, even on the livelier broken 

 water. (We speak of northern rivers !) 



Why trout often take in a hailstorm in 

 April or May, or later if such occurs, we 

 believe to be because the water becomes 

 oxygenated, the electric disturbance before- 

 hand emphasising the change this and 

 the drowned- fly food together. In the same 

 way the livelier the water the livelier the 

 fish, and on the lower and deader reaches of 

 a river like Don and Deveron, trout 'go off ' 

 sooner than on higher reaches of the same. 



