THE RISE 83 



any particular four hours during the whole season 

 in which to fish, I think I should choose the hours 

 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. 



The cause which leads to the rise that mys- 

 terious impulse which suddenly quickens the trout 

 world into the activity of feeding time has, so far as 

 I am aware, never been satisfactorily explained ; it 

 is, therefore, with some diffidence that I advance a 

 theory which I have held for some time as to this 

 important problem. 



I consider that one common cause of the rise 

 is the sudden impulse of the pupae of the Ephemeridae 

 to ascend to the surface and take wing. 



Fishing one day with the Grannom on that stretch 

 of the Axe controlled by the Shute Arms Hotel, Seaton 

 Junction, I had by noon creeled several trout, when 

 a furious rise of the fish commenced in my neighbour- 

 hood. 



To my surprise, neither the rising trout nor the 

 dace would look at the Grannom, and after many 

 fruitless casts I decided to change my fly. This I did 

 several times, but with no success, until at last I 

 noticed a small fly on the water. 



By the aid of my small butterfly-net I captured the 

 fly, which turned out to be an Iron Blue in its sub- 

 imago state, and the first I had seen that season. 

 Hastily putting one on my cast, I was into a fish at 

 my first throw, and although the rise only lasted some 

 twenty minutes longer, I got seven other good fish. 

 When the rise ceased there existed a big batch of Iron 



62 



