THE VALLEY OF THE KEN 59 



village that night, registering a vow as we went, 

 that the ensuing day should once more see us on 

 the banks of that delightful river. 



That June day proved a glorious one. The sun 

 shone continuously from a cloudless sky ; the heat 

 was tempered by a cool westerly breeze. It is a 

 fallacious idea that trout do not rise well on a 

 day of brilliant sunshine. Many of the best baskets 

 I have ever seen were made on cloudless days. 

 Especially is this so in loch fishing. Exceptions 

 there are, no doubt — Loch Leven, for instance, is 

 kinder to the angler on a grey day — but, generally 

 speaking, the weight of your catch depends more 

 upon the state of the atmosphere and the direction 

 of the wind, than on the amount or quality of the 

 light. We say on such and such a day the trout 

 would not rise, for the light was bad — the water 

 was of a dull slaty-colour, or there was a nasty 

 glare on it — but that was not the primary cause 

 why the fish would not feed. The light on the 

 water or the colour of it are only the signs 

 observable to us of the state of the atmosphere, 

 which state, alone, is the predisposing cause of 

 the fish refusing to rise.^ 



1 This is a fact conclusively proved by Mr. Earl Hodgson in his very 

 thoughtful and able book upon trout fishing. 



