INTRODUCTION 13 



saw was on the Tay in April (1905) : 

 weather bitter, with hard north wind. 

 The river was alive with rising trout, 

 but, as usual, I was after salmon. It is 

 the same in lakes. I have had good and 

 fast sport with strong east wind in spring. 

 Sometimes, on such a day, a heavy snow- 

 storm brings up the fly and the trout 

 after them. I recollect especially one 

 morning when there was a big rise of 

 duns. I could hardly see to cast for 

 snowflakes, but I caught big trout very 

 quickly. Contrariwise, in lochs especi- 

 ally, the most promising weather and 

 water may also be a fraud. All depends 

 whether flies happen to be coming up." 



Mr. Michelmore, who has had long 

 experience of the moorland trout-streams 

 of Devonshire, has made good baskets on 

 the Exe during a thunderstorm, on the 

 Teign during a snowstorm, on the Barle 

 during a hailstorm, and on the Coley 

 when the water was so thick from previous 

 rain that it seemed impossible for trout to 

 see the fly. 



