Some Truths about Trouting 121 



Here, then, is the fisher dressed in a workmanlike 

 and thoroughly comfortable suit, which, because the 

 tree-trunks beside the stream, and also the rocks, 

 present a general grayish tone, admirably blends 

 with the surroundings, and fairly melts into the 

 shadows early and late in the day. The next best 

 color is the " dead-grass " shade of the regulation 

 shooting-suit, but for the stream the gray is unrivalled. 

 And I firmly believe the matter of costume is of 

 more importance than some anglers are willing to 

 admit. Long ago I made a study of the subject of 

 shooting-gear, and from geese and other wary gentry 

 learned the true value of closely matching the 

 costume with the natural surroundings. Later, the 

 color scheme for trout was taken up, and certainly 

 results have proved that close attention to these 

 fine points is good medicine. It is quite true that 

 men garbed any old way can and do kill trout in 

 some waters; but that by no means applies to all 

 waters, especially those that are low and crystal 

 clear. There are fool trout and educated trout, and 

 the man who craves the valedictorian trout, or, for 

 that matter, the sweet-girl-graduate trout, will do 

 well to observe the common-sense rule, which reads, 

 Dress as inconspicuously as possible. 



A man once asked me if I really believed in the 

 importance of correct dressing, which implied that 

 fish could, as he put it, "see out of the water," 

 meaning that a fish in the water could see objects 

 upon the bank. I wondered, for that man had 

 killed perhaps hundreds of trout which had leaped 

 inches above the stream when taking his flies. I 

 have seen a small trout not only jump for, but hook 



