86 TROUT-FISHING IN BROOKS 



I shall refer only to summer spates, and take 

 them in two forms : the light one in which, after 

 the first cloudiness has passed, the water is only 

 porter-coloured ; and the big, turbid flood of 

 pea-soup complexion. The first would be caused 

 by, say ten hours' heavy rain ; the second would 

 take about double that quantity. Either of 

 them, granted it comes down when a stream is 

 dead low, is certain to excite more than ordinary 

 appetite in the trout, and equally sure to deliver 

 them a comparatively guileless prey to the 

 unrefined fisherman. 



That is, if he knows how to go about it. 



And he will not have to complain of insignificant 

 fish. The battle is to the strong, and when the 

 biggest trout in the brook are out for food their 

 small brethren have, mostly, to take a back seat. 

 A moderate spate, with from two to four inches of 

 extra water down, fishes well all through its day. 

 Upon its commencement the trout wake up, the 

 good time which their acute senses foretold is 

 coming fast, and forthwith they take fickle 

 fortune by the hand and begin to feed on the first 

 instalment of worms and slugs washed out of the 

 banks and carried in from drain-trickles. But if 

 the stream grows cloudy with road-washings 

 they are likely to call a halt until the dirt settles 



