12 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER 



Brown trout " I SUppOSC," writes Sir Herbert Max- 



weathers, well, "that the rising of trout takes place 

 when, and only when, larvae are rising 

 simultaneously to the surface to become 

 flies. Of course, a casual trout will rise 

 at stray flies blown into the water ; and 

 in shallow northern streams, where small 

 trout are hungry, they are on the look- 

 out for flies, or any other form of food, 

 at almost all times and in all weathers. 

 But the regular rise is dependent on the 

 rise of fly, and that, of some species, seems 

 to depend on season and hour of day, 

 irrespective of weather. For instance, 

 one March, on a bitter, blustery day, with 

 driving snow and the river full of floating 

 and fixed ice, there was a tremendous rise 

 of March Browns on the Helmsdale, 

 which the trout were ravenously devour- 

 ing, though the water temperature was 

 only 33 F. No angler would have found 

 any encouragement from the text-books 

 to go forth under such a sky. Yet he 

 might have filled a big basket. The 

 biggest rise of March Browns I ever 



