WHERE AND WHEN TO FISH 121 



time. The big fish are not ravenous enough 

 to be seeking food all of the time, and the little 

 chaps have undisputed possession of the open 

 water. A wonderful change in the mood of 

 these large fish takes place when the stream 

 is freshened after a fall of rain. The artificial 

 fly is then taken in the most deliberate and cer- 

 tain manner taken by the fish as if they knew 

 it as a member of a family with which they have 

 been acquainted all their lives, although it may 

 not bear the slightest resemblance to any living 

 insect. At such times the angler is apt to lose 

 faith in the much-vaunted wariness and cunning 

 of the fish and may foolishly ascribe his remark- 

 able success to his own skill. Whether the 

 change of water invigorates trout, or instinct 

 tells them that they may expect food to be 

 washed down to them, it is certain that the de- 

 sire to feed is aroused, and they are at these 

 times neither fastidious nor discriminating. 



Several years ago on a stream in Sullivan 

 County, the name of which I have promised to 

 forget, I was in the brook just after the top of a 

 flood and found the fish so willing that, for the 

 particular day, at any rate, I was ready to believe 

 the story told of some northern waters where 

 the fish "were so numerous and so hungry that 



