CASTS AT RANDOM 161 



appeal of the wilderness and woodland in winter has 

 been repeatedly described and may here be taken for 

 granted ; also, that the exercise of a long tramp along 

 country roads, ice-bound streams, and through white 

 forest lands is no bad thing should go without saying. 



Winter observation of the habits of fish is a pretty 

 difficult matter; as, indeed, is actual observation of 

 stream life at any time. The things we know about 

 trout and bass and other game fishes have been in great 

 part gathered from observation of specimens in con- 

 finement in hatcheries and aquariums. By this is meant 

 knowledge of the life of fishes apart from certain 

 phases well known to any experienced angler. The 

 trout stream in winter, banked with snow and, save in 

 the rifts where the current is very broken and rapid, 

 sealed with ice, offers little hint as to the life of its in- 

 habitants. 



That the trout brook of January after a fall of snow 

 and in the sunshine is nearly, if not quite, as good to 

 look at as the trout brook of June, is small consolation 

 to the man who wants to know about trout. And yet 

 it would appear that the sportsman who follows down 

 his favorite stream when that stream is nothing more 

 than so much snow and ice learns something about 

 trout ; just what, it would be difficult to put into words, 

 but the fact remains that the angler who has an all-the- 

 year-round acquaintance with his stream has a certain 

 advantage over the man whose stream experience is 

 limited to the spring and summer months. 



The brook trout of the winter time is a very different 

 fish from the brook trout of June. He is inactive, 



