70 FISHERMEN'S WEATHER 



attends the use of small flies and fine 

 tackle. There is, however, an alternative 

 possibility which we must reckon with, 

 and this is the dazzling of the fish by the 

 sun shining full in its eyes. These, as Sir 

 Herbert Maxwell reminds me, are unpro- 

 tected by lids, and are therefore peculiarly 

 susceptible to the glare. Dazzling may 

 operate in one of two ways. It may pre- 

 vent the fish from seeing even the lure, 

 and with salmon which are not actually 

 feeding, but merely rising in half-hearted 

 and wanton fashion at the fly, this is in 

 all likelihood its effect. On the other 

 hand, with fish like the bass, of which I 

 have caught all my best in gin-clear water 

 and glaring July weather, it may just 

 dazzle the fish to the extent of hiding the 

 tackle and hook. The bass has no ambi- 

 tion to ascend to the higher reaches of 

 the river so long as it finds abundance of 

 sand-eels and other fry in the estuary, 

 and it is not therefore so easily baulked of 

 its meal as the salmon. 



As was, however, said above, our know- 



