SPAWNING SEASON FOR TROUT 13 



All this may possibly be of service to some 

 one or other of my readers, who may contemplate 

 renting a stretch of water in a district similar to 

 the one in which I live. Let him therefore be 

 careful to make every possible inquiry before he 

 signs any agreement, or he may, as I have done, 

 find his hopes of sport ruthlessly frustrated. 



Rivers vary very considerably as to the time 

 in which the trout in them spawn. Some are 

 much earlier than others, but as a general rule 

 the fish begin to get about the spawning-beds 

 towards the end of September, and actually spawn 

 in October, November, and December. During 

 the severe winter of 1890-91 the trout in some 

 rivers had not spawned till February at least, 

 so I am informed, and I have no reason to doubt 

 the assertion. 



Although our trout- fishing season in Britain 

 opens on February i and closes on September 30, 

 these dates by no means imply that the fish are 

 in a condition fit to allow of their being taken. 

 There are very few rivers in which they have 

 sufficiently recovered after spawning to afford 

 sport or to be fit to eat before the end of March, 

 for, as I have said, to thrive well, trout must have 

 plenty of fly-food, and at so early a period of the 

 season there is but comparatively little of the 

 latter, and the fish, being weakened by spawning, 

 require rest and plenty of food to enable them 



