CHAPTER VI 



SOME FANCIES SOME FACTS 



SOME anglers have come to believe that the 

 trout of our heavily fished streams have devel- 

 oped such wariness and cunning that they view 

 the artificial fly of the angler with suspicion, 

 even if they do not actually know it to be an 

 imitation. In the light of certain experiences 

 of my own, I am unable to concur in the con- 

 clusion reached by these anglers that trout are 

 capable of reasoning or remembering specific in- 

 cidents for any long period of time; it is my 

 opinion presented, however, with some hesi- 

 tancy that they refuse the artificial fly not 

 because they have had previous experience 

 with it but because of various other reasons, 

 the most important of which are the unnatural 

 action of the fly and the probability of the fish 

 having seen the angler, his rod, the leader, or 

 the shadow of one or all. Surely the trout of 

 these streams cannot in July and August re- 

 member the hordes of anglers that invaded their 



haunts in May. Admitting it to be true that in 



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