IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



Not many, one may guess, survive to ma- 

 turity. Trout of two pounds argue for 

 larger fish — are in a class where possibili- 

 ties run high — but the disposition of such 

 towards the fly is in inverse ratio to size. 

 These rarely feed upon the surface, are 

 more sensitive to adverse influences and less 

 easily tempted than the smaller fry. Very 

 capricious and difficult they may appear to 

 us who have so poor a clue to their motives. 

 Six hours of attentive fishing, albeit in the 

 time of the June rise, proves, perhaps, that 

 the trout of the Lac du Gros Ruisseau are 

 not ready surface-feeders; it by no means 

 disposes of the tradition, nor excludes the 

 chance that on some exceptional unpredict- 

 able day they will accept the fly with 

 eagerness. 



A luckier fisherman here may fall upon 

 immense trout, finding them so unreluct- 

 ant that he will be amazed at our failure. 

 I recall attempts upon another lake of this 

 type, in good weather, fishing late and 

 early (to the point of setting night-lines) 

 where not a warrantable fish was seen; and 

 yet it was so that on a certain day, to mere 

 human eyes like other days, the water boil- 

 ed with huge trout that rose at anything, 

 hopelessly smashing the angler's tackle. 

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