104 HOT DAYS NOT HOPELESS. 



My dear friends and pupils, don't believe it : if you pos- 

 sess a copy of this bit of ancient doggerel, let it be any- 

 thing but a rule for your conduct. You may have sport 

 in all winds and in all weathers, or you may not ; as long 

 as the wind is not too heavy and is up-stream, be sine 

 that you have the best wind that can blow for fly-fishing, 

 though it is less favourable for the float. I have had 

 some of the best days I ever had in my life with a north 

 or east wind, and some of the worst v/ith a south or west 

 one, Some will say, choose a cloudy day with the wind 

 here or there, and some a rainy day with the wind no- 

 where ; some say never fish in thundery weather, whereas 

 I have caught fish again and again, and known them 

 caught, in all possible sorts of weather, even with the 

 thunder cracking all round nay, directly overhead. I 

 do not believe there is any rule whatever that can be 

 relied upon. I have had first-rate sport* in a snow-storm 

 ere now, and two years ago a friend and myself took eighty- 

 four brace of trout averaging about three-quarters of a 

 pound each, in three days, the weather being pleasantly 

 varied by north casters, sleet, and hail storms. The in- 

 fluences which cause fish to feed, or the reverse, are as much 

 a mystery to us as they were to our forefathers. Fishes' 

 appetites are doubtless somewhat like our own they feed 

 best when they are hungry, and when they can do so with 

 the least fear. Fish feed at some time in the twenty-four 

 hours, and be sure if they are not rising it is because there 

 are no flies to tempt them. They are not starving by way 

 of amusement, rely upon it, but have ' metal more attrac- 

 tive' down below in the shape of grubs, worms, larvae, &c. 

 No one perhaps would willingly select a bright hot day, 

 with no wind and a low water, yet I have at times had 

 excellent, nay the best of sport even, on such days. And 

 few would choose a steely bright day with a cutting 

 easterly wind, and little or no fly on the water ; but on 



