182 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



or less necessary to success. This is the case at the pool and 

 rapids below the middle dam at the head of Rapid River, and 

 half a mile below Middle Dam Camp, where a large shoal of 

 rapparently educated trout keep leaping and tumbling so 

 that from fifty to a hundred speckled beauties of from two to 

 five pounds' weight are always in sight. But it used to be 

 said that they would not take an artificial fly ; so, school-boy 

 like, the guests at the camp sent every angler, on his arrival, 

 to " try below the dam," as a sell. It pleased them to see a 

 fresh man's face glow at the first sight of those sportive beau- 

 ties, which acted as if half in coquetry and half in defiance 

 of anglers. I felt thankful when witnessing the self-denying- 

 hospitality which prompted several anglers, who were entire 

 strangers to me, to cease, angling opposite the camp for the 

 sole purpose of showing me a pool full of very anxious trout, 

 They left after I had tried in vain to coax a favorable notice 

 at one cast of flies. I changed my cast several times, and 

 then rested the pool to allow them to change their minds or 

 whet their appetites, until I devoted in that way about two 

 days, to the amusement of the anglers at the camp, and final- 

 ly* began to think that the stories I had heard about the sa- 

 gacity of those trout were true. On my return to camp aft- 

 er each trial below the dam, I saw that my brethren of the 

 angle were interested in my efforts by their furtive glances 

 and sly winks at each other as they anxiously inquired what 

 sport I had enjoyed. But all their jokes fell short, for my 

 mind was with the sparkling beauties below the dam. After 

 having exhausted my fly-books of their attractive lures, I 

 concluded to repair to the dam and study the trout. There 

 they were, apparently as jolly as ever, rolling, tumbling, and 

 leaping about the surface of the clear, curling pool. I had 

 not sat long on the dam, and peered into the sparkling eddies 

 below, before I saw a trout rise gracefully and swallow an 

 ash-colored midge which had floated down from the dam. 

 On looking around me, I saw a cloud of drab ephemera, rath- 

 er larger than musquitoes, swarming over the dry timber 



