DRY FLY FISHING 101 



tion of trout of two pounds and upwards to be 

 first-rate before May, and all through the season 

 some fish will be landed which are not first-rate, 

 but the proportion of these seems to me to vary 

 in different years. In some years the trout 

 seem to thrive better than in others. I am 

 not thinking now of whether they are forward 

 or backward in condition early in the season, 

 but of the average excellence of condition which 

 is reached by the middle of June, after which 

 trout cannot be expected to improve. In May 

 1887 I noticed that the average condition of the 

 trout landed during the month was exceptionally 

 fine. After that year it seemed to me that, 

 though some fish were as good as the best in 

 1887, there was not the same universal excel- 

 lence, and in some seasons there was a real de- 

 ficiency of condition, though the number of the 

 trout in this particular piece of water did not 

 increase. Now in 1887 there was a very good 

 supply of water in Hampshire chalk streams 

 at the beginning of the season : it fell off greatly 

 towards the end of the summer, and in no subse- 

 quent season have we started in May with as 

 good a head of water as in 1887. So, at least, 



