

MAN'S APPEARANCE TO TROUT 99 



All other downward rays coming to the eye of the 

 trout, save those which enter the arc subtended by 

 the cone of the trout's vertical vision, are external to 

 the cone, and are either from the submerged portion 

 of some floating object, or the reflections from the 

 under surface of the water of sub-aqueous objects, the 

 water, in this latter case, acting as a huge mirror of 

 all bodies below its surface (see E d D, E d D, 

 Diagram 9). 



It may be taken for granted that, in ordinary 

 circumstances, when a fisherman can see the trout the 

 trout can see him, with the exception of three factors, 

 however, which must always be considered : 



1. The amount of light falling on either. 



2. The glint or glare in the eyes of one or the other. 



3. The background of each. 



1. The first may be considered as sometimes 

 favouring the fish and sometimes the angler. 



2. The second factor will be mostly in favour of the 

 fish ; the fisherman gets most if not all the glint and 

 reflection from the surface, though the glare of the 

 sun must handicap the fish to a great extent. 



3. The third factor is the background, which, how- 

 ever, is almost invariably in favour of the trout. A 

 dark background is of the greatest importance to the 

 fisherman when approaching a fish, and a skyline 

 behind is always to be avoided. If, when fishing from 

 the banks, he has no near background, such as a wood, 

 a hedge, a wall or tree, or a cliff, etc., he should get 

 near to the water level and as much behind the fish as 



72 



