106 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



from the time the fish begin to lose their appetite prior to 

 spawning until they have entirely recovered their condition 

 after spawning, they are unclean and not fit for human 

 food. 



Those fish that do happen to feed as their spawning 

 operations approach and this may happen during the open 

 season appear to suffer at times from a disease of the 

 intestines, and are afflicted with worms. Strict laws 

 should therefore be made and enforced in order to prevent 

 the possibility of trout being captured and destroyed when 

 near spawning time, or when their condition renders them 

 unfit for human food. 



CLOSE SEASON TOO SHORT 



It is the opinion of many fishermen that trout fishing 

 opens in some districts at too early and closes at too late 

 a date. The fisherman whose experience has extended over 

 many districts, and who has fished early and late in the 

 season, will recall the frequent capture of ill-conditioned or 

 dirty fish at the beginning and towards the close of the 

 different seasons. These are fish which have begun to feel 

 the influence of, or which have not recovered from, the 

 spawning season. Such fish should, of course, in all cases 

 be returned to the water, but it would be wiser that the 

 chances of killing or injuring these fish should in no case be 

 incurred. 



Meteorological conditions affect the time of spawning, 

 and also affect the length of the period which it takes a 

 trout to recover after the spawning operations are over. 

 This is especially so in the wild fish. Even in the same 

 districts spawning conditions vary very considerably ; not 

 only the temperature of the atmosphere, but the tempera- 

 ture of the water in two neighbouring streams, will produce 

 a relatively early or later spawning season, as the case may 



