TROUT LORE 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



THERE is no fish so whimsical and notional as 

 the speckled trout, though, parenthetically, he is 

 not a trout at all, but a char, a little matter which 

 our English cousins continually force home upon 

 us. However, trout or char, Salmo fontincdis, 

 "living in springs," forever will remain an un- 

 solved riddle. Yes, "an unsolved riddle," for 

 just as we think we know all about the fish's ways, 

 habits and tricks, lo, we fain must unlearn a 

 goodly portion of our knowledge and begin all 

 over again. I have made a careful study of 

 fontinalis for twenty years, not only as a fisher- 

 man with fly-rod in hand but also as a simple 

 lover of Nature, lying for hours, belly-down, by 

 the side of some woodland spawning bed. Also 

 my study shelves are adorned with tomes and 

 tomes, the accumulated wisdom of lovers of the 

 gentle art from Father Izaak down to the pres- 



