50 ANGLING FOR GAME FISH. 



Spawning takes place early in tlie winter, and fly-fisliing 

 begins in March, or even February, wbicb latter month is 

 far too early, in my opinion. After spawning, the fish retire 

 to quiet portions of the river until they are strong enough 

 to take up their position in the fast-running water. About 

 March they may be looked for in every spot where their 

 food is likely to be swept by the current. They then spread 

 over the rippling, gravelly shallows, where the water is 1ft. 

 or more in depth, and in almost every eddy behind a rock 

 there will be a trout. They will also be found in the eddying 

 water on each side of the current rushing into the large 

 pools, and on the shallows at the tails of such pools. In 

 narrow runs between rocks there is usually a trout, and 

 wherever trees overhang the river there are almost certain 

 to be some good fish. If there should happen to be a long, 

 deep, still reach of the river, there will probably be plenty 

 of fish in it ; but such j)laces are not worth fishing, unless 

 rufiled by the wind — and no wind, I may remark, is so good 

 as one blowing up stream. Of course, a dry fly may be 

 used on the calm surface of such a pool ; but is it worth 

 while to devote ten minutes to manoeuvring a dry fly for 

 the sake of a trout weighing ^Ib. ? The large fish, which 

 might be worth the trouble, do not often rise to a fly in 

 these streams, and, in fact, usually feed at night. In the 

 few rather exceptional mountain or moorland rivers where 

 the trout run a fair size, the dry fly should always be tried 

 if the wet fly fails ; but, generally speaking, it is far too slow 

 and tedious a method for fishing rapid streams, in which 

 the angler who has the most success is the one who, other 

 things being equal, covers most water. 



The Rod for this sort of fishing should, in my opinion, 

 be of greenheart or split cane, light, single-handed, and 

 not too stiff ; but it must strike sharply from the point, 

 and be on no account whippy, or many rises will be missed. 

 The objection to a stiff rod is that, when fishing a sharp 

 stream with fine tackle, there is so much resistance when 

 the trout takes the fly that the cast is very apt to 

 break. I do not agree with the anglers who advocate 



