WET FLY TROUT FISHING 137 



about, and hard showers come pelting down 

 from clouds of fearful blackness, and hands are 

 in pain with cold. Even then there will 

 probably be some time in the afternoon 

 during which the trout will take, though one 

 may have to fish on for many hours before it 

 comes. I have seen the rise delayed till nearly 

 four o'clock. One day I well remember at the 

 end of April, when a basket which after some 

 five hours* fishing at three o'clock was light 

 enough, was heavy and full soon after five 

 o'clock. The day was cold and the rise was 

 very late in beginning, but when it did begin 

 the trout took greedily. 



Early in June a passion for taking small red 

 worms seizes the north country trout : the lower 

 and clearer the water, and the hotter the weather, 

 the better do they take. This lasts till the end 

 of the first week or rather later in July, and is, 

 so far as I can see, quite inexplicable. There is 

 nothing apparent either in the condition of the 

 water, or in the natural supply of food, to excite 

 this violent appetite at this particular time of 

 the year. There is of course no month in which 

 trout may not be caught with a worm, but it 



