116 EARLY FISHING ON WELSH RIVERS 



atmosphere, but the temperature of the water in two 

 neighbouring streams, will produce a relatively early 

 or later spawning season, as the case may be. The 

 locality of the rise of each river should be considered, 

 as well as the rise of each of its tributaries. The snow- 

 fall and the meteorological circumstances of each 

 season should be carefully considered twice a year, 

 and the hard-and-fast period selected for the opening 

 and closing of the trout-fishing season should therefore 

 be modified by the peculiar circumstances of each 

 river and each season. Trout fishing can be legally 

 pursued between February 1 and October 2, except 

 in those districts in which the conservators have wisely 

 extended the length of the close season. It is un- 

 natural, foolish, and unsportsmanlike to permit fishing 

 during periods in which ill-conditioned fish can be 

 caught; but at the present time many rivers are 

 deprived every season of a considerable quantity of 

 ova, and suffer the loss of many ill-conditioned fish 

 owing to an insufficiently extended close time. For 

 these reasons alone it is advisable that the close season 

 in many districts should be still further extended. 

 Many of the early fish caught in the Welsh rivers 

 during a hard spring, for instance, are as unfit for 

 human food as is the kelt before he has visited the 

 sea. The fish on the first warm day are ravenous, and 

 at such times they will take any bait, no matter how 

 unskilfully it may be offered to them. As a natural 

 consequence, the rivers lose many of their best fish 

 before the latter are in a condition either to fight 



