THE SENSES OF A TROUT 95 



was correspondingly disappointed when I explained to him 

 that this would have little or no effect so far as the vision 

 of the trout was concerned, for whatever advantage there 

 might be in preventing the line from falling directly over 

 the trout, it would be equally, if not more distinctly, visible 

 to the fish as it broke the surface to either side. 



It may be taken for granted that, in ordinary circum- 

 stances, when a fisherman can see the trout the trout can 

 see him. There are, however, three influencing factors, 

 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 of 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, however, 

 is almost invariably in favour of the trout. A dark back- 

 ground 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 bank, he has no 

 near background, such as a wood, a hedge, a wall or tree, 

 etc., he should be as little above the water level and as 

 much behind the fish as is possible. Wading, again, for 

 this reason, will be the most advantageous position for the 

 fly fisherman. 



It may be argued that the appearance of the waders 

 below the surface, when within the zone of the lateral 

 vision of the trout (see the unshaded portion of Diagram 1), 

 will scare the fish more than the appearance of the fisher- 



