SOME FANCIES SOME FACTS 177 



the earlier months of the season it is compara- 

 tively easy to take trout, even when the streams 

 are full of anglers, and that later, in the summer 

 months, with but two or three anglers, or at most 

 a half dozen, to be seen, infinite skill is often 

 required to induce even a single fair rise, some- 

 thing other than the memory of the fish must 

 be the cause of his reluctance to rise, as the 

 following instances may tend to prove. 



In July, 1911, I rose, hooked, and returned 

 to the water four fish three times each in one 

 week; and these fish were taken in the same 

 place and on the same pattern of fly each time. 

 On another occasion I rose and landed an 

 eleven-inch rainbow trout which I returned to 

 the water, and the next day this fish was brought 

 home by a fellow angler who had taken him in 

 the same place. This last may possibly have 

 been another fish; but about !the four other 

 trout there can be no mistake, as I marked them 

 without injury before returning them to the 

 water the first time. I was prompted to make 

 this experiment after taking a fish from one 

 spot, which resembled closely in size and form 

 a fish I had returned to the water a few days 

 previously. This fish was one of the four, and 

 was twice taken and returned. Each of the fish 



