122 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



one had to hide behind a tree to bait the hook." 

 Nearly every cast brought a slow, deliberate, 

 businesslike rise all large fish for so small a 

 stream. I killed two fish that weighed one 

 pound five ounces, and one pound nine ounces, 

 respectively. One of these fish had two crawfish 

 in its stomach, freshly taken; the other had a 

 small stone catfish, pretty well digested; there 

 was nothing else in either not an insect of any 

 sort. The next day was practically a repetition 

 of the previous one two fish killed, both just 

 over one pound five ounces. The stomach and 

 gullet of one were absolutely empty; the other 

 contained a single June-bug, freshly taken, and, 

 among a number of other insects, a water- 

 strider, long thought by anglers to form no part 

 of the trout's menu. I have never been able 

 to quite satisfy myself that this particular ex- 

 perience was of any great value except that it 

 strengthened my belief that trout are moved to 

 feed by changes in the stream caused by flood 

 waters running down. Perhaps, also, it tended 

 to prove that there were more big fish in the 

 stream than I would have believed without the 

 experience. All my fish were taken at the lips 

 of the pools which abound in this rock-bedded 

 stream, and I devoted my time exclusively to 



