22 FRESH- WATER TROUT. 



is certain, that they are the most wary and difficult 

 to capture of all the inhabitants of the waters, 

 displaying a caution and sagacity in taking their 

 food truly astonishing. They are also the most 

 capricious of all fish, taking greedily one day what 

 they will hardly look at the next. The wariness 

 which trout display varies greatly according to 

 circumstances. A well-fed trout is at all times 

 more wary than a half-starved one, as it can afford 

 to allow a suspicious-looking fly or bait to pass, 

 whereas the other cannot. In rivers much fished, 

 trout, although sometimes numerous, become very 

 shy ; seeing artificial flies so often, and being 

 deceived by them, they detect their nature, thus 

 showing that they are to some extent possessed 

 of memory. 



The only point relating to trout in an angling 

 point of view, which remains to be considered, is 

 the season when they are in condition. Generally 

 speaking, they are in condition from the middle of 

 April to the middle of September, but this entirely 

 depends upon the nature of the river and season. 

 They are never in condition till they get abundance 

 of insect food. The supply of this keeps pace with 

 the vegetation on the river's banks, and if the 

 season is advanced, trout, in streams which flow 

 through an early district of country, are quite fit 

 for the table by the beginning of April ; if the 

 season is backward, they may be fully a month 

 later of coming into condition. In all streams 



