6 TROUT LORE 



angling. I have found trout taking an entirely 

 different fly and acting in a wholly different 

 manner even in contiguous streams and upon the 

 same day. We have all had strange experiences 

 with flies, taking some of our best fish on a fly 

 so worn as to be unlike anything found in tackle 

 catalogs, certainly unlike anything in nature. 

 We have been fishing when the trout seemed 

 fairly ravenous, striking at almost anything cast 

 upon the surface of the water, then in an instant 

 going to the bottom and refusing to rise to the 

 most tempting lure or bait. We have found 

 days when artificial flies were unavailing, and we 

 have found days also when even the reliable 

 "garden hackle" was unavailing, the only lure 

 being some particular fly. I remember once 

 fishing a stream for a week where the only bait, 

 lure, or fly that was at all successful was a black 

 one. 'Why?" Ask me something easy; for 

 as far as I could see there were no black flies 

 flitting over the water. Personally I am not 

 much of a believer in "pattern," depending more 

 upon "size" a matter which I will go into when 

 the proper time comes. So now I will leave the 

 subject with this general introduction, devoting 

 my next chapter to history and literature. 



(When a friend of mine heard that I was pre- 



