INTRODUCTION 7 



view. There are only two features of the 

 atmosphere that, in my opinion, are fatal 

 to success with trout, and, in less degree, 

 with salmon : the one is a mist, coming 

 down thick and low on the river ; the 

 other is the appearance of bright, white, 

 hummocky clouds in a clear sky. People 

 tell you a lot about fish coming short in 

 consequence of the angle of light on the 

 water. This, I think, is all very specu- 

 lative. Again, when they tell you that 

 fish rise directly after the rain begins and 

 stop as soon as it leaves off, I think that 

 this really means that when the drops 

 were falling, the surface was broken by 

 them, and the lure was therefore able to 

 delude the fish as it could not when the 

 surface was calm. Wind, of course, acts 

 in the same way, more obviously in loch- 

 fishing. In a ripple, you will catch fish 

 at every cast, but when it dies down, you 

 will not catch one. If the water is low, 

 you will not catch fish with a bright, clear 

 sky, but again it is all a question of the 

 fish seeing the lure too plainly. Naturally, 



