Influence of Weather on Trout. 125 



fail, the fault may lie in the angler's want of skill, 

 or in the trout's want of appetite, but certainly not 

 in the flies themselves. 



The weather, in so far as it regulates the appear- 

 ance of the flies, will determine the " rise " of the 

 fish. Tn cold days, especially in April, when there 

 is not sufficient heat to bring out the flies, there is 

 no inducement for the trout to come to the surface 

 to feed. They must, in that case, content them- 

 selves with grub and larvae at the bottom. Again, 

 when the river is big with what is familiarly known 

 in Scotland as " snaw-broo," the chances of success 

 in any kind of fishing are of the remotest. Good 

 baskets are often got during a snowstorm, but 

 scarcely ever when the water is thoroughly satu- 

 rated with snow, as it is then too cold to bring 

 the flies to maturity. 



But even when the season has brought round the 

 flies, trout, as we have seen, do not always take 

 advantage of their opportunities. They are a pecu- 

 liarly impressionable tribe, and many of their seem- 

 ing vagaries and whims are still unexplained. But 

 indeed, in this respect, trout are not by any means 

 alone. How many men can explain themselves 

 even to themselves ? and " Who is't can read a 

 woman?" Why, then, need we grudge the trout 

 a little oddity or a caprice ? We know the fact 

 though we may not always be able to account for 



